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Hi. My family is relocating to NC this summer. Ideally, we would live in Cary or close by to minimize the commute, but we are nervous to commit to Wake County schools. Are reassignments very prevalent these days with no end in site? How has it been on your kids to have to switch schools from one year to the next? Are their ways to minimize your chances of having to switch, ie., living within a certain distance from a school perhaps? Thanks in advance. From what I read and hear the schools are great, but between the switching around and the year-round/traditional conflict with siblings, we don't know what to do (and have only a couple of weeks left to decide!).
My suggestion to you would be to bypass the OPINIONS and go straight to the FACTS. I'd suggest that you contact the admin at Wake County Public School System and have them answer your questions. I've had clients do this and quite often the info. you gather from others is very different from the info. you get from the source!
I think you will get various answers from many different people. The best answer is it depends. Parts of wake county are more crowded than others, the cary/morrisville area has a high density of homes (it is close to rtp which helps the commuters) so, they are putting homes where they can, people are obviously buying them, and the population continues to grow. So, higher density of population, the need to maintain no child left behind, and you end up with reassignments.
I am not in cary, we moved from cary to wake forest for many reasons, but mainly for a better commute (it is 30 minutes, no traffic, from our house to the office in rtp), and we are on an acre. My daughter attends wcps, and is in a year round school. The year round school is our base and she really likes it, it is quite nice for us as well. She will have the option of going to year round middle school as well, so my kids could be in year round school through 8th grade. Then, yes, I will have one in year round and one in traditional for 2 years. I don't know that there is much of a solution for that because the population keeps increasing as people are moving to the area.
Anyhow, from the kids that I know who have experienced reassignment, it seems that usually there are a number of people who they are friends with who experience the same thing and they end up at the same school once reassigned. It is frustrating, but a fact of life right now. So, you can always apply to charter and or magnet schools which would make it so your child does not have to change schools when there is a reassignment.
I know I didn't given you a definitive answer, but there just isn't one. You will have to decide what works best for your family. A longer commute may help with the school situation, but you never know.
First, I suggest using the "search" function here at City-Data to see prior threads on Wake County Schools (search that, or WCPSS).
Second, google-search the same. There are quite a few independent website out there which discuss/post the issues, as well as a VERY active blog (WakeEd) on the News&Observer website (PM me for specific http:// info, I cannot post it here).
Those 2 things should put you well on your way to information-overload!
Now, for my personal opinion on the matter:
I cannot and will not complain about the actual SCHOOLS -- from what I have heard teachers, staff etc.. are by-and-large very good and do VERY well with what they have to work with.
My issue is with the bureaucracy; the WAY WCPSS is run.
I personally feel that their socio-economic diversity agenda totally trumps ALL OTHER functions of the district - like, um, EDUCATION.
You can live someplace and never get reassigned, or you can live someplace and get reassigned 3 times in 3 years, it's a total crap-shoot. Since they strive (and fail) to keep all schools at <40% "F&R" (free and reduced lunch), they move students annually to try to maintain that goal.
As for the year-round debacle (my opinion here), that is all up in the air. Although WCPSS lost an initial law suit, preventing them from assigning children to mandatory year-round attendance, they appealed and WON on appeal. However, THAT is now being appealed, and a stay has been issued while the courts decide whether to accept the appeal or not.
A ~1 Billion dollar bond was passed in 2006 which provided that all new schools will be built for year-round use. So, between that, and schools getting converted, you may have no say in whether you can avoid that assignment, should the appeal fail.
Finally, the only "safe" (from reassignment) public schools are the magnets. However, they are very difficult to get into, as not only does the F&R of the magnet get considered, but also the F%R of the school you're trying to leave (your base school). It's not a true lottery, it's more of a tiered system wherein you are bound by a bunch of convoluted steps for consideration.
Personally, I found that there was just too much waste, too much instability, too much inequity (between schools), and not enough focus on eduction (at the bureaucratic level) for me. I won't subject my child to some social experiment merry-go-round. So, we left Wake.
You could always move inside the beltline. Because ITB is already built out, the population is stable. Few schools ITB, many of which are magnets, are redistricted.
I don't know how you would avoid redistricting when there continues to be large population increases in specific areas (Cary, Apex, for example).
I'm also struck by the fact that many who vehemently fulminate against Wake County Schools for overcrowding or redistricting are the the same folks who refused to prod the Republican leadership 6 or 7 years ago to get behind the bond issue that failed.
I'm also struck by the fact that many who vehemently fulminate against Wake County Schools for overcrowding or redistricting are the the same folks who refused to prod the Republican leadership 6 or 7 years ago to get behind the bond issue that failed.
I wasn't in Wake 6 or 7 years ago, but DID vote on the last bond on the ballot (2006; "No").
And I will also say it's hard to "prod" leadership (party-irrelevant) to "get behind the bond issue(s)" when you don't agree with the way the money has been/is being spent.
For me, I have to wonder what things would be like if money was spent on bricks (building schools/land) instead of buses and fuel for the last 10 years. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of blame to go around, but the current bureaucracy seems to make it worse instead of better, all the while asking for more funds for, imo, failed social experiments.
At the risk of straying off-topic, I'd encourage folks concerned about the busing policies to look at the impact it's had on student achievement. School systems exist to ensure that every child has an equal access to education. Here in NC, we generally have county-wide school systems.
I know a number of families in Raleigh who are very happy with their schools' performances and who note the national rankings, and reputations, of Wake Co. schools.
It may help to understand some of the history of how this busing system came to be. Unlike the systems in many Northeastern suburbs -- towns which themselves have zoning, minimum acreage and affordable housing barriers that prevent low-income families from moving in and attending school there -- the system in Wake Co. is intended to ensure that every child has a chance to succeed and is not trapped in low-income, low-support, low-performing schools.
As someone who moved down from Boston's urban core, I saw first-hand the inequalities of the 128/495/Southern NH belt versus urban areas like Dorchester and Lowell. Yet as a person who's come from a family raised in the south since the 1760s, I'm happy to see the South finally taking steps, like Wake's busing plan, that can help to undo the long-term socioeconomic and racial inequality inherent in our segregated past.
I wasn't in Wake 6 or 7 years ago, but DID vote on the last bond on the ballot (2006; "No").
And I will also say it's hard to "prod" leadership (party-irrelevant) to "get behind the bond issue(s)" when you don't agree with the way the money has been/is being spent.
For me, I have to wonder what things would be like if money was spent on bricks (building schools/land) instead of buses and fuel for the last 10 years. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of blame to go around, but the current bureaucracy seems to make it worse instead of better, all the while asking for more funds for, imo, failed social experiments.
So-o-o-o... No schools have been built or renovated in Wake County for the last 10 years?
Wow!
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