Go Saints! Love that Sean Payton- Drew Brees and Jamar Nesbit!

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This year’s goal is $7.3M, running through March 12, reflects the uncertainty still in the economy. However, $2.5M is already pledged from the biggest players in town- Bank of America, Duke, Wells, and they are increasing their support over 2009.  That is welcome news.

Here is he Mission and Vision of the Arts and Science council from their website:

Mission & Vision

The Arts & Science Council (ASC) is:

• The community’s chief advocate for arts, science, history and heritage
• A gatherer and steward of public and private community resources
• An investor of those resources in the cultural sector and community
• The strategic planner for the community’s cultural sector
• The public art agent for the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County

Mission:

Building appreciation, participation and support for the arts, science, history and heritage in Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

Vision:

Shaping a vibrant cultural life for all.

Please give generously,

your personal donations start here, business donations start  on this page.

Grant Recipients 2009-2010

Thank you ASC for your excellent work. Good Luck in 2010.

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verified. Ok. There are scammers out there, but here is the easiest and fastest way to donate:

American Red Cross: Text the word HAITI to the number 90999- a $10 charge will appear on your next phone bill, they have now raised over $6M through this text alone!  AT and T guarantees an immediate donation to the Red Cross.

Salvation Army: You may donate $5 by texting the word “Haiti” to 45678,these funds will go directly to the Salvation Army

Stop reading start texting

Save the Children has a huge ongoing relief effort trying to sort out and re-connect children to families, make a donation here

Once again the US armed forces will be on display as a force for good in the world. My son, himself a Navy helicopter pilot, has East Coast pilot friends shipping out of Norfolk as we speak. Lets see what the US and the world can do for these impoverished people.

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The Friends School Of Charlotte- Next Open House February 4, 9:30-10:30 am

The Friends School of Charlotte is a  K-3 learning community in southeast Charlotte, an independent private school within the Friend’s tradition, a tradition established by the Quakers more than 300 years ago.

Friends Schools have a tradition of excellence, and are recognized around the country as providing some of the  the very best independent education in the world.  Friend’s Schools believe in the dignity of each person, that literally there is a “spark of God” within each student, and believe in experiential learning, learning by doing. Students of all faiths and no faith are accepted. Tolerance is another key virtue. All Friends Schools are based on the Quaker values of simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality and service.

The most recognized Friends School is Sidwell Friends in Washington DC, where many of Washington’s elites send their children… past -Presidents and the current one, President Obama, chose a Friends School, from the many quality private and public schools available.  A Friend’s education is  recognized as offering much more than just small “e” education, it educates the total child.

What is a Friends School?  What is their “model” of education?

Why would you be interested in a Friends School of Charlotte for your TK to early elementary child?

To me the answer has many layers, but it begins with the Quaker philosophy. The Quaker school of Charlotte  then borrows effective precepts from various teaching models. It is guided by  the Quaker belief there is God in everyone, and that means each child will be a treasured part of the learning community. There is a culture of respect and caring.  If you want your child’s mind cultivated, his/her freedom to express her views celebrated, and want him/her to be a lifelong learner, this may be the place.

The school uses the North Carolina Standard Course of Study as it’s core curricula, a “roadmap of learning goals and objective… but not just a surface understanding, students will be encouraged to to seek, dig deep, analyze and interpret.”

Your childs’ education at Friends School of Charlotte will be inquiry based, experiential learning. There is a strong consensus that children learn best by doing, questioning, analyzing and interpreting their learning.  Educators call it “constructivist”, learners “construct” their own learning, facilitated and guided by the teacher.  Inquiry is the base mode of learning, the interdisciplinary nature makes it relevant to their lives. Studies have repeatedly confirmed students learn best when the construct their learning- they learn if for themselves, and the  learning is relevant.

Your kids won’t be learning tons of little factoids, and tested and tested… they will be loved, inspired and treated with dignity they deserve.

Go meet the wonderful teachers and Head of School at the Friends School of Charlotte.

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Congratulations to Brookhaven home sellers with 12 home sales in the 4th quarter of 2009.

Brookhaven in Matthews, has been a long time favorite- a Terry’s Top Ten,  for new homes and resales in the $400-$800K price range

the majority of homes are in the $550-$650K. Building by John Wieland began in the 2004, and became their most successful community of all time. The Amenity center is one of those reasons- short of country club, there isn’t any community in Charlotte with better amenities AND it’s better than many country clubs- have look from the outside.

HOA fee’s? Under $1000 per year. That is not a misprint!

Year End Brookhaven Market Report

John Wieland has all but completed sales here- they are down to their last 10-15 lots, some of which, surprisingly are very good.  New prices are ranging from the middle 600’s- $659 to $699.

There are 27 homes for sale in Brookhaven from $334,000 (hardiplank) to $950,000, the median is $569,000.

Terry McDonald

704-351-1519

The McDonald Team, Wilkinson and Associates, Broker

Relocation, Distressed Properties, First Homes,  Luxury Homes

Top Team 2006, Top 10 2007, Top Agent 2008

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/terrymcdonald57

http://www.TerryMcDonaldRealEstate.com

http://www.CharlotteCommunitiesOnline.com

Follow me on Twitter @TerryMcDonaldRE

Charlotte’s #1 Video on You Tube- Introduction to Charlotte

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Totally amazing video, watching the violent protests on You Tube. What will the protesters do next? The lawless government? Is this the beginning of the end?

A bad day for the Supreme Leader and his acolyte Ahmadinejad?

Down with Khameni

Another martyr-this is deadly serious

The People Respond

Special thanks to You Tube’s Markant35,PDKI1945,sinagh2006

The videos speak loudly…An election stolen,  a people just fed up, risking death, more from CNN

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If you are up north digging out from the snow, you might be encouraged to know that the Charlotte area dodged the storm that wreaked havoc on the east coast. Just 75-80 miles west or north received 16-20″ of snow, in places like Hickory, Boone, and Biltmore near Asheville. Most of Charlotte received a heavy dose of rain, and the Lake Norman area had a few inches of slush- enough to send many cars off the road, I was showing homes in Huntersville friday afternoon.

This cartoon in today’s Charlotte Observer, came from Minneapolis, but could just as well describe Charlotte driving.

Too funny. For more cartoons from Gary Sack I especially like his recent Tiger Woods cartoon today.

Enjoy your day.

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Electrolux, USA  is relocating to Charlotte.

Governor Bev Perdue announced  Electrolux would be moving its North American headquarters in the first quarter of 2010,and more than 700 jobs (over several years)  to Charlotte from Augusta, Georgia. The Swedish home appliance firm is consolidating their North American operations at the former First Charter facility in the University City area, and will be home to more than 700 employees, most of whom will be relocated from around the US to Charlotte. Governor Perdue cited North Carolina’s well trained work force and pro-business climate. We in Charlotte real estate like the sound of 700 families moving here!

Charlotte had two big advantages, Charlotte’s airport has given Charlotte an advantage among international companies seeking to locate in the south for a decade. Then last August, another Swedish firm Husquavarna, a former Electorlux division, now independent, relocated here…   That and over $10 Million in incentives from city, county and state resources didn’t hurt either.

Still, the incentive package was small by most regional comparisons- they wanted to be here. All good. Then late in the day,  it was announced that

Bank of America had named Brian Moynihan as the bank’s new CEO replacing the retiring Ken Lewis.

Moynihan was quick to point out he will be based in Charlotte and that the bank’s headquarters would remain in Charlotte.  This settles a few months of uncertainty since Ken Lewis made his announcement. Combined with the early re-payment of the TARP money, this offers Bank of America a new start in  a nee decade and can begin the work of  rebuilding its reputation.

A number of Bank of America’s Board sought a business relocation to NYC, making many around here, lets say,  uncomfortable. Fifth 3rd Bank announced as part of the Electrolux deal they’ll move their headquarters uptown, GMAC  has expanded their operations and are moving uptown, US Bank established their Southeast office here in July, all seeking to capitalize on the talent let go by the old Wachovia.

Kudos to our excellent Chamber and city government for putting together the package that made this work.

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Wells Fargo Gives $6M in Year End Charitable Contributions

The Nations Report Card, NAEP, or National Assessment of Educational Progress, is a nation wide study of 4th and 8th grade students in 18 urban school districts. This interim report released yesterday, or TUDA, indicated that CMS 4th graders were at the top in math of the 18 cities, that they scored above average national mathematics scores in 4th and 8th grade.  Another win for  Charmeck Schools Superintendent Peter Gorman.   State  Department of Education release.

Wells Fargo made their presence known in Charlotte, surprising the recession-starved non-profit community with $6Million in grants Tuesday. In a year where there weren’t enough dollars to go around to Charlotte’s non-profits, this was happy news, dance in the street news… and it was a shot in the arm the whole community needed.

Bank of America announces they would re-pay the Federal Government TARP $45 Billion, including interest, before years end. Good news for Bank stock, and good news in the search for a CEO replacement.

These are powerful statements about Charlotte’ s future. I’ll write more in the future

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Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools placed two high schools in the top 200, and an additional 9 high schools in the survey of Top 1500 Public High Schools conducted annually  by Newsweek Magazine Online.  The Top 1500 represent the top 6% of US High Schools, and the CMS 11 pl;us 1 from Union- Weddington HS,  represent 23% of North Carolina’s total of 53 high schools that made the Top 1500.

Jay Matthew’s at the Washington Post and Newsweek devised a simple formula, not without its critics, a few years back: Rank them by “the number of Advanced Placement, Intl. Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school in 2008 divided by the number of graduating seniors. All of the schools on the list have an index of at least 1.000; they are in the top 6 percent of public schools measured this way.”

So it is the number of AP or IB tests taken per graduating senior for each school, (not passed) with a minimum “score” of 1.0, so to get on the list- if you had 400 graduates  then a minimum of 400 tests take (seniors and juniors) would equal a score of 1.0, likewise 600 tests taken for 400 students 1.5 etc. While not a perfect measure, it is a measure of how many of the schools’ children are actively engaged in college preperatory classes, it is relatively easy to calculate, allows small schools to compete with large schools, and I suspect most high school Principals would be glad to see their school on the list. It is also a modest measure- yet only 6% of the nations’ high schools make the list.

The List does not include many terrific magnet and charter schools- those schools are purposeful in their attraction of elite students, and so, they’d need to be evaluated using a different standard, paraphrasing  Matthew’s. Do you have a question on why or how he did the work? Here is his FAQ page for details.

Myers Park led Mecklenburg County at #44 on the list with each graduating senior taking an average of 5 AP/IB tests. Providence was # 189 on the list, with each senior taking an average of 3 AP Tests… but do not forget the other 10!  These can be seen at the bottom of the post.

If you’re school is on the list,  it means they believe in the power of  AP and IB,  and the administration is encouraging the  course work and test taking– a very imortant indicator of future success in college.

So 1500 schools represent the top 6% of public high schools in America, according to this formula.  Mecklenburg County has by my count, 12 schools on the list.  Interestingly, many of these CMS schools (5) had 40% or more of their students n Free and Reduced lunches, that is good work at those tough schools, promoting a culture of excellence. Check out the vide in the Newsweek link below, and hear about inner city children being offered plane tickets to interview at MIT and Standford.

Here is the Newsweek link, indexed by State, but a handful of results are below:

Wake County- someone from that region should check me but I’m counting 4.

Lets compare Charlotte area’s 12  High Schools, NC’s 53 high Schools to a few… states.

North Carolina had 53 high schools make the list- so CMS had  23% of those.

New Jersey has 53 High Schools make the list.

Tennesee had 12 high schools make the list

Conneticut had 17 high schools on the list.

Delaware had 6 high schools on the list.

South Carolina had 20 High Schools make the list, somewhat surprisingly none in the Upstate region near Charlotte, 3 each in Greenville, Columbia and Charleston.

The South in general, outside of NC, SC and Georgia, didn’t fare too well.

Alabama-9

Arkansaw- 10

Missisippi-2

Louisiana-2

So- 11 of CMS’s 31 High Schools fall into this top 6% national category, the same system that recently announced it has 51% of its student’s living in poverty. Obviously this fact doesn’t mean all is well in CMS- it just means CMS is doing better than a lot of people think, a message often lost if all the “clutter” we call conversation about Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. Ane for all that talk about great nearby South Carolina Schools and Union County Schools? One school made the list between them- one school emphasizes AP on the high school level. Wow.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and Union County on Newsweek’s Top Public High Schools

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As most readers know I make my living in real estate, but I have a passion for education, and  a passion for educating every child in the US. It is the promise of America, and it is in our national interest to educate every child to compete in this inter-connected world.  For those of you who don’t know, I’m also a father of 4, my grown children were educated in private primary schools,  and graduated from a public high school on this list here in Charlotte.  I’m married to a longtime teacher who is now a Professor of Education at a local college.   I’ll be writing more on schools that “Get it” in the Charlotte area in the coming months.

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