General Wake County Schools discussion (2012/13 school year) (Cary, Apex: low income, new house)
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, CaryThe Triangle Area
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I can assure you that parents living in older neighborhoods had little to gripe about.
I can assure you that was not always the case. Yes, growth contributed to many of the problems. But it was compounded by the musical chairs assignment policies that some neighborhoods and families had to endure - regardless of growth. Some of us who lived in established areas still got shipped across the county in the interest of diversity, with minimal impact on individual school populations at either end of that situation.
Ahh yes Garner, one of those places that has seen a huge population boom in the past ten years. There's only so much any school district can do in that situation, especially when the purse strings are drawn tight on new construction. Perhaps if that school bond way back in 2001 I believe it was hadn't of been defeated, they could have built schools to keep up with the explosive population in southern Wake County.
Perhaps if that school bond way back in 2001 I believe it was hadn't of been defeated, they could have built schools to keep up with the explosive population in southern Wake County.
I was one of those who voted against the bond issue (I'm thinking 1999, but I could be wrong), because it was so overloaded with add-ons and extras that had nothing to do with school construction. I think many of us who opposed it would have supported a more reasonable and focused request.
I can assure you that was not always the case. Yes, growth contributed to many of the problems. But it was compounded by the musical chairs assignment policies that some neighborhoods and families had to endure - regardless of growth. Some of us who lived in established areas still got shipped across the county in the interest of diversity, with minimal impact on individual school populations at either end of that situation.
Which neighborhood were you living in at that time?
I was attending Wake County schools during what a lot would consider the height of their diversity busing scheme. When my parents moved down here from New Jersey, my mom spent countless hours researching the nodes and reassignments, which was no small task without the internet at that time! During my 10 years in the WCPSS, we were reassigned one time. Then my family moved when I was about to start middle school, which would have caused my sister to be reassigned to a third elementary school, but my parents petitioned and were allowed to keep her in her current school as long as they provided transportation. It was a pain for my parents but they did what they had to do.
Of course there were stories in those days of people getting reassigned again and again, but like the past ten years, the vast majority of those stories were happening in areas seeing rapid building of new neighborhoods. It seemed like whenever an older neighborhood would be facing more than reassignment in a short period of time, that neighborhood would rally together into a huge mob and get the decision overturned, while people in newer neighborhoods would largely get ignored. Is that the right response? I suppose it depends on your personal beliefs on the matter.
The one thing Wake County did to REALLY screw up this situation is not charge impact fees on developers. So we allowed them to build and build and build without providing some money to build the new infrastructure that was needed for all the new neighborhoods. So you end up with kids crammed in trailers because there's simply not enough classrooms in the newer neighborhoods.
With regard to impact fees - our state legislature will not allow them. Of course, Wake could do what Orange County (including Chapel Hill) does - adopt a Schools Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance, which curtails residential construction if there is not school capacity to support it.
Oh, I see. Thanks for the clarification. I thought this poster said moving in Jan or Feb....? But regardless, yes. June 10 to the second week in July is a nice break, and then possibly more depending on which track is assigned.
I was the original poster. Assume we move in February to a track 4 school that becomes year round. I think that is definitely possible. I guess he would have a break in April. Then school straight through end of June. one week off for July Fourth and if he got track 1, no break until mid September as I understand it. I was just thinkint that woudl really suck to be a kid with only one week home between Easter and Mid September.
But things seem so uncertain now that it is probably pointless to worry.
Why would you have to move from track 4 to track 1? Is that what the single track YR schools are on?
The single track YR schools are on Track 4. Switching to Track 1 would be the "worst case scenerio" if you're concerned about a summer break, because Track 1's first track out is right after Labor Day. My daughter switched from Track 2 to Track 1 between kindergarten and first grade. So she basically had no real break from June - September that year. It had no negative impact on her (or us), but since she was so young, I don't know that she knew enough to be upset about it.
The thing I find odd is that I thought that Highcroft and Alston Ridge were Track 4 because they feed to Mills Park MS, which is traditional. Track 4 aligns most closely with the traditional calendar, helping the families with kids in ES and MS. I wonder if they'll go back to feeding into Salem MS until the new Alston Ridge MS is built. The fact that there are all these YR elementary schools in West Cary, with no YR middle school is just nuts. They screwed it all up by changing Mills Park ES and MS to traditional at the last minute.
. The fact that there are all these YR elementary schools in West Cary, with no YR middle school is just nuts. They screwed it all up by changing Mills Park ES and MS to traditional at the last minute.
It is crazy. The next closest one is Lufkin Road. It's not exactly convenient.
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