Ok...here we go with WCPSS...not happy!! (Charlotte, Raleigh: credit, buy)

[WorkingMomof2]

Originally Posted by cmd

My son was accepted to YR for next school year. My daughter starts kindergarten in 2009. Of course, I want them at the same school/track. Do they automatically accept siblings of students in YR schools?

If you applied to a YR as a calendar option and your child got in, then that child's siblings will also get in and should be on the same track. If you applied to a school as a transfer from your base (for whatever reason), then no, your other child is not guaranteed a spot.

[cmd]

Originally Posted by WorkingMomof2

If you applied to a YR as a calendar option and your child got in, then that child's siblings will also get in and should be on the same track. If you applied to a school as a transfer from your base (for whatever reason), then no, your other child is not guaranteed a spot.

Yes, it is a calendar option school. Thanks!

[annesg]

I didn't realize there is a "popular" track--a more desirable one. Is this so? IF so, which one is it? Is it the same in every school? I'm actually hoping for track 4 at Carpenter b/c we planned our July vacation a year ago long before we knew we were being transferred to NC, and I don't want to miss the first day of school Just wondered what my chances are of getting on that last track to start.

[weluvwakeforest]

Originally Posted by annesg

I didn't realize there is a "popular" track--a more desirable one. Is this so? IF so, which one is it? Is it the same in every school? I'm actually hoping for track 4 at Carpenter b/c we planned our July vacation a year ago long before we knew we were being transferred to NC, and I don't want to miss the first day of school Just wondered what my chances are of getting on that last track to start.

A lot of people don't like track 2 - it is a very mixed up schedule. However, I do know of several people who loved it - smaller classes, etc.


This is the track where you literally have a week off between one grade and the next.

If we had gone for year round, I would have liked in this order : 4, 1, 3 then 2.

[durhammom]

Hi!

This is to address a few comments (particularly bull city rising and snowpea) that have been made about all the fuss being made about the WCPSS bussing being from conservatives not wanting their kids to go to diverse schools. Well, I classify myself as a conservative with a libertarian streak and one reason I chose to live in Durham because I wanted my kids to grow up in a naturally diverse environment and attend schools that were naturally diverse. I think forced bussing is wrong because I don't think those long bus rides help educationally and more than offset any benefit of having kids in a diverse environment and if I lived in Wake I would probably oppose it on that basis. I also think there are other issues with bussing but I won't go into the laundry list here.

My point is simply that if you support bussing fine. Make your argument. But don't assume that the other sides argument is really a cover for their dislike of diversity.

[raleighjayne]

Durhammom--Excellent post! I'm a LIBERAL and I don't like the diversity policy. Or more accurately, the current implementation of it. Busing kids 15 miles just to make sure that a school is 'diverse enough' is BS.

[raleighjayne]

Annesg--Most people seem to like Track 4 because it most closely follows the traditional calendar. If families have children in high school or they visit friends/family over the summer then track 4 most closely aligns. I think Track 1 comes a close 2nd, if I remember correctly.

[PDXmom]

Originally Posted by durhammom

Hi!
My point is simply that if you support bussing fine. Make your argument. But don't assume that the other sides argument is really a cover for their dislike of diversity.

I'm liberal and I don't like the bussing for an environmental reason. I just don't think we have those sort of carbon emission points to use. While this did factor into us picking Durham Co over Wake Co, the main reason was we had just endured a multiple year fight in Portland over school redistricting and I was tired of that fight. (The redistricting was due to schools shrinking.) And we were looking for racial diversity that we did not have in Portland.

Ideally, economically diverse neighborhoods would slove this problem. Kids from diverse economic backgrounds would go to the same neighborhood school. (Even walk to school together maybe!!)But greed has won out in the end. Lets face it, even if the city of Durham wanted to put a low/moderate income housing project in the Southpoint area, the City could not afford the land. (DPS currently can't even afford land here for another school). The same thing applies to Cary, Raleigh, etc.

I'm not throwing up my hands saying there is no solution, but the solutions I have all have holes in them. I'd love to see evidence of another city where promoting economically diverse neighborhoods has been put in place. I've seen low in come neighborhoods welcome those w/ money. But I've never seen examples of a Southpoint or Cary welcome low income developments. I hope there are examples I'm just now aware of them.

[Snowpea]

Originally Posted by durhammom

Hi!

This is to address a few comments (particularly bull city rising and snowpea) that have been made about all the fuss being made about the WCPSS bussing being from conservatives not wanting their kids to go to diverse schools. Well, I classify myself as a conservative with a libertarian streak and one reason I chose to live in Durham because I wanted my kids to grow up in a naturally diverse environment and attend schools that were naturally diverse. I think forced bussing is wrong because I don't think those long bus rides help educationally and more than offset any benefit of having kids in a diverse environment and if I lived in Wake I would probably oppose it on that basis. I also think there are other issues with bussing but I won't go into the laundry list here.

My point is simply that if you support bussing fine. Make your argument. But don't assume that the other sides argument is really a cover for their dislike of diversity.

Durhammom, my post referred to socioeconomic diversity. Does yours?

As far as I tell from the posts on this forum the most popular Durham Public Schools are the least diverse (in socioeconomic terms). Durham Public Schools actually work well for someone seeking reliably low levels of socioeconomic diversity since the system does not reassign to balance the student body. Indeed parents are targeting those low diversity schools to the point of overcrowding.

So lets not imply that by choosing Durham public schools you are automatically choosing diverse schools (once again I am referring to socioeconomic diverstiy).

0-10% F & R - MCH-DTCC
10-20% F & R - Easley, Mangum, Little River
20-30% F & R - Jordan, DSA, Creekside, Morehead, Riverside
30-40% F & R - Pearsontown, Rogers Herr, Early College, Northern, Soiuthwest, Hillandale, Carrington
40-50% F & R - Southern, Hope Valley, PLC, Southern Eng., Hillside Stem, Forestview, Brogden, Shepard
50-60% F & R - Githens, Parkwood, Oak Grove, Hillside, Club, Pearson Middle, P G Pearson, George Watts
60-70% F & R - Eno River, Neal, R N Harris, Chewning
70-80% F & R - Holt, Bethesda, Lakeview, E K Powe, Lowes Grove, Merrick Moore
80-90% F & R - Glenn, Eastway, Lakewood, Burton, CC Spalding, Fayetteville St
90-100% F & R - Y E Smith

http://www.dpsnc.net/images/stories/...unch_10_07.pdf

[durhammom]

Hi Pdxmom,

Regarding low income housing around Southpoint -- I believe that some of the units in the apartment complexes along Hwy 54 are reserved for low income (at least I've been told that they were) and the same goes for Parkwood. Parkwood, Woodcroft, Hope Valley Farms and others all offer more affordable homes for those that are a bit further up the income ladder but still not pricey. While many of the newer subdivisions around Southpoint are pricier, I think you will find a lot of economic diversity in the schools. Based on a Free & Reduced Lunch report on the DPS website the schools around Southpoint (Creekside, Southwest, Pearsontown, Parkwood) range from 28% for Creekside to 51% for Parkwood. So I think the low income is there -- it just is spread out a bit and not in the form of a complex.