Latest news with #ForsythCountySchools
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Inside proposed $20K settlement after Davidson County Schools student suspended for alleged ‘racially motivated comment'
DAVIDSON COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — A would have Davidson County Schools pay a family $20,000 and issue a public apology after a The plaintiff's motion for settlement approval offers insight into the proposed settlement that will be heard in court in early July. While the filing says both parties have agreed to the settlement, it will not be final until a judge approves it. Forsyth County Board of Commissioners rejects $32 million request from Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools According to the document, the district would pay the family $20,000, which will help to cover the costs of the student's new school. The school district would remove 'all reference to racial bias in [the student's] school record.' However, the district would leave the suspension unchanged due to the 'class disruption caused by the comments at issue.' The board would issue a public apology for 'mischaracterization of racial bias in [the student's] school records,' and a former member of the school board would issue an apology 'for additional inappropriate conduct after the suspension.' Dean McGee, senior counsel for Educational Freedom at the Liberty Justice Center, said in a statement, 'On Friday, we filed a motion asking the court to approve a settlement that would resolve this matter. Because [the student] is a minor, a court hearing is required before the settlement can become final. We'll have more to say after that hearing, but we're pleased to take this important step toward clearing our client's name.' A spokesperson for the school district previously said they are unable to comment due to pending litigation. The incident happened on April 9, 2024, at Central Davidson High School. 'On April 9, my son received a write-up stating that he violated a board of education policy by using or making a racially motivated comment, saying that an alien needs a green card,' the boy's mother, Leah McGhee, said. The lawsuit claims the teen left class to go to the bathroom. He missed some of the lesson, and when he came back, the word 'aliens' was used during class discussion. The student reportedly asked if 'aliens' referred to 'space aliens or illegal aliens who need green cards' and the teacher said to 'watch your mouth.' According to the suit, a Hispanic male classmate then threatened to beat the student up. That same day, the 16-year-old received a three-day out-of-school suspension. 'I cannot appeal this suspension since it is less than 10 days. Racism is only a three-day suspension with no appeal when it should be a top-tier punishment,' Leah McGhee said. The 16-year-old is no longer enrolled at the school because, according to the lawsuit, he received threats and was harassed about this situation. The student's parents, Leah and Chad McGhee, filed a lawsuit on behalf of their 16-year-old son and called on the school to reverse the suspension and remove it from the student's record. The lawsuit argues that the words 'alien,' 'illegal alien' and 'green cards' are common terms used in both state and federal law. It goes on to say the punishment was too harsh and his comment should have been protected under his First Amendment rights of free speech. 'There is nothing inappropriate about saying aliens need green cards, and there certainly isn't a case for racism due to the fact that alien is not a race,' Leah told the school board in May 2024. The McGhee family asked the courts to require a public apology from the school board, reverse the suspension, remove it from the student's record, remove unexcused absences because of the suspension, remove all references from his record that he used racially motivated, inappropriate, or insensitive language in class and monetary damages determined during trial. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools letter outlines 2 proposals to deal with deficit
FORSYTH COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools superintendent sent a letter to the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners on Thursday. It included two possible ways to pay off the $42 million budget deficit. The school district overspent by about 5.3%. It's a deficit that Forsyth County commissioners like Gloria Whisenhunt shared their frustrations about during a Thursday meeting. 'I've never seen anything this bad. I really have not, and I don't know how they can expect our property owners to solve their problems. They talked about how some of them aren't sleeping at night. Well, some of us aren't sleeping at night either,' Whisenhunt said. Of the $42 million the school district owes, according to a spokesperson, about $18 million is owed to the state, and there's $24 million in local funds that need to be repaid. The letter Tricia McManus sent to county leaders detailed two options on how they could get out of the financial hole. The first option would include a one-time payment of $32.1 million, which county leaders would have to give them. The funds would go towards the $42 million shortfall. If county commissioners deny the first option, the second includes setting aside $14.1 million out of the proposed $180 million the district is asking county leaders for the next fiscal year. A spokesperson for the school system said the $14.1 million would go towards the $24 million owed in local funds. When it comes to paying back the state, district leaders plan to negotiate a payment plan. When FOX8 asked how the school district plans to pay the remaining debt, a spokesperson said they're still figuring that out. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School's CFO sets resignation date amid budget shortfall
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WGHP) — The CFO of one of the largest school districts in the Piedmont Triad will resign in the coming months. Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools confirmed that their chief financial officer, Tony Kranz, announced on Tuesday night that he would be resigning from the district effective June 30, 2025. WS/FCS announced last month that they were experiencing a multi-million dollar budget shortfall for the coming school year. Superintendent Tricia McManus sat down with FOX8 to discuss the financial situation, stating that the district is faced with dissolving vacant positions, demoting people or offering to reassign them. It will affect over 100 jobs. Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools budget shortfall draws questions with few answers They were actively seeking someone to fill a director of finance role at the time of that interview. However, according to McManus, if positions are eliminated at the school level, that is not because of the budget. It's because of the state algorithm involving enrollment, which determines how many positions are funded. Going forward, the superintendent says that finances will be reviewed every two weeks by both the superintendent and the school board. 'The buck stops with me, and I take everything personally. I absorb everything, and I take it on my shoulders because I do believe … if something goes wrong anywhere, it is my responsibility,' McManus told FOX8. On Tuesday night, the district also announced they were accepting a grant to fund more weapons detection systems in schools across the district, to the tune of $175,000. This comes after multiple incidents in the district this school year, including a student being stabbed at Glenn High School on Monday. The funding will buy 9 OpenGate systems for middle schools, which district staff say work better than traditional metal detectors, which are often set off by ordinary school items like laptops or binders. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools budget shortfall draws questions with few answers
FORSYTH COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools is dealing with a $5 million deficit after overspending, which was discovered in an audit. Parents, educators and staff members at the district are bracing for the impact while many are left wondering how this could happen. Superintendent Tricia McManus pointed to inflation, enrollment declining, less federal and state funding and other revenue challenges as reasons for the overspending. School districts across the country were given a portion of what you've probably heard called ESSER funds, which were three rounds of emergency funds relating to the pandemic. They were always going to be temporary, but many school districts used them to pay for programs and salaries with no plan to keep funding them when the well dried up. 'I think what it showed is that the federal funding we received that has gone away was really imperative to support our students post-pandemic, and we're still supporting our students post-pandemic,' McManus said on Tuesday night. She cited the end of ESSER funding as one of the reasons the district has a $5 million budget deficit, which was revealed after an audit. She also pointed to the state. 'The funding we're getting from the state has decreased, but if you look at the needs of our students, that has not decreased. That has increased. Even though enrollment has decreased, some of the needs are greater,' she said. North Carolina is historically at the bottom of the list in terms of funding per student, and only 8 percent of the district's entire budget was funded by the state in the fiscal year 2023. With no more money coming in from the federal or state level, the district has to make immediate cuts before June 30. They're ending some take-home cars, cutting travel, not hiring new people in the central office and more. The next fiscal year, which starts July 1, is more ambitious: save $16 million. The proposal would change 116 positions. Some are vacant, so they would just be dissolved. Some people would get demoted, some would be reassigned and others would lose a month of employment, saving $7.2 million. 'This will never be something easy or that I would want to do, but it's something … to have that fiscal sustainability for our school district,' McManus said. Still, the district has not been clear on how the overspending happened and what guardrails they plan to put in place to prevent it from happening again. What FOX8 did find in the 80-plus-page audit document is a lack of staffing attributed as a reason money was spent and not noticed quickly. The district has an open director of finance position, which is still missing from the district's website. FOX8 requested a district employee to sit down with us and walk through the many questions we still have and sent several follow-up requests to the district spokesperson with no answer via phone or email on Wednesday. FOX8 also reached out to President of the Forsyth County Association of Educators Jenny Easter, and she said that even after this is resolved, public schools will need more help from the state level. 'The parents need to get with us. The community needs to get with us to put pressure on the state because this really shouldn't be a district county thing. Counties are really only supposed to worry about facilities, and look how much they are picking up,' Easter said. In 2024, WS/FCS Chief Financial Officer Thomas Kranz asked Forsyth County for $184 million, which is $20 million more than the year prior. They were given $9 million more than the year prior or $11 million less than requested. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
