Education

Guest post by Eric Muller
Cross posted at Is That Legal?

My reaction to this article about an experiment in single-sex education in all core classes at a local middle school was mostly "hmmm ... interesting ... maybe a little troubling ... but interesting ..." until I got to this stunner:

All [the teacher originating the idea] knew was that she intended to retire next year after 31 years and was running out of time to test her theory [that 7th graders would learn better without the "daily drama" of interaction between the sexes].

But she and her colleagues didn't tell the superintendent or the school board, choosing to notify parents of the experiment in letters sent home Jan. 6, a Friday. They assured parents that the experiment would last a few months at most.

It's just a name and not such a big deal… or is it?

This coming Thursday the city school board will discuss the naming of the third high school. The naming committee has narrowed the choices down to three: Carrboro High School, South Chapel Hill High School, and Howard and Lillian Lee High School. These names seem all rather boring, given that there were 69 other names that could have generated lots more controversy.

Community members suggested such names as: Charles Darwin High School, Cesar Chavez High School, Robert E. Lee High School, Edith Wiggins High School, Rockin' Ravens High School, and on and on. I personally got a laugh out of 'The Insufferable Chapel Hill High School of the South". What name would you choose and why?

The Independent Weekly endorsements, often thought to be the most influential in Orange County races, came out today.

In Chapel Hill the Indy endorses Kevin Foy for Mayor, and Mark Kleinschmidt, Laurin Easthom, Will Raymond, and Bill Thorpe for Council.

In Carrboro the Indy endorses Mark Chilton for Mayor, and Jacquie Gist, John Herrera, and Randee Haven-O'Donnell for Board of Aldermen.

For the School Board it endorses Lisa Stuckey, Pam Hemminger, and Jean Hamilton.