A little bird flew in the window this morning bearing news of the application for a new charter school here in Chapel Hill/Carrboro.  I found that interesting because when I was education chair for the local NAACP the idea was kicked around and found to have many holes in it. For me the expense and building of infrastructure was too great.  This district, although it is failing the majority of the children of color, has a fantastic infrastructure and curriculum that, if improved upon, will do well for all students.

Recently, I and a group of parents from Chapel Hill and Carrboro met with the new school superintendent, Dr. Forcella. As a result I intend to work with him as opposed to funneling money away from the district as a charter school would do, if the application is approved.

So, as what should be normally done when faced with something unexpected, follow the money.  In this case it started with an article from Truthout.org I read yesterday discussing the "pilot" programs in Florida centering around the privatization of education.

I want to begin by thanking all of the stakeholders who came out to Chapel Hill High this morning, a beautifully sunny fall morning, and participated in our first “come together” session in which we heard reports from all of the theme groups on what transpired in their first work sessions.  We had over 100 stakeholders participate and we got to hear from about ¼ of you in the discussion portion of the meeting.  For those of you who didn’t have time to share your thoughts please think about posting them on either the blog or the web.

Tomorrow morning will mark the first report out session for the six theme groups in Chapel Hill 2020, the process to create the town's new Comprehensove Plan. These report out sessions are designed so that all the theme groups can get together to find areas of agreement and discuss agrees of disagreement. The theme groups have a good deal of overlap, so these large group meetings are necessary to ensure that the plan is cohesive while still being comprehensive.

First, the leadership team will be providing a summary of the process. They’ll give a little more explanation as to where we are and where we’re going in the near future, and they’ll highlight some of the resources available on the web and outreach efforts that are being conducted by the town.