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NYer- I thank you for your info, and I do understand that there are valid issues. It's really the same as up here- electives being cut, sports programs eliminated, "poor" schools getting actually disbanded and bussing the children out, etc but on a smaller scale.
One of my kids is sent to a school over 40 minutes away and at 11 years old, has to wake up and be out the door by 7:45am while other kids his age don't leave for school until around 8:30am. My child was sent to a "poor" neighborhood school and he didn't excel. The first two years for him were tough and I was constantly on the phone with the principal. But he then became a role model for a lot of the children there and this past year has been steadily improving academically. This upcoming school year will be the last one at that particular school for him, but I was glad he got to experience it. What he lacked in receiving from his school-based education, I made sure I taught him at home. I would rather have my child be a role model to those less fortunate and maybe positively impact someone's life by peer support, than be greedy (or a bigot) and keep them separated because I have this false sense of entitlement. And yes, my child does come from an upper-middle class, predominantly white (90-plus%) town where there are maybe one or two minority children in a school of 600+ students. And I despise it completely but there is not a safe option to move into a racially-diverse area because up here, there is none. Everyone is segregated.
It's hard to completely assess a situation when you do not live it, so I'm thinking I'm just going to have to dive right in. Was planning to relo by next summer anyway, and no, these issues have not deterred me. With all the brain-power down there, something positive has got to come of this
Last edited by NECharmisamyth; 07-26-2010 at 10:49 PM..
Does the fact that the interim Superintendent is looking to take the New Hanover County Job make the Wake County job look less desireable?
How does the fact that the Chapel Hill/ Carrboro Superintendent plans to step down soon affect the Wake County prospects? I imagine a top notch Super looking to make a move to this area may find the Chapel Hill job more attractive.
What do you think?
Bingo, Yup and Right On. In fact since she has not yet stated if she is even interested in the Wake job......... Who will be interested with experience as a superintendent. That might necessitate going outside of education circles. If the person is a non educator who will be left to advise them on education issues? She was the chief academic officer, who will be around to advise the board on academic issues. The board wants to play a lead role in decision making who will want to be lead? The Wake board is in the early stages of their search and New Hanover is in the final stage. If she gets the job who will be the interim here while key decisions are being made and with school schedule to open in how many weeks? What is clear is that pretty much everyone has the same goal. Quality schools with a quality education for their children in a school close to home. No one wants kids bused just to bus them. Some see that as a necessary evil to create quality schools for all. That is a very legitimate discussion on how to accomplish especially if done in a civil manner. We need to stop the tit for tat approach. You disrupt a congressional town hall meeting on health care reform so when you win we will disrupt your board of education meeting. Disruption of government functions is either civil disobedience or criminal behavior for both sides of the political spectrum.
The prior board focused on making the schools "look healthy" which helped drive development here - county wide. Is that a pure motive?
I'm not trying to be argumentative, but honestly want to know how you came to make this accusation?
I don't believe the "prior" school board, which is almost half of the current board, had an agenda (motive) to make our schools look good so that folks would move here.
Our leaders have said many, many times over the decades....if only we could pause growth so that we could catch up!
Quite frankly, we've been suffering from these growing pains for years, and past superintendents and boards struggled to predict how many schools we'd need, how many students to expect, etc.. Of course the referendum for schools bond was shot down - sadly, this would have helped alleviate much of the overcrowding. These were the issues they worked to address, not to fluff up our schools in a diabolical plot to have more people move here - how would they benefit from such an agenda? It's not like we have a poll tax or anything.
The how to manage growth issue has been a topic here for decades, school board members came and went, they were all faced with the same issues. And, no doubt, future board will be faced with the same. I think we should look to communities who've been there before us with these issues for clues to how to better manage it.
I,ve been following up on this issue through this thread and do see the pros and cons to this matter. I'm planning on relocating to Raleigh and I have a son who will be in High School at the time so I have a few questions I'm hoping the residence of Wake County can help with.
Does the parent have the option to choose what schools their child goes to or does the School decide this?
I asked this question because where I reside now, the school assigns a child to a school based on which zone the child lives, in other words, the parent can choose any school that's located on that particular zone, so they have choices of schools as long as is within that particular zone area and will also receive bus transportation for their child. Now, if the parent decides that they don't want their child to go to any of the school that fall within their zone, they have the option to choose other schools that's not within their zone (as long as there's availability in the school they choose), but in this case, it will be up to the parents to transport their child to and from the school. The school dept would not provide transportation for parents to choose others school that are not within their zone area.
So does Wake County allow parents to choose any school and also provide bus transportation even if is 30 miles from their place of residence?
I,ve been following up on this issue through this thread and do see the pros and cons to this matter. I'm planning on relocating to Raleigh and I have a son who will be in High School at the time so I have a few questions I'm hoping the residence of Wake County can help with.
Does the parent have the option to choose what schools their child goes to or does the School decide this?
I asked this question because where I reside now, the school assigns a child to a school based on which zone the child lives, in other words, the parent can choose any school that's located on that particular zone, so they have choices of schools as long as is within that particular zone area and will also receive bus transportation for their child. Now, if the parent decides that they don't want their child to go to any of the school that fall within their zone, they have the option to choose other schools that's not within their zone (as long as there's availability in the school they choose), but in this case, it will be up to the parents to transport their child to and from the school. The school dept would not provide transportation for parents to choose others school that are not within their zone area.
So does Wake County allow parents to choose any school and also provide bus transportation even if is 30 miles from their place of residence?
No, we don't have the zone system you have...what city/state are you in? The new board is using a consultant and he has just proposed that we go to such a system. But it hasn't been discussed widely, nor voted on.
The current system is that you are assigned based on your node (or mini zone if you will). To determine this you go to www.wcpss.net and enter your address to see your assigned schools.
If you go to a school that is your assigned or optional choice school, you get bus service. Most neighborhoods have a base school, a year round option if base is traditional, or vice-vera, and a magnet option. Magnets are by lottery, not enough seats, difficult to get in. There are deadlines for these applications if you don't accept your base, all the info is on their website.
Most kids do, in fact, go to their neighborhood school. Only a small % are bused for diversity or overcrowding. Others are bused by choice such as if you don't accept your base school.
The district (which is countywide), is broken into nodes. You are assigned a base school, based on your address within that node. You register at that school, and may apply for a seat in a magnet school. I think you can apply to go to other schools, but they do not provide transportation, UNLESS you are accepted at a magnet school. Some magnets are restricted to certain nodes, for instance if you apply for year round and are accepted, you will be assigned to a year round that is within your node, and that has bus routes that service your address. One school will have several nodes that it draws students from, and they do redraw the lines of service area for the schools (redistricting) whenever a new school is built...even if the new school is across the county, your node may be reassigned to accomodate the additon of that new school. It's a ripple effect on the entire county, each time a new school is built. Your child won't be reassigned to the new school that is across the county. Think of a long line of people, if one person steps into that line in the center, the rest of the people have to shift a little to accomodate the new person...they get bumped over a few steps.
Other magnet programs draw from the entire county, such as the GT Magnet schools. How they intend to elimate busing, and manage these Magnet schools is beyond me. Most of the Magnet models (aside from year round) were originally assigned to less desirable areas of the county, to attract student applicants from other areas. That's why the students in those schools may ride the bus for over an hour...but their parents chose to send them there, and were well aware of the transportation realities.
Most base schools are within a few miles of your home. They're not going to assign a base school in Zebulon, to someone with an Apex address. You may go to Cary or Holly Springs with an Apex address, but not across county. Applying to a magnet, or for a school that is serviced by different nodes than yours, does not mean you will be accepted. It is not likely that you will be allowed to change from your base school, unless you can provide evidence that going to your school would be a hardship on your farmily, and you don't get to define "hardship", the school system does.
It sounds crazy, but bear in mind that there are large unincorporated areas of Wake County still. A developer may buy up a large parcel of land in one of those areas, build and fill a new neighborhood, and since the schools are already at or over capacity, they have to manage the growth somehow. The County does not regulate the order in which developers may build, based on the infrastructure already in place...they build the infrastructure after the need exists for it.
Some version of the controlled choice option now before the board is a good compromise. I woule love to see a compromise where both sides feel somewhat satisfied. I have had enough of the power struggle.
Something tells me that this new plan is a variation on the old plan. We have controlled choice now, we just don't necessarily have the seats in our "school of choice" to make it possible to have our first choice. I don't see how they can change all of that, unless they have a school construction fairy willing to plant new schools and fill them with all the wonderful things each and every parent wants to have for their children. We still have a budget to live with, and they've spent a good portion of that on things like security for the meetings, creating a survey they chose to ignore when it didn't support their rhetoric, and hiring consultants for all things they need guidance with...which appears to be a considerable list at this point.
Something tells me that this new plan is a variation on the old plan. We have controlled choice now, we just don't necessarily have the seats in our "school of choice" to make it possible to have our first choice. I don't see how they can change all of that, unless they have a school construction fairy willing to plant new schools and fill them with all the wonderful things each and every parent wants to have for their children. We still have a budget to live with, and they've spent a good portion of that on things like security for the meetings, creating a survey they chose to ignore when it didn't support their rhetoric, and hiring consultants for all things they need guidance with...which appears to be a considerable list at this point.
You have a good point, many in fact! I think you are right....
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