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Glad to see that the vote was basiclaly agreed upon by all but one member. Having all members agree with a preliminary assignment policy will be very helpful moving forward with this.
I alwys knew they'd come back to it eventually because it worked here for the majority for many decades. Bascially they're doing what I've said they should do all along: keep assingments close to home and not force moves. Manybe they should read CD!
*worked here for the majority
* for many decades
everything they've done has worked for the majority; indeed, for 90%+ of students/families. Diversity, reassignment, reversing reassignment, choice, no choice, school caps, and now again, diversity.
diversity as policy was never in place for decades. It was tweaked, changed, re-defined, and actually failed in the last years of its practice. But using FNR lunch diversity was around no more than 10 years.
as to the article, I thought it was inadequately written/edited. It's never clear how MUCH of the $8-some million increase was going to the proposed Office of Diversity. Keung only later says this:
Prickett also was critical of the board majority’s directing staff to put $218,474 in the budget to create the new diversity office. The entity will be led by a new assistant superintendent, to be hired by the new superintendent to help determine the office’s duties.
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Read more here: CARY: Wake school board changes student assignment policy | Education | NewsObserver.com[/LEFT]
Now, if the entire budget of the Office of Diversity is $218K, well, it allows 7 folks on the Board to feel good about it at a minimal cost. $218K is only about 2 teachers worth. But if the assistant super by themsleves costs $218K, and indeed the wording should have clearly said "$8.4MM for the Office of Diversity", then we've got a different matter.
$8.4MM would pay for at least 100 teachers, or at least 2 per messed up school, which would also probably drop class size by 10% in those schools
The wcpss "diversity policy", ie: assignments based on diversity, has been around since the 80's (when I was shipped from a school in the the burbs to a school in the the projects).
I personally think a policy that works for 90% of the people is pretty successful. No policy works for everyone.
The wcpss "diversity policy", ie: assignments based on diversity, has been around since the 80's (when I was shipped from a school in the the burbs to a school in the the projects).
I personally think a policy that works for 90% of the people is pretty successful. No policy works for everyone.
You are correct. Otherwise, I never would've had to attend Carnage Middle School, I assure you.
I'm hesitant to move toward neighborhood schools. There's a reason why so many states have regions where real estate is sky high and people buy their way into those areas no matter how overpriced they are, just to get their kids into the "best schools."
To some extent, I watch people try to move to West Cary or to Chapel Hill to buy their way into the "best schools."
It might work in CH, because of the smaller school system and higher incomes.
It's not gonna work in Wake. The system is too large. And splitting it up won't help unless you gerrymander it into regions that include a diverse enough population. Which...wait for it... Is exactly what the Wake diversity policy did already, while keeping the system intact.
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I'm hesitant to move toward neighborhood schools. There's a reason why so many states have regions where real estate is sky high and people buy their way into those areas no matter how overpriced they are, just to get their kids into the "best schools."
To some extent, I watch people try to move to West Cary or to Chapel Hill to buy their way into the "best schools."
It might work in CH, because of the smaller school system and higher incomes.
It's not gonna work in Wake. The system is too large. And splitting it up won't help unless you gerrymander it into regions that include a diverse enough population. Which...wait for it... Is exactly what the Wake diversity policy did already, while keeping the system intact.
So the successful who work their way up to provide for their children should feel bad because they want good schools in their area? The diversity policy failed those it was trying to help if you look at minority graduation rates. I would hardly call that a success. Move the resources to the schools, don't move the kids around. Until you can address generational poverty and lack of parental interest in low income families you are not going to solve educational inequalities.
You could also look at it like this - rather than focusing on diversity, focus on quality of education and ensuring all schools are equipped and students supported.
Diversity has value of course, but moving students around simply to blend in the bad with the good and make the whole system look better helps the administrators and politicians, not necessarily the students.
Agree.
Shuffling students about spread the impact of low performing students throughout the district but did little to improve the educational outcomes of the low-income students.
In the years I've been following Wake County schools I've read about diversity, bussing, bonds, building new schools... Not once have I read about plans to improve the quality of education. Not once.
Last edited by GotHereQuickAsICould; 05-09-2013 at 05:23 AM..
So the successful who work their way up to provide for their children should feel bad because they want good schools in their area? The diversity policy failed those it was trying to help if you look at minority graduation rates. I would hardly call that a success. Move the resources to the schools, don't move the kids around. Until you can address generational poverty and lack of parental interest in low income families you are not going to solve educational inequalities.
How many "successful" individuals have kids in Wake who are forcibly bused to low-performing schools? I'm guessing that number is incredibly low.
I'm not talking about living in Cary and getting West Cary Middle instead of Davis Drive Middle when you live almost completely between the two distance wise.
Hell, I'm successful. And yanno what? I've not been assigned lousy schools for my kids. I may not have gotten the school closest to my house one time (my eldest kid was bused to Cary Elementary when we lived off Tryon and there were a couple of closer schools), but we've usually gotten the closest school every other year (with all 3 of my kids).
Point being? It is infrequent that kids get sent away to less desirable schools. What I've seen in Wake is the tendency to make schools in lower-income neighborhoods into magnet schools to ATTRACT kids from nicer parts of the county. And it seems to work. When I went to Enloe for high school, we were from all over the county.
Most of the long bus rides are kids from lower-income neighborhoods being bused in to schools in higher-income neighborhoods. Schools with better scores and lower diversity, in most cases.
So, is the problem that people who are "successful" don't want their kid at West Cary instead of Davis Drive or is it that they don't want any kids from South Raleigh attending school with their kid that goes to Davis Drive (or West Cary)??
Because, really? I think THAT is the issue.
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How many "successful" individuals have kids in Wake who are forcibly bused to low-performing schools? I'm guessing that number is incredibly low.
I'm not talking about living in Cary and getting West Cary Middle instead of Davis Drive Middle when you live almost completely between the two distance wise.
Hell, I'm successful. And yanno what? I've not been assigned lousy schools for my kids. I may not have gotten the school closest to my house one time (my eldest kid was bused to Cary Elementary when we lived off Tryon and there were a couple of closer schools), but we've usually gotten the closest school every other year (with all 3 of my kids).
Point being? It is infrequent that kids get sent away to less desirable schools. What I've seen in Wake is the tendency to make schools in lower-income neighborhoods into magnet schools to ATTRACT kids from nicer parts of the county. And it seems to work. When I went to Enloe for high school, we were from all over the county.
Most of the long bus rides are kids from lower-income neighborhoods being bused in to schools in higher-income neighborhoods. Schools with better scores and lower diversity, in most cases.
So, is the problem that people who are "successful" don't want their kid at West Cary instead of Davis Drive or is it that they don't want any kids from South Raleigh attending school with their kid that goes to Davis Drive (or West Cary)??
Because, really? I think THAT is the issue.
The point I was making was that throughout this whole diversity argument the higher income parents are being made to feel guilty because of where they live, and should welcome their children being bussed to a different school "for the greater good". Conversely, what does busing low-income students to high-income schools accomplish other than resentment? Are the low-income kids supposed to suddenly pick up good grades and study habits by osmosis? Busing will not fix generational poverty or apathetic parents.
The problem is that instead of focusing on a quality education for every student and allocating resources appropriately to reduce the disparity between schools, the board is distracting itself with this diversity utopia BS and in doing so is failing in its mission. By making all the schools average none will succeed.
First of all, no one can make anyone feel guilty. Under the old plan, MOST well off students were not bused long distances, it was the other way around. Also by creating diverse schools and avoiding pockets of high poverty schools, it helps by exposing those students to other ways of thinking besides what they've grown up with in a poverty stricken area (which does help address generational poverty). It also helps with teacher retention and quality and having more school resources.
Lastly, this new assignment has already stated one feature of it will be NOT busing students ridiculous dstances and not forcing moves. Sound slike a good plan. I do not believe in just throwing more money at high poverty schools, I don't believe that will improve the schools in any way.
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