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Regardless of where you stand on this issue, one thing is clear.  Wake County's policy of school reassignment wreaks havoc on our communities.  I must give the school board credit in one area: they only affect pockets of people from different communities every year thereby reducing a potential tidal wave of protests and certain change of policy.  

Each year, it's someone else's turn to be reassigned. Another set of neighborhoods and individuals navigate the high learning curve to this policy and attempt to unite against the school board who sit and listen to protesting with no discourse available to the public.  The school board wins because our lives are so busy that unless we are on the chopping block, we remain ambivalent.

Instead of reaping the benefits of community, we live in individual bubbles where people all have their own school schedule, work schedule, sport/hobby schedule and it is impossible to find people that share your schedule.  No carpooling, no caring for someone's children as a favor, no common affinity for a school, etc, etc.  All the items that typically build up a community are being eroded.  This adds up to a vacillating culture where no one is certain of anything.  We spend money in our schools to help kids with self-esteem and then we rip away any sense of consistency and structure in their lives by changing the place where the spend the majority of their awake hours.

Diversity in schools is not a local problem, it is a worldwide problem.  Wake County should not consider itself omnipotent.  Wake County is out of touch on so many levels.  Wake County is too large to be effective in implementing policies for the schools.  It is doubtful that the school board members have even visited most of the schools they rule over.

Please don't underestimate how the power of community helps us become richer in so many ways.  Our citizens should demand it whether your "node" was reassigned this year or not.

I think the Wake County School System should wake up and realize that this annual reassignment plan is a nightmare for parents and children residing in this county. The uncertainty of where your child or children may have to go to school from one year to the next is very disturbing. Relocating children in the same neighborhood to different schools every year or so does not give children a real sense of living in a neighborhood community. In addition, children should not have to wake up at ridiculous hours to catch a bus to take them to a school that is miles away from their home. If nothing else, consider the cost of gas to transport these children to locations way out of their district. Eliminating busing would eliminate unnecssary fuel costs, and the money saved could be put to better use in the Wake County Schools.

This reassignment of children annually also hurts Wake County's real estate business. Many people with children coming from other areas of the United States consider the school district a top priority prior to purchasing a home. Knowing that your child or children can be reassigned on an annual basis is a definite deterrant for moving to Wake County for many people.

The constant reassignment issue is also a factor for parents to put their children in private schools. The parents who cannot afford to do so are the ones stuck with this foolish logic and are probably the people most frustrated by this system. Why should the parents and children of Wake County be punished for living here? The County should leave well enough alone. Enough is enough! It's time to stop the madness.

Before recently relocating to North Carolina, I resided in Arizona, Virginia, New York, and Maryland and am completely shocked by the absurdity of this policy. 

It is my belief the School Board is making a mockery of Supreme Court decisions banning allocation of students based upon race by utilizing subsidized lunches?  Aside from the obvious legal risks being incurred (which tax payers would ultimately be responsible), this policy is incredibly wasteful. 

I would appreciate an audit of the costs to relocate students from the nearest school to a further school -- especially in this era of unstable fuel costs, environmental costs, and the value of wasted commute time for students and parents alike (regardless of income nor ethnicity). 

 Mr. Margiotta hits the nail on the head when stating "There are plenty of ways to help a low income school - incentive pay for teachers is one.  Get extra teachers so you can reduce the class size."  

In efficiently spending our tax dollars, schools should be neighborhood-based upon proximity with some merit/magnet options for specialty curriculum Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 .

There are both legal and financial reasons why Charlotte, Greensboro, and Winston-Salem have abandoned this apporach.  I recommend the tax payers of Wake County wake up and purge this Board before a major legal bill is added to years of wasteful spending.

From an economic perspetive, it is a simple matter of making a decision.

There are real costs and "fuzzy" results, ergo a no-brainer.  Cut the costs, and either verify or disprove the results.

 Middle ground: Let the affected parties decide.  Send home ballots with the children, and let the parents decide one way or the other. 

I challenged the school board to put the Diversity Policy up for a vote by the taxpayers of Wake County.  In my opinion, the vast majority of parents would vote against diversity and they would support local neighborhood schools. 

There has been numerous comments in the N&O from low income parents indicating that they do not support having their children transported from areas like Southeast Raleigh to Panther Creek or Green Hope in Cary.  How can one get involved in after school programs such as sports or band? 

My two middle school boys are not even going to the same school.  My eighth grader has to get up at 5:15am every morning so he can be on his bus at 5:50am.  He travels 21 miles to Lufkin Road Middle School in Apex.   My sixth grader gets up at 6am for his 15 mile journey to East Cary Middle School.  We have schools that a few miles away from our home! Do we live in Apex or Cary?   No, our home is in Raleigh near the airport.  Our experience has not been a good one. 

Diversity has failed now that Wake County has become so large.  Why don't our elected officials here the pleas of the thousands of people who oppose the program and adapt a local neighborhood school policy. 

Michael Swanson, A Concerned Parent

This is an outdated plan, based upon outdated theories... rooted unfortunately not in the "higher calling" of ensuring economic balance, and diversity!  This School Board is addicted to Free and Reduced LUNCH Dollars!

Let's call it what it is!  GREED! The people of Wake County did not want to pay for a higher bonds!  WHY?  Because the School Board did a terrible job of presenting their case.

IMHO, there are those on the Board, and in the School system who see their "calling" as Social Engineering.  Because they WANT this across town bussing system to continue... they did a half hearted job of presenting a "real" request for funds to the people of Wake County!  GREED!

We need a smaller School Board, with a fundimentally different agenda.  One for the good people of Garner, one for North Raleigh, one for Cary - 5 to 7 School Boards who will direct the funds, tjhe resources and the children to create an environment that is VERIFIABLY doing the best job of educating our children!

 Two letters to the editor("Just Say No to Busing", "Focus on Children") and one Opinion piece  ( "The Price of Picking Schools with Poverty") in Fridays NandO were blatantly truthful, strikingly candid, and contradictory.  The letters hit the nail on the head and the Opinion piece by Burgetta E. Wheeler was heartwarming.  I agree with all three.

One letter writer referred to the "gang mentality" bused into our schools.  She's absolutely correct!  And it starts in kindergarten! By first grade, these younger siblings of active gang members are gang-member wannabes with finely- honed body language, vocabulary, and anti-social attitudes.  They will threaten to sue you if you touch them, tell you they can get someone to beat you up, give the finger to all who oppose them, and steal with skills that Fagin himself would envy!  

Another letter writer referred to research that shows tha a school's academic performance drops when it has too many low-income students.  Gee! I wonder why?This writer supports teaching each child regardless of his background, instead of busing them all over the county for the sake of that sacred cow, diversity. Makes sense!

Wheeler, on the other hand paints a tender, caring portrait of elementary children with hourly behavioral reports, knowledge of oral sex, prize-fighter punching ability, and cracker over toy choices because of hunger!  Her rational on this last one is a bit over-the-top as I'm sure the child already had eaten her free breakfast and free lunch!  Wheeler views putting all these problems together in one school as a social nightmare.  She's right; it would be, and already is...just visit any school with an extremely high percentage of low-income students.  

 But  Wheeler's thinking is terribly flawed! She naively thinks that putting students together  in " high-poverty clusters would lower their chances of beating the odds" while placing them in a "world where fewer people are ravaged" is "best for all of us."  Tell THAT to the parents whose children have to witness and be victims of this anti-social behavior on a daily basis!  Whose children lose valuable instructional time because their teachers are filling out hourly reports, disciplining unruly students, and literally protecting students from bodily harm  Tell THAT to the parents of the children who once got large wads of spit dropped on their heads in the stairwell because it was the latest fad in insulting your enemies!.  What parent willingly places his children in such an environment?

Wheeler's awarenesses are keen.  She just has no reality check.  I invite her and any other "diversity cheerleaders to check the following:

1.  "Low-income students" do not need to be insulted by being told the only way they can get the best education is to be in the same classroom with" affluent" students.

2.  All children like to be around their friends; not to be told who their friends should be.  

3.  "Affluent" students can also be very challenging.

4.  Yes, the world is diverse, but forced busing often creates unreaiistic social structures that do not exist in the so-called real world.

5.  Students who share life experiences  support, help, and mentor each other. Allow them to share positive experiences together.

Get a GRIP!!  There is school and then there is reality!  Let's bridge the gap! 

I have just recently relocated my family to NC from SC.  My wife and I spent many hours researching Wake & Johnston County schools as well as speaking to fellow parents in this area.  After all that, we decided that upper Johnston County's schools were the best option.  Although Wake schools appeared better on paper, many things contributed towards our decision to settle in Johnston County.

We could not in good faith subject our elementary age children to extensive bus rides likely along the beltline, assigned to different track schedules and even different schools.  These are very formitive years in a child's education and they should have the stability of familiar settings, school leaders, fellow students and school surroundings.

My oldest child has advanced skills for his age, testing and performing in his class multiple grade levels above his age.  We chose our home's location based on the fact that he would receive the best education in both tangible and intagible areas.

Statistics show that the most people with children choose their home location based on schools and are willing to pay higher taxes for such advantages.  If the council seeks equality in school population distribution, then we should seek equality in our property taxes.  Fair is fair, right?

My brother, who lived in Mecklenburg County (Charlotte) until last year finally gave up on that area's failed social experiment.  They moved to the neighboring county and are much happier.

It is deeply disturbing that (sic) leaders like Mr. Schmitt would choose to compromise the future of our nation for short-sighted economic gain.  He ought to be ashamed of himself.  This social experiment needs to be proven effective with data or abandoned.  Cut out the rhetoric for our children's sake!!