share.triangle.com - School reassignment - Comments

Busing and Year Round

Liz — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:31:22 -0400

The school situation in Wake County is UNBELIEVABLE! One thing nobody has mentioned is how they free up seats in higher performing schools for the lower income kids. Well, they bus the middle class kids to the poorer parts of town! This is UNACCEPTABLE! We do not feel that our daughter will be safe or develop her full potential at a school on the other side of town, where she has been placed to dilute the free and reduced lunch percentage. Not to mention the long bus ride she would have to endure, and the distance from our home and work would make it impossible for us to be involved with the school. Many of the kids in our neighborhood were lucky enough to get into the nearby year round school (which happens to be the closest school to us), but my daughter did not. If there are so many YR seats in Wake that nobody wants, why can't I get one!?? Look at their statistics--only 48% of those wanting YR got it. Thankfully, the day after getting our rejection letter from Wake County, we were notified that my daughter was accepted into private school. I feel really bad for the families that don't have this as an option. We need to make big changes to the school board, and I will support ANY change, because what they're doing now ISN'T working!

Wake Schools Still in a Bind

PAH — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:04:02 -0500

Dear Mr. Dulaney - we are very tired of hearing you quote unsubstantiated numbers and making claims without any supporting documentation. 1,500 students need to be reassigned in order to go traditional? Our own analyses do not agree and are most likely more extensive than yours. We do not believe what you are saying and we request substance to support it. Please do your job and supply this information to the Wake County parents that are paying your salary.

reassignment

Visitor — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 21:41:56 -0500

Keep the students in the neighborhood schools.
End this costly busing and use the money for teachers, books, computers, etc.
If the school board wouldn't listen then vote them out, or withdraw your kids from the public schools.
Keep the students in the neighborhood schools.

Land Developers will lose too

Visitor — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 12:04:06 -0500

I have already blogged with people that were asking about the local schools here in Kitts Creek. I simply told them to Google Wake County Schools and specifically told them to research how Wake County assigns students. I told them to directly ask the developer what "node" their new home will be located. Then to go to WCPSS website, plug in the node, and determine which school their child will attend.

I explained that all the schools are rated online, so they can determine the how well the school performs. And lastly, they can Mapquest the school to see where it is located.

I have not heard back from that person since. Probably scared them off.

The greedy developers will soon lose out too. They wanted to sell as many homes as possible before people realize what is going on. They should be forced to put aside land for local schools as part of the development plan - BEFORE getting approval to build. But the politicians and developers are all in bed together on this.

Well the more we talk about this, the more we write about it in online Forums, the more we make News Headlines, the quicker word will "leak" out to out-of-owners interested in moving here. I hope the developers "choke" on their unsold lots and homes.

CONTACT THE COMMISSIONERS AND STATE AND HOUSE REPS!!

Visitor — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 12:59:08 -0500

Contact the County Commissioners about your concerns! If nothing else, so that they will clarify if the BOE is just trying to muddy the waters by pointing to the Commissioners as an excuse for not addressing the YR vs Traditional situation. Contact your NC Senate and House Rep too if you are unhappy with WCPSS policies.

Trying to explain to friends and family out of Town why our school system subjects all kids in the County to constant instability - and that our ED/FRL students are now performing below the ED/FRL State average AND that the WCPSS’s own data shows no improvement due to their practices is quite challenging. The only reason I can fathom is that they want to do SOMETHING - but don't have a clue what to do. So instead of taking a chance on focusing on programs that might actually help kids - they have instead opted for something directly "measurable" by shuffling our kids around, no matter how irrelevant or even potentially harmful. That way they can feel a sense of success and accomplishment when the F&RL numbers on a spreadsheet align - and they don’t feel the need to - or don’t want to - measure actual impact on the kids.

Anyone who does not realize that the WCPSS is starting to impact all of Wake County is in denial. Talk to your friends who already live here - how many are talking about moving BECAUSE OF and ONLY BECAUSE OF this school system? I know quite a few. Talk to people looking to transfer into the area from other states. After talking to locals in Wake County how many have decided that Chapel Hill - or Durham - are better bets at this point? I know quite a few of those too. WCPSS policies that are carried out over the wishes of the community - and to the detriment of local families - rich and poor and those in between- are all over the internet now – not just our local blogs.

School Assignments

Visitor — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 08:33:35 -0500

Shattering the benefits of small community will be the demise of your county in many more ways then just test score maintenance. You can't simply sprinkle poor performing students throughout the county and expect them to learn more.
School diversity lacks community presence which supports parent involvement and accountablity for everyone's actions.
I have worked very hard all my life so that my children can have a quality education, so I will move back to LI NY. So much for your booming real estate market, home building etc... when the cat gets out of the bag that your schools are horrible your economy will face a recession. Your county relies on relocations and with the downward price trend across the country- the value here will be scrutinized along with the quality of your education program.

Democratic school board representatives

Ewol_Smith — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 10:25:24 -0500

School board members are elected officials; as such, they represent the people under our democratic system "of the people, by the people, and for the people." School boards must follow the will of the people they represent. Opposition to busing is not about avoiding diversity; it is about avoiding children who carry handguns, knives, firecrackers, and drugs in their pockets at school. It is about avoiding disruption in the classroom. It is about avoiding children who stand up and shout epithets in the classroom, who steal, and who skip class. It is about expecting the low-income students to come up to standard in behavior and ability so everyone can get the education they go to school for. If the school board can't guarantee a stable environment, they are failing in their mission, and breaking their contract with "the people."

Wake assignment

Visitor — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 09:40:44 -0500

All who are interested in Wake assignment and its effectiveness should check out the school system's Research and Evaluation Page (http://www.wcpss.net/evaluation-research/, scroll down to New Reports and click on Analysis of Achievement Data). This report very clearly states and then shows with data that the achievement gap has not budged over the past three years and that socio economics status of a classroom has not made any difference in the gap.

The WCPSS movement towards

Larry Green — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 07:44:32 -0500

The WCPSS movement towards socio-economically balanced schools only came after forced busing was determined to be illegal. All they did was change the name and then kept doing was they'd always done.

Statistics clearly indicate that high percentages of low socio-economic students in one school building will result in lower test scores. However, those same statistics clearly show that interventions such as lower teacher-student ratios, quality after-school programming, and focused efforts on improving reading and math skills will overcome the low test score phenomenon. Student re-assignment does not improve test scores -- focused and intentional allocation of resources does have a positive impact.

Having lived in Garner, and worked in the Garner schools, I've seen first-hand how this WCPSS reassignment process works. Students who lived within the town of Garner were reassigned to schools outside of Garner while students from low socio-economic households in Southeast Raleigh were reassigned to Garner schools.

When we called the hand of WCPSS and openly discussed the reality of their actions we were labeled as rebel rousers, racists, and generally angry individuals. Then WCPSS romanced some in the community in order to get them to publicly support the bonds -- promising drastic changes within the Garner schools which oddly enough didn't come about despite public support for the bonds. Now the Town of Garner's leadership has shied away from truly holding the WCPSS's proverbial feet to the fire by keeping in place various codes/conditions which would have forced WCPSS to honor its agreements in order provide quality education for all students.

The leadership of WCPSS really ought to be ashamed of the continuation of forced busing and the people of Wake County need to band together so that all students, regardless of where they live, have an opportunity to achieve a quality education.

F&R lunches

Ruth Heinz — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 18:05:28 -0500

I agree with you about parental involvement. The children I tutored who had parents, poor or rich, who cared about what the child learned and how the child was doing, did well. Didn't matter about lunches or money. One boy I tutored came from a very poor family whose mother took the time to learn what I was doing with him, then reinforced it at home. He had gone through a bad time, but really did well when his mom got involved. The parents were and are the key. We have too many kids from broken homes, with parents not making the child's education or emotional welfare a top priority.

busing

Visitor — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 11:15:42 -0500

How does it help children from any walk of life to be on a bus at 6am and not get home until 5pm or later? How is that beneficial for anyone?

I was a child in Charlotte when busing first started. I was fortunate that my parents had enough money to send me to a private school instead of riding a bus over 2 hrs each way and go to school in a building that had been un-condemmed, with 8 ft fencing topped with razor-wire in downtown Charlotte. and this was elementary school!! My older sister was in Jr High and insisted on going to school with her friends. Each day there were bomb threats and riots. This continued through high school where she barely passed/graduated. How did this learning experience help my sister's education? Why could we no longer attend the schools within walking distance from our home? The answer is the same one that is getting shoved down our throats as parents now - diversity makes for better education. That is a load of bologna!!!!

My children, now grown, suffered in school as well. Being average/above average, they were bored out of their minds because the class had to be taught to the slowest student in the class. What happened to teaching ALL of the students and not just the slowest?

Also, how does a family's income change a child's ability to learn?

School reassignment

Visitor — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 10:09:00 -0500

As free Americans we have the right to go to any church we desire. We can go and come as we feel like it. Visit any part of the nation without even being questioned. You can say that we are a free country right? No!! Not when it comes to educating our children. The government dictates where they MUST go. It's not fair that we are forced to put our little ones on a bus that leads to nowhere. That is what some schools are. Nowhere.

busing for diversity

Ewol_Smith — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 09:58:56 -0500

For everyone to benefit from diversity busing, everyone must be on a level playing field. Children from the poor side of town often have behavior problems in school which skew the results--no one benefits. Even if behavior can be managed, the disadvantaged children cannot read well, and so hold back the more proficient students, who become bored.
If diversity in schools is to work, all the children must get the benefit of EARLY READING AT HOME. All the children must get GUIDANCE in behavior at home. The problem lies in the disadvantaged home, and has to be addressed there before diversity in school will ever work.

Additionally, academics in schools with high "disadvantaged" populations must be brought to standard. So often, kids in these schools are warehoused with seatwork, and taught little if anything. Expectations are low; resuts are low. The motivation behind diversity busing is to bring some academics to the disadvantaged, but there is no need if academics are rigorous in the "black" schools. The school boards must put more emphasis on this.

diversity

Visitor — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 09:47:23 -0500

Schools

Visitor — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 08:28:04 -0500

Why do children who are above average have to suffer for those who are below average?

If you want to know why government education is failing, it's because the government school establishment fails in its mandate - to educate - and instead takes on the role of social engineer.

If you want to make the poor better off, allow for the government funding of education but get out of the government provision of education. Let's get to a voucher system quick.

BTW - For those who believe such an idea is radical, you would believe me to be nuts if I argued that the government should control the gathering and dissemination of news presented to the populace. Why does it then seem alright to have the government control what and how our children are taught?

School reassignment

mwilliam — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 18:14:17 -0500

More than 6,400 Wake County elementary students will be moved to different schools next fall under a revised reassignment plan. The Wake County school board voted on Tuesday. What are your thoughts?

More than 6,400 Wake County elementary students will be moved to different schools next fall under a revised reassignment plan. The Wake County school board…