I am a teacher at a year round school in North Raleigh. Our school has been under enrolled for the past two years and will be again next year. Although there are literally hundreds of seats available at our middle school, hundreds of applications for seats there were and continue to be turned down. Why? Because the children of the parents who applied for the seats are not the children the school board wants to attend our school. Education is not the first goal of Wake County Public Schools. The first goal is diversity at any cost. As teachers at the school, we are told not to question or talk about this situation. So while the school system talks about all the overcrowding, we could hold hundreds more students. The school board has tried to fill the school with students who do not want to go to year round school. Many of there students have limited English proficiency and are actually hurt by the year round calendar. For example, a student who begins school at the end of September and is placed on Track 2, will have already missed at least 6 weeks of school that will never be made up. Year round students attend school for 180 days as do other students. If this same student were to be put in a school with a traditional calendar, much less class time would be lost. In many instances, the school board is hurting the very students who need us the most. This situation has bothered teachers at my school since year round schools were given base populations and students and parents were told this is your only choice. The only reason this has not been contested before is because the parents of the children are often economically challenged or speak little English and have no know how about fighting the system. If you are poor or new to this country, you have no voice and no choice! I applaud Judge Manning's decision and hope that Wake County will rethink its policy on year round schools.
It is the right decision
I am a teacher at a year round school in North Raleigh. Our school has been under enrolled for the past two years and will be again next year. Although there are literally hundreds of seats available at our middle school, hundreds of applications for seats there were and continue to be turned down. Why? Because the children of the parents who applied for the seats are not the children the school board wants to attend our school. Education is not the first goal of Wake County Public Schools. The first goal is diversity at any cost. As teachers at the school, we are told not to question or talk about this situation. So while the school system talks about all the overcrowding, we could hold hundreds more students. The school board has tried to fill the school with students who do not want to go to year round school. Many of there students have limited English proficiency and are actually hurt by the year round calendar. For example, a student who begins school at the end of September and is placed on Track 2, will have already missed at least 6 weeks of school that will never be made up. Year round students attend school for 180 days as do other students. If this same student were to be put in a school with a traditional calendar, much less class time would be lost. In many instances, the school board is hurting the very students who need us the most. This situation has bothered teachers at my school since year round schools were given base populations and students and parents were told this is your only choice. The only reason this has not been contested before is because the parents of the children are often economically challenged or speak little English and have no know how about fighting the system. If you are poor or new to this country, you have no voice and no choice! I applaud Judge Manning's decision and hope that Wake County will rethink its policy on year round schools.