Editor’s note: The author, Sandra Miller, is on the Montgomery County School Board.
As the elected school board member for this area, I feel I must address some of the comments that were made in Montgomery County’s segment of the News and Observer’s “Journey Across the 100.” It seems to me the negative comments made by Brooke Crump regarding Montgomery County Schools were based on personal opinion rather than actual facts.
Mrs. Crump made the statement that Montgomery County Schools is unable to keep teachers more than an average of two years. The county has 287 teachers; 169 of those have been with the county five years or more, which comes to 59 percent have stayed more than two years. Out of those 287, 113 – or 40 percent – have been here 10 years or more. Again, much more than two years.
It was stated that a mom can’t feel confident sending her child to school to receive a good education and just because we live in a rural area, you should not have to move to get a better education. Mt. Gilead Elementary School has exceeded growth for the past five years. This past year Montgomery County Early College received the grade of A and exceeded growth. West Montgomery High School made a B and exceeded growth, and East Montgomery High School made a C and met growth. Gray Stone made an A and exceeded growth; however, it should be noted this school does not have the diverse population found in Montgomery County Schools. Uwharrie Charter received a C and growth was not met. One would wonder why the choice would be made to go elsewhere when, with one exception, Montgomery County Schools scores are higher and growth has been met.
Why would you not highlight the state of the new high school and CTE building? Our community college, early college and high school are adjacent to one another where all can share the CTE benefits and students can take advantage of courses at the community college, even if they are not in the early college program. Because of this, students can take advantage without transportation being a problem. There is no other like this in the state. Also, our graduation rate is 91 percent. We are graduating students with a more rigorous course of study. At this point we are on track to have 48 students graduating with an associate’s degree along with their high school diploma.
Since education seemed to be your biggest concern, this would have been the perfect opportunity to beseech our legislators to put the emphasis on education that is needed: better pay for teachers, more funding for programs to benefit students, reduce class size, make the arts a full-time program again and add full-time assistants back into the early grades.
Since this video was something that will go across the state, I wish that you had not spun this so negatively. When people look to move to an area one of the first things they research is the schools. Your statements regarding the schools did not do anything to make Montgomery County Schools attractive. Plus, your information was not correct. You had the list of questions and had time to prepare. These numbers could have been easily checked.
Gray Stone is on the other end of Stanly County. Montgomery does have school choice; however, with Tillery Charter Academy in Biscoe, NC and they pull from several counties. The LEA is one of the biggest employers, and a very good reason people stay. Traveling to work is not ideal when living in a rural community.
I would like to think that parents have the opportunity to state their opinions on school choice without being ridiculed for it. There is school choice available as well as homeschooling!
Why was Brooke Crimp ask to do the video in the first place. Why wasn’t someone who has lived here for many years and more knowledgeable about the county ask? Like Sandra Miller.
Lol your grandkids go to Uwharrie Charter, Phyllis Strider.
Not my doings. My kids went to Mt Gilead Elementary! LOL Mrs. Crump
I am so glad Sandra corrected the information from Brooke. I know education is a huge concern for parents. Some parents take on the title of “helicopter “parents. They hover and do not let the teachers do what they are there for. Most parents have no idea what a day in a teachers life is like. There is no perfect school system.
I’m thankful for Tillery Charter for my grandchildren. The quality of education offered by the local school was poor, to put it nicely.
I am thankful that both my kids went to Mt. Gilead Elementary and my 3 grands went there. My oldest grand daughter goes to Montgomery early college and is in her 11th year. She is in beta club and on A/B honor roll. My middle grand daughter goes to West Montgomery 9th grade. My youngest goes to West Middle. 6th grade and she is on A/B honor roll. Tip Harris once told me when I asked about the schools for my grand children, “The cream always rises to the top”. I’m proud of the educational opportunities that my grand children are receiving in Montgomery county schools.
Melanie- thank you for agreeing with me! One of the very points I have tried to make to the school board. Did you know that before opening my practice, I taught middle school? And during my time there, there were very few there longer than two years because teachers just have to sit back and take a tongue lashing when they discipline a student. But I didn’t mention any of that in the interview. Here is a copy of the unedited version of my answers that mentioned education.
https://www.facebook.com/2710313/posts/10107428419524548/?d=n
I believe in this community but I know that there is always room for improvement in any area of life- but especially when it comes to the future of our children.
Oof — what about the 41% of teachers that DO NOT stay more than two years? Just because a simple majority do stay, it doesn’t mean Brooke was wrong… a considerable percentage of teachers DON’T stay (and this is an issue ALL ACROSS rural North Carolina).
Also, rather than comparing Montgomery county schools to one another and to nearby areas (or to a state standard), a better comparison would involve schools from rural areas in nearby states and then the country as a whole. I’m pretty sure Brooke’s response was about NC’s lack in public education funding as a whole (not simply Montgomery County), and its overall effect on the public education in rural areas such as Montgomery County.
The four paragraph about the new high school and CTE building, while an excellent point if the interview was an interview about the general state of things, isn’t relevant to the specific questions that were asked.
The fifth paragraph does have value, and the concerns that are listed (e.g., better pay for teachers, etc) are relevant to the questions asked. However, they all also tie back to Brooke’s overarching point about NC’s poor funding for public schools. Citing some of the concerns that were listed would have made Brooke’s argument stronger (and, if she would have cited them, it would have been harder to dispute her point).