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With a lot of growth occurring west of 55 in Cary, I don't understand why Mills Park cannot be converted to year round and the remaining three tracks be started up at Alston Ridge and Highcroft. We don't maximize resource utilization but keep adding more and more facilities and increasing the tax burden. And all the while paying non-competitive wages to teachers. I wish not a penny more would be spent on new construction without first converting all possible schools to year round.
As for the article below, like it or not, it is only growth that hurts that can slow down more growth. WCPSS needs better schools; not more schools.
I agree with you. It seems to me that Carpenter is also under enrolled.
Have a close family member teaching in YR school - they also under utilize tracks 1,2,3 - because "no one wants them". Until wcpss stops making principals fear complaints from parents, this will continue to be a problem. Either central office needs to take over track assignments or they need to turn away any and all track assignment complaints from parents. The teacher I know has 28 kids in his class and tracks 1,2,3 have no more than 20. That is ridiculous.
Honestly one of the biggest shocks to me since I moved here is how much control the parents seem to exert within the schools. Things that would NEVER fly in smaller school districts and it seems weird that a district as big as Wake County lets it happen. It is crippling their ability to make smart decisions.
I can certainly see how capping hurts real estate markets.
With a lot of growth occurring west of 55 in Cary, I don't understand why Mills Park cannot be converted to year round and the remaining three tracks be started up at Alston Ridge and Highcroft. We don't maximize resource utilization but keep adding more and more facilities and increasing the tax burden. And all the while paying non-competitive wages to teachers. I wish not a penny more would be spent on new construction without first converting all possible schools to year round.
As for the article below, like it or not, it is only growth that hurts that can slow down more growth. WCPSS needs better schools; not more schools.
You're going to have to help me out here. How does making a school "year round" have anything to do with population growth/enrollment. Honest question and I don't mean to offend, I just have no idea as I don't have children. In my brain you're still going to have a limit of pupil count at a school regardless of traditional/year style schooling.
I agree with you. It seems to me that Carpenter is also under enrolled.
Have a close family member teaching in YR school - they also under utilize tracks 1,2,3 - because "no one wants them". Until wcpss stops making principals fear complaints from parents, this will continue to be a problem. Either central office needs to take over track assignments or they need to turn away any and all track assignment complaints from parents. The teacher I know has 28 kids in his class and tracks 1,2,3 have no more than 20. That is ridiculous.
Honestly one of the biggest shocks to me since I moved here is how much control the parents seem to exert within the schools. Things that would NEVER fly in smaller school districts and it seems weird that a district as big as Wake County lets it happen. It is crippling their ability to make smart decisions.
I can certainly see how capping hurts real estate markets.
If fewer transplants come to Wake County, that is a blessing.
The greed in attracting these folks here creating a burden on all taxpayers is disgusting.
Many counties need more jobs and workers. Wake does not.
You're going to have to help me out here. How does making a school "year round" have anything to do with population growth/enrollment. Honest question and I don't mean to offend, I just have no idea as I don't have children. In my brain you're still going to have a limit of pupil count at a school regardless of traditional/year style schooling.
You increase capacity with year round (though not to infinity), you maximize utilization of current school capacity (not all schools across WCPSS are loaded with students), and you temper growth by keeping die hard traditional calendar fans out of WCPSS.
I agree with you. It seems to me that Carpenter is also under enrolled.
Have a close family member teaching in YR school - they also under utilize tracks 1,2,3 - because "no one wants them". Until wcpss stops making principals fear complaints from parents, this will continue to be a problem. Either central office needs to take over track assignments or they need to turn away any and all track assignment complaints from parents. The teacher I know has 28 kids in his class and tracks 1,2,3 have no more than 20. That is ridiculous.
Honestly one of the biggest shocks to me since I moved here is how much control the parents seem to exert within the schools. Things that would NEVER fly in smaller school districts and it seems weird that a district as big as Wake County lets it happen. It is crippling their ability to make smart decisions.
I can certainly see how capping hurts real estate markets.
I still haven't figured out why people are hell bent on packing themselves into an area of rapid growth. I don't live out that way (and I know you don't, twingles), yet I can honestly say that our commute times to RTP (we commute to different areas) are under 20 minutes, even at rush hour.
I dunno. West Cary is growing far too quickly. I agree that better utilization of YR tracks would help, but so would making logical home purchases.
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I wish not a penny more would be spent on new construction without first converting all possible schools to year round.
I agree to an extent, but you really have to do BOTH. Converting to year round is just a bandaid for the larger problem and more schools will be needed as the growth continues (and it will no matter how badly Saturnfan and others wish it would stop). The difference is year round conversion is an administrative change that while challenging can still happen much much faster than the process of actually building more schools which will still eventually be needed too. (proposing tax increases, raising money, acquiring land, and constructing a new school) will take years so better start planning now. Putting off building will just ensure you don't have it when it is needed and that it costs more to do in the long run. Long term planning requires both avenues be pursued today (conversion to year round and building more schools).
I still haven't figured out why people are hell bent on packing themselves into an area of rapid growth. I don't live out that way (and I know you don't, twingles), yet I can honestly say that our commute times to RTP (we commute to different areas) are under 20 minutes, even at rush hour.
I dunno. West Cary is growing far too quickly. I agree that better utilization of YR tracks would help, but so would making logical home purchases.
It's all about wanting the biggest, newest home. Honestly it's like 2004 around here. People are moving here from all over and buying up all this new construction, I don't get it. If you're moving here for better QOL and COL, it makes no sense to me.
And it makes me CRAZY that people move here thinking "oh well, I'll just put in for a transfer to Davis Drive" (or some other school but usually that one). I'm tired of all the beyotching from people who "can't get in there". It's over capacity. Period. Both of them. Enough. If you want your kids to go there (or any other school) buy in that zone!
As far as my family member, he is planning on asking for a transfer to another track in the next few years. Teachers are being judged and compared to one another based on test scores so who has the better chance of good test scores, the teacher with 20 kids in a class, or the teacher with 28?
With a lot of growth occurring west of 55 in Cary, I don't understand why Mills Park cannot be converted to year round and the remaining three tracks be started up at Alston Ridge and Highcroft. We don't maximize resource utilization but keep adding more and more facilities and increasing the tax burden. And all the while paying non-competitive wages to teachers. I wish not a penny more would be spent on new construction without first converting all possible schools to year round.
As for the article below, like it or not, it is only growth that hurts that can slow down more growth. WCPSS needs better schools; not more schools.
Fully agree with your comments. There is a substantial investment by WCPSS in the Mills Park Campus that is under utilized as developers clear every inch of land along Green Level Road increasing the demand for school places even more. I can't imagine anyone complaining at solving school capping issues by immediate change of both Mills Park Elementary and Middle Schools to Year Round and making sure that all tracks are loaded to meet capacity needs. Busing the kids to other schools just increases transportation costs and causes knock issues with the real estate market.
In my opinion one of the reasons for this is the lack of ownership of West Cary infrastructure demonstrated consistently by the Town Of Cary and Mayor Harold Weinbrecht who see this area as a 'Tax Cow' for them to milk to fund grandiose Downtown development schemes whilst seemingly ignoring the needs of West Cary taxpayers. A good example of this is the delay in installing traffic lights at the Green Level / Okelly Chapel intersection where it is a miracle that no one has been killed at a busy and dangerous intersection. The ToC have waited over 6 months for the developer to install the lights (which still aren't operational) when they could have paid the $70K cost and invoiced the developer for reimbursement at the agreed date to eliminate the danger. With the massive population growth in the 27519 Zip code the Mayor and other politicians need to understand where the voters are and get their act together before the next ToC election if they want to remain in office. Time they spoke out and took responsibility for the development they 'masterminded' rather than sit back passively collecting taxes and failing to invest in the community. Mayor Weinbrecht should be banging on the doors of WCPSS to get action now rather than waiting for a new school in 2 or 3 years time.
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