NO NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS in Wake County (Cary, Apex: school district, living, moving)

[PDXmom]

Originally Posted by SarahMom

I have elementary school kids but I still have a Mom who started her schooling in a One Room School house. She recommends this to this day. The parents found the teacher, paid the teacher, bought the books, built the school, paid for the coal to heat the stove (in the middle of the room), and dealt with problems beyond what the teacher could handle. Kids were taught to their ability, not their age or arbitrary age or income level. There was no middle man to define any of that. It was very PERSONAL.

Sounds like utopia. Sounds sensible.

SarahMom, given that you sound very unhappy with the way education is provided by WCPSS why not explore this idea as an option. Like minded parents across the country do it every year. Maybe you will feel happier if you put your energy into something that you feel you have a say in and will have a positive effect on the community. Basically what your mom experienced is a Co-operative School. If you are interested I suggest you look at:
http://www.co-operation.org/pages/cs.html (broken link)
An example of one such school is:
http://www.pdxcoopschool.org/

[SarahMom]

PDXmom: I LOVE that! Thank you! There are some parents here who are talking about starting a Charter school, and I'll bring up this information. If it were here, I'd jump at it in a minute. I assume, since the PDX acronym is the same, that you are involved with this school in Portland? Fabulous. I'm very happy for you.

[PDXmom]

Originally Posted by SarahMom

PDXmom: I LOVE that! Thank you! There are some parents here who are talking about starting a Charter school, and I'll bring up this information. If it were here, I'd jump at it in a minute. I assume, since the PDX acronym is the same, that you are involved with this school in Portland? Fabulous. I'm very happy for you.

I moved from Portland to Durham this past July. My son was in a co-op preschool where I was very involved w/ the school and the governing organization. Thus I have lots of friends in the co-op community in Portland. While I loved the elementary school I listed, my child needed a different fit. But this school has been great for others.

BTW, if you are researching Charter Schools in NC you probably already know this... but just in case. The NC Legislature originally only allowed for 100 charter schools in the State of NC. (I have no idea why.) I've heard they are up to 100 or very close. Personally I think 100 is too small for a State this size. There are 100 counties in this state.

[mayhurst]

I live in Fairfax County and grew up in neighboring Arlington County. The concept of neighborhood schools has served most of both counties very well. As for teachers getting burned out at some schools due to a less than interested group of students, why not transfer the extra money currently used to bus students all over the place into reducing class sizes at the more challenging schools. Fewer students to manage might reduce burnout. Our property taxes in Fairfax have climbed at least 24% each year for the past 8 years. A large portion of our tax dollars go to help fund low income areas in southern Virginia. I think this distribution of wealth is a much more productive solution to addressing the needs of low income areas, rather than puting my kids on the bus for an extra hour or more a day (a solution that would offer no benefit to them).

We are very serious about moving to Wake Forest this summer to get out of this rat race and the political climate that defines DC, but the posts regarding school assignments are giving me pause. For what it's worth, we love a sense of community and getting to know neighbors, so I don't think we would give "transplants" a bad name. I have just lived in Northern Virginia for 43 years and would like a change to a little slower pace. I also like the manners and friendly nature of many people we have encountered on our exploratory trips to Raleigh. I feel the area would reinforce how we are trying to raise our children, rather than it feeling like an uphill battle in Northern Virginia.

[UNCMetsGal]

mayhurst,

While my husband & I left the Triangle area altogether rather than deal with WCPSS, I will say that you CAN find areas outside of Wake that are part of the Triangle yet don't have school systems that foster forced busing - Durham, Orange, Johnston, Harnett and Chatham just to name the ones I looked into before leaving (we left because we had opened our options to ALL of NC, and hubby found a job with a $25,000 pay raise in Charlotte -- so, it's not that the outer counties of the Triangle were a turn off, so much as the opportunity he was presented with was one we could not pass up).

I know you are looking at Wake Forest, but as been suggested on this board 100's of times, you should check out Clayton, northern Durham, Chapel Hill, or the Harnett side of Fuquay-Varina. All of those areas will offer what you're looking for, none of them have forced busing, and there are desirable schools in each area (especially Chapel Hill) so you are not forced to sacrifice quality of education.

Good Luck!

[VickiR]

Johnston County is in the process of building two new high schools. Therefore, its obvious that some students will have to be re assigned. As more people move into Johnston County, the school system will build new schools. Just as Wake County has. I have 4 kids, 3 have graduated from Wake County. I love public schools but if I were to feel as though I needed more say in my childrens' educations, I would either home school or pay for private school. Be active. If you don't like something, change it.

Vicki

[dansdrive]

Call me in when the bells start to ring again but I know a number of schools that are neighborhood schools. One in particular, the Wakefield schools have an Elementary, Middle and High School all on the same road. Anyone that passes those schools before or after school lets out can see many of the students (many is a relative term as I do not know the exact percentages of walkers) do walk to and from school from 'their' neighborhood. So they can theoretically walk to school from Kindergarten to 12th grade. Imagine that. Mayberry comes to North Raleigh!

I agree with the previous poster that we all have options for our children's education. We also all have the choice to get involved with the school system and work toward making positive changes. Because we fund it 100% and should take an active role in its uses.

No school system is perfect or at least I have not seen or read about the perfect school system albeit private or public but involved parents can sure help point the system in that direction.

[VickiR]

Wake County Public School System has never REALLY been considered the type of school system with "neighborhood schools". I think thats something that people just assume.

For example...the developers of Wakefield like to use the fact that there are schools WITHIN the neighborhood; however, its always been up to the buyer's Realtor to explain that simple because the school is CLOSE to you doesn't mean your kids will go to that school.

Wakefield (just using them as an example) filled up with kids close by; thus making the ratios very off. Wake County quickly tried to "fix" that by busing in kids from lower income areas.

So, if you are moving here and someone tells you that your kids will go to the "neighborhoold" school, they are telling you a UNTRUTH!

Vicki

[MikeJaquish]

Originally Posted by VickiR

Wake County Public School System has never REALLY been considered the type of school system with "neighborhood schools". I think thats something that people just assume.

For example...the developers of Wakefield like to use the fact that there are schools WITHIN the neighborhood; however, its always been up to the buyer's Realtor to explain that simple because the school is CLOSE to you doesn't mean your kids will go to that school.

Wakefield (just using them as an example) filled up with kids close by; thus making the ratios very off. Wake County quickly tried to "fix" that by busing in kids from lower income areas.

So, if you are moving here and someone tells you that your kids will go to the "neighborhoold" school, they are telling you a UNTRUTH!

Vicki

Yep.
Or as I like to say, "You won't find a Realtor in their right mind who will tell you what school your kids will attend."

[SarahMom]

Originally Posted by dansdrive

So they can theoretically walk to school from Kindergarten to 12th grade. Imagine that. Mayberry comes to North Raleigh!

I agree with the previous poster that we all have options for our children's education. We also all have the choice to get involved with the school system and work toward making positive changes. Because we fund it 100% and should take an active role in its uses.

No school system is perfect or at least I have not seen or read about the perfect school system albeit private or public but involved parents can sure help point the system in that direction.

My kids can and DO walk to school, we are that close. And yet, they have been moved out in favor of kids from an hour away who will take their seats. The Gestapo decends on Mayberry. Imagine that.

We are involved in the school system. But when the BoE makes a decision for next year which affects your kids, there is no course of action that can take affect immediately except legal action. Granted there are tolerable 'imperfections', but when you start getting something close to socialism its time to pipe up.