Guilford County, NC - If Superintendent Mo Green had to give the Guilford County School District a grade, it would be a "B."
Here's what Green says the distict is doing right:
- GCS improved its graduation rate to 83%, an improvement from last year.
- Green says eight GCS high schools had 100% graduation this past year which is more than any other district in the state.
- Green says all nine schools deemed low-performing by the state are now off that list.
-The district improved its Schools of Excellence and Schools of Distinction so that now one out of every three schools falls into one of those two categories.
- The school's service learning initiative was a success. 2012 is the first year where high school students can graduate with a service learning diploma.
But not everything is good. Thursday on the Good Morning Show, WFMY News 2's Tracey McCain asked him why he gave the district a "B" and not an "A?"
"Why I say why would give ourselves a B is because we have some challenges as well. Our literacy rate isn't where we'd like it to be. 68.1% of our students in grades 3-8 performed on grade level last year. We need to increase that number dramatically," said Green.
Green says the district is fiscally sound, at least right now and doesn't anticipate having to cut teachers or reduce classroom ratios.
"We'll continue to monitor the state's 2-year budget and we're hopeful the state's revenues have become better," said Green.
Moving forward, Green hopes to continue on with his 4-year plan; which includes opening a new school. The school board approved the Stem Early College at North Carolina A&T State University. The school will serve 200 high school students with a focus on science, technology, engineering and math. Students in grades 11 and 12 will take college-level courses.
You can learn more about the state of Guilford County Schools during his annual "State of the Schools Address" next Thursday, January 19th at 6pm. It's at the High Point Theatre which is located at 220 East Commerce Avenue in High Point.