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Yeah, because all the really good teachers can't wait to teach in poor inner city schools! Charlotte has a problem with high teacher turnover in their "underperforming" schools.
With anything there are unintended consequences and those are soon to be discovered. They can be good or bad but they are a natural part of decision making.
I've said it before, I'll say it again.... choice.
EVERY low performing school with 40%+ F&R should be magnetized. There are many of people (myself included) who voluntarily bypass our neighborhood school to get to a magnet school with a rich curriculum.
There are many more who would do so, if they could get in!
So you kill 2 birds with 1 stone...
1. you improve curriculum which will raise achievement
2. you desegregate voluntarily
Do students get to magnet schools with system provided transportation(cost) or are parents going to be responsible? If the system provides transportation won't that minimize the cost savings of changing the current policy?
I think you're confusing "natural rights" vs. laws. A right is something granted to you by the constitution. For example free speech, a right to bear arms, etc.
Remember we're a republic, not a democracy.
I was just saying that if you are paying taxes you should have some say so in where the money is going or how it is spent, ie bussing kids for no reason. Call it whatever you want, geez.
My apologies for not talking lawyer talk and being 100% exact in using a word.
I was just saying that if you are paying taxes you should have some say so in where the money is going or how it is spent, ie bussing kids for no reason. Call it whatever you want, geez.
My apologies for not talking lawyer talk and being 100% exact in using a word.
You do have a say - as was discussed in this thread, the folks that were against busing (note: one "s" in busing ) were voted in.
I'm not calling it whatever I want, I think it's important to use correct terminology when describing something, don't you? Otherwise you lose the ability to communicate effectively.
I'm not a lawyer but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
My goodness, this has become such a heated and divisive topic - I sure hate to see that. All the comment boards invariably degenerate into name-calling, lie-telling/gross exaggeration, condescension - though I must say, this has been the cleanest one thus far.
I agree that we'll have no idea what this really means for a long time to come - years even. As a downtown/SE resident, and parent to a small child whose assigned school is almost 20 miles away - each way - in Apex, I can't help but hope against hope that something good will out of it, because the thought of putting my kindergartner-before-you-know-it on a bus for God knows how long tears me up.
Somewhere I saw a statistic that 90% of the children who are bused have an average 5 mile trip to their school – though I am unsure as to the veracity of the claim, that I could live with – that’s really no biggie in the grand scheme of things. But where we live, kids are assigned to nearly a dozen different schools within a 5-6 block radius. One block several away from ours has kids, who literally live half a block apart, going to different schools. Our neighborhood is still fragile in many ways, and though there have been many positive changes, it is most certainly a work in progress. I see the kids in our neighborhood and wonder how it's been working out for them - to sit on a bus for that long each day...at certain times of year going to school in the dark and getting home after dark. How many of these kids are socializing with classmates when you live that far apart from one another - even socializing with their neighbors when they don't even go to the same schools? How are parents able to participate and be involved in their child’s education and school experience when the hike is so far, how is this building (and rebuilding) communities?
There's no doubt this is an incredibly complex situation for which there are no easy answers. On all these boards, it's clear that a number of posters aren't parents themselves, and even more clear – don’t actually live in the neighborhoods that are so greatly affected by busing – not “minor busing”, but rather busing that is so terrifically far, actually living in a district that looks like a jigsaw puzzle of nodes rather than large assignment swathes that remotely make sense. It's always easy to be an armchair quarterback when you’re not the one actually living the life – I know I sure was before I had kids…
I wouldn't call it a mandate either. I am pro-diversity policy and didn't even get to vote for a school board candidate!
I am just hoping there will not be a huge rush to change the policy to make a small number of families happy, without first studying this issue at length and coming up with a new idea that is proven to work elsewhere. Charlotte's system has resulted in huge problems, one of which being much higher taxes to pay for all the new schools it took to guarantee everyone could go to their neighborhood school. The growth in this area in HUGE...to think that redistricting will not continue is naive. For instance, we looked at moving to the Bay area, where they have highly recognized school system with "neighborhood schools". But if you move there, they will assign you whereever they can can fit you for the first year, then after a year, they apparently make sure everyone goes to their "neighborhood school". So, do they have to redraw all the lines every year? Do they just have certain schools which are crowded and some underused? No wonder it is expensive to live there. We said, "no thanks". Seemed like a nightmare for our kids.
I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I like having a diverse student population in the schools, and would hate to loose it. But I'm also one of those who is (or, at least, will be once my son is old enough) affected by the busing policies. We are currently assigned to the 4th closest high school to my home, which is nearly twice as far from where I live as the nearest high school. On a good day without traffic, I could drive directly door-to-door to the high school to which we are assigned in a 25-30 minutes. I have no idea what that will mean to a student riding a school bus in the morning at rush hour, but I'm sure it won't be speeding up the commute.
I wish the school board had at least given the appearance of listening to parent's concerns to frequent re-assignment plans, and could find a way to achieve the diversity objectives without requiring the amount of busing currently deployed. And before you ask, I don't know of viable alternatives. But the inability to find them seems to have resulted in a fundamental shift in the goals of the school board members.
I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I like having a diverse student population in the schools, and would hate to loose it. But I'm also one of those who is (or, at least, will be once my son is old enough) affected by the busing policies. We are currently assigned to the 4th closest high school to my home, which is nearly twice as far from where I live as the nearest high school. On a good day without traffic, I could drive directly door-to-door to the high school to which we are assigned in a 25-30 minutes. I have no idea what that will mean to a student riding a school bus in the morning at rush hour, but I'm sure it won't be speeding up the commute.
I wish the school board had at least given the appearance of listening to parent's concerns to frequent re-assignment plans, and could find a way to achieve the diversity objectives without requiring the amount of busing currently deployed. And before you ask, I don't know of viable alternatives. But the inability to find them seems to have resulted in a fundamental shift in the goals of the school board members.
I sure would like to see what a minimized-busing plan will look like!!!! Could we really divert the money we spend on busing to educational programs that WORK for children who are disadvantaged? Will those same folks who speak against diversity based busing allow us to put MORE money into those schools? The Lower the scores, the Higher the per-pupil-expenditure should be.
If a new board can find money to pay for these miracles, more power to 'em! Wait, all teachers had a 5% pay cut last year.....
Yes, it is exhausting to teach in a Title 1 school. The physical and emotional needs of students alone will wear you to a nub by the end of the day. These student need love, compassion and education to break the cycle they are in....
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) were voted in.
