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How does a healthy school translate to a healthy education? In at least some of the magnet programs, the schools are sgregated, so even though the schools are healthy, the classrooms are NOT. You have the rich magnet classes with very little F&R population and you have the regular school classes with a very high F&R pop;ulation and the two student bodies never interact. How is this integration within the classroom? What is the root cause of the problems in these high F&R schools? if it is NOT the F&R population, then this policy is totally a waste. IF it is a root cause, how does putting them on a bus for a 1 1/2 hour ride each way help them?

They are giving no thought to the importance of parent involvement. When F&R children are bused over an hour each way to their new school, their parents usually have very little involvement in the child's education. This is because the parents usually work many hours, often have one vehicle, and feel that the school is too far away to visit often. Without parent involvement, a key component of the child's education is being lost. When a school is close by, the parents have an opportunity to become involved--attend teacher conferences, attend after-school activities, etc. I think it is so important to have parents and teachers working together!

School administration is the bastion of 19th century brown-shoe management.  Running schools should be more collaborative--a joint venture among students, parents, administrators.  School boards are notorious for ignoring real problems such as bad behavior in schools, and just dealing with the easy problems in the easiest way they can find.  School boards let bad principals stay in failing schools, school boards refuse to address problems of good teachers being run out of schools by the Old Guard, school boards refuse to require that teachers be certified. School boards see every issue as insoluble or poorly-soluble with just a "lick and a promise."

Public school quality declines every year: school boards do nothing about quality; they deal only with mechanics of moving students around, changing start times, and listening to no one.  It's time to throw out the idea of public school and public school boards, and start rebuilding education in this country from the ground up. 

Kudos to all parents who get involved in improving their childrens' futures. For those seeking alternatives to WCPSS schools, please consider the Thales Academies of Raleigh and Apex, world-class affordable private schools based on 10+ years of excellence at the Franklin Academy Charter Schools. www.thalesacademy.org

Everyone knows how to run a school system--in terms of how it benefits them. Does anyone have a working knowledge of education in Buffalo, Akron, Hartford, or any other comparably sized school system? Except for the rich, the children in these communities are typically served a poor education.

We are so concerned with our own children that other children don't matter very much. Since we're all experts, please identify the model. What other large school districts have kept neighborhood schools in place and provided a quality education for the vast majority of the children they serve?

I say put up or shut up. Show us a like sized model of segregated education that serves all schools equally, or get out of the way and let WCPSS do their job. Everyone has to sacrifice some to ensure that all of our children receive a quality education. If that's not your goal, then please be up front about your motives.

I am a parent of a southeast Raleigh student who is involved in the proposed reassignment. I am outraged at how the system engages in student placement by basing it on f&r eligibility. However,as oxymoronic as this may sound, I am very much pleased with the fact that my children have the opportunity to attend school in a neighborhood such as Cary. Yes, i do agree that low income students perform at a lower standard than their more affluent peers, but not all low-income students are at the "bottom of the barrel" so to speak. My child is above average in school, and I am upset that she is about to be rezoned from Farmington Woods. I have been living here for 4 months, since relocating from New York City, and my daughter attended school there with affluent children as well as f&r students. I am all for diversity in the system, but I am thinking perhaps the system here wouldn't have to deal with outraged parents if they didn't blatantly say "poor or f&r children", which offends parents and children also. Your socialeconomic status should not be an issue when it comes to getting a decent education. As far as it goes with the issues at hand, I am beginning to believe that some of the parents in Cary are upset with the changes simply due to the fact that the majority of the f&r are minorities. Not to pull the race card or anything, but to let it be known, I am African-American, and my spouse is Bi-racial (African american & Caucasian). As long as my daughter stays in Cary I am pleased.