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I'm in North Raleigh, having lived in this particular house for the last 18 years.
The only time we were redistricted was about 5 years ago...my daughter's middle school was changed when she entered 6th grade. It was a change we wanted.
Other than that...4 kids...all same elementary and high school. Two went to one middle and two to the other.
We've had good years with great teachers and a couple of years with teachers that SHOULD have retired years before! We have teachers that taught when child #1 went to HS and the SAME teachers are teaching child #4.
I have 3 kids that got into very good colleges, including UNC Chapel Hill and NCSU and ECU.
I'm very happy with WCPSS.
Vicki
Me too, Vicki.
My son went to East Millbrook Middle, had to kick a lot of tush, but got turned on to computers. This led to more computer study in Millbrook HS, a degree from tech school, and a great job with NC government.
The schools are a great value for the taxes we pay.
So would you say that the reassignment is ok as long as the kids get relocated to schools of the same quality? Is that mostly the case? Are there any schools to avoid in Wake that you would not want your kids to be reassigned to? Also what do you do when your kids are on different school scehdules? Thank you
schools in the Raleigh/Cary area you probably wouldnt' want your kids to go to would be Dillard Elementary and ESPECIALLY Dillard Middle (you can search through the archives and find a few threads on that very subject and read mine and others horror stories with Dillard schools) Athens Highschool isn't great either, atleast not compared to most of the other schools in Western Wake Co. from what I've heard about it. In general, the schools tend to be better on the western side of Wake County, and less than great on the eastern side. The one notable exception being Southeast Raleigh high school which is in a rough area of town (southeast raleigh) but is a magnet school with excellent science and computer programs. Would avoid schools in Garner, East Wake (Knighdale, Wendell, Zebulon). Chances are those aren't areas you'd be looking to relocate to anyways. If you really want to avoid reassignments I'd suggest you look to more established areas of North Raleigh or possibly eastern Cary (just be careful in Eastern Cary not to be assigned to Dillard schools!). The people who have posted on here saying they are VERY satisfied with Wake schools both live in older more established areas of the triangle that don't deal with reassignments nearly as much as the fast growing/developing newer areas do.
Since we are talking about Cary specifically here-
The great majority of Cary residents are not unhappy with the educational components of their childrens' schools. The ones that are unhappy enough to be vocal about it typically have two objections-
Year Round Schools and Frequent Redistricting.
I'll agree that in a perfect world neither of those things would take place, but that's just not the way it is. We are in a high growth area, Cary (and West Cary specifically) being particularly attractive areas with high concentrations of new construction. If Cary's population is expected to grow by 25% over the next 10 years with the bulk of that growth West of NC55, school assignments are going to be in flux in that area during that timeframe.
I think that parents do their children a disservice by making them feel as if the situation is nothing but a negative. I don't expect that my child will have the same school experience as the one I had 35 years ago when I entered kindergarten, and she has no expectations at all. Why should I dwell on the fact that I didn't go to school all year around? It just serves to make her feel like she's getting a raw deal, and there is no reason for her to think that way.
I want to provide continuity for my daughter. My family moved us around when I was in elementary school within two adjacent towns. I attended different school districts in 4th, 5th, and 6th grade, and it was not easy on me. The hardest part was not the school part, though- it was the uprooting from friends in the neighborhood and the being the "new kid". 99.9% of the time in a reassignment situation all of the kids in a smaller neighborhood or at least a few adjacent streets in a big one all move together, and at the junction of elementary/middle and middle/high school kids get mixed up anyway. I really feel based on personal experience that establishing a consistent HOME environment for your child gives them the ability to weather the possibility of attending different schools.
Since we are talking about Cary specifically here-
The great majority of Cary residents are not unhappy with the educational components of their childrens' schools. The ones that are unhappy enough to be vocal about it typically have two objections-
Year Round Schools and Frequent Redistricting.
I'll agree that in a perfect world neither of those things would take place, but that's just not the way it is. We are in a high growth area, Cary (and West Cary specifically) being particularly attractive areas with high concentrations of new construction. If Cary's population is expected to grow by 25% over the next 10 years with the bulk of that growth West of NC55, school assignments are going to be in flux in that area during that timeframe.
I think that parents do their children a disservice by making them feel as if the situation is nothing but a negative. I don't expect that my child will have the same school experience as the one I had 35 years ago when I entered kindergarten, and she has no expectations at all. Why should I dwell on the fact that I didn't go to school all year around? It just serves to make her feel like she's getting a raw deal, and there is no reason for her to think that way.
I want to provide continuity for my daughter. My family moved us around when I was in elementary school within two adjacent towns. I attended different school districts in 4th, 5th, and 6th grade, and it was not easy on me. The hardest part was not the school part, though- it was the uprooting from friends in the neighborhood and the being the "new kid". 99.9% of the time in a reassignment situation all of the kids in a smaller neighborhood or at least a few adjacent streets in a big one all move together, and at the junction of elementary/middle and middle/high school kids get mixed up anyway. I really feel based on personal experience that establishing a consistent HOME environment for your child gives them the ability to weather the possibility of attending different schools.
I have to agree with you on this one! I have actually heard kids say that they don't understand WHY their parents are so upset that they are being reassigned to a brand new school! Kids are VERY flexible. They take their cues from us, their parents. If we remain positive about change, they will accept it much easier. Those parents that are in an uproar about change just make it more difficult for their kids and this I just don't understand.
I'm not in Cary, but in defense of those "in an uproar" I want to point out that many probably do not carry that attitude home to their children. I was very upset about a teacher in Chapel Hill when we lived there (VERY) after some things happened. I was up at the school about this teacher a number of times and fuming. When my child spoke abotu school or the teacher, etc. I was nothing but positive and supportive. There are many things which, as adults, we compartmentalize into "for the kids ears" and "not for the kids ears." I imagine most of those upset at the system are not discussing it in front on the kids...
The parents that were not in support of the all year schedule, organized and signed petitions and spent hours on the phones, against year round.
Kids are very intuitive. I seriously doubt that these kids didn't know that their parents were against year round school for them. Kids have a way of picking up on things.
As my kids are older now, they tell me things that we, as parents, thought we kept well hidden from them but yet, they KNEW.
I'll respectfully disagree regarding parents keeping their feelings from their children based on the following-
During the course of the debate over year round conversion the street in West Cary I lived on at that time was visited by 3 different local news teams. The parents complained to the cameras with the kids in full view and in full earshot of the interview. I later saw some of my other neighbors picketing in front of BOE Headquarters with their kids in tow. There wasn't a kid on the street that didn't know EXACTLY what was going on, and to make matters worse there were a few families who were ostracized for simply being open to even the IDEA of year round. The families that tried to minimize the impact on their kids were treated horribly. It was an embarrassment, and those events played into our decision to move. We stayed in Cary, and chose year-round.
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