Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I haven't kept up with all the debate. Is the Board really talking about "neighborhood schools," or is the proposal about a handful of "community attendance zones"? (Which, in a county of Wake's size, could still each be rather sizable.)
I have read in several opinion about how the busing system doesn't really affect that many family's and most kids go to their local school already.
SO:
If most children get assigned to their local school already whats the big deal with making it the standard for all children.
If most children get assigned to their local school already how is there going to be crippling overcrowding if we move to a local school system.
Because new schools can not be built fast enough to support the high growth in certain areas. Many new schools currently being built are anticipated to be over capacity the first day the doors open. The community based schools will now have to make room for students currently being bused to schools in other areas. I've heard nothing about how this new community based plan intends to deal with overcrowding issues if students can't be bused to other schools.
The actual plan is not formulated yet, that's why it hasn't been announced and no one had heard it. They are going to be crafting it over the next 15 months.
By the way, Panther Creek High School was planned from the start for X number of students. Last time I checked, they had something like 26 mobile classrooms and classes being held in the library, auditorium and cafeteria.
Not saying that is acceptable, just precendented. I am somewhat confident there will be a more sensible guideline to populating neighborhood schools without over/under-utilization when they remain more static and growth can be better predicted. Migration here seems to have slowed down a lot. Many tech jobs have left the area.
In one of the biggest local issues in my lifetime, there seems to be a lot of furor over this plan. All the news outlets saturated us with candidate positions and their determination to create and implement this plan. Now that it's here, it comes as a rude, shocking surprise to so many. In hindsight, it may have behooved the opponents of this plan to have turned out at the polls on the past election day and mitigated this situation with your ballots. When you hear thunder in the distance, it's trying to tell you something. The truly weak voter turnout seemed like casual apathy of the first order. The system currently in place elects a board which sets policy. Plain and simple. Next time, folks need to take a little of their personal time on voting day and actually do their part, rather than treating the results like an affront.
This is not a troll, it is simply my personal experience and observations. I graduated from the "integrated" schools of Charlotte, before the busing stopped in the late 90's. Even though the schools are supposedly integrated, the classrooms were not. The advanced/AG/AP classes were, for the most part, white and asian kids from well-to-do families. The regular classes were, for the most part, black and latino, or white kids from families that didn't value education that much. The best and most experienced teachers, for the most part, taught the advanced/AG/AP classes while the less experienced teachers taught the regular classes. If the school is integrated, but the classrooms aren't, then what's the point of forcing kids to ride a bus across town? It didn't make sense to me then, and it still doesn't make sense to me today. It's just a political shell game to try to make something seem like something it's not.
I haven't kept up with all the debate. Is the Board really talking about "neighborhood schools," or is the proposal about a handful of "community attendance zones"? (Which, in a county of Wake's size, could still each be rather sizable.)
Looks like they are talking both. What I don't see from this is how they can make any more people any happier than they are now. I don't see it improving things for the majority. We already have crowding in some schools in areas where the schools can't support the neighborhood, that's why some kids get buses. These areas are dense with housing, no room to add another school, so what's the solution if you don't bus em?
I think the big uproar will be when the dust settles, new plan is in effect and folks realize they will be shopping for schools and may not get their 1st or 2nd choice.
The current system isn't perfect. We have way too many bright minds in this area we could use to help fix things instead of tearing it down and rebuilding from scratch. Ann Denliger who used to head Durham PS has earned her stripes...why aren't they working with people like her to formulate the plan. I hope Tedesco isn't too proud to reach out to the community rather than the special interest groups he is currently working with.
Is there any data to show how the busing of F&R students has benefited them ?Have their test scores really improved? I get conflicting information for the media. I am more concerned about those kids getting a good education than diversity which for most part seems to be really good only on paper.
This is not a troll, it is simply my personal experience and observations. I graduated from the "integrated" schools of Charlotte, before the busing stopped in the late 90's. Even though the schools are supposedly integrated, the classrooms were not. The advanced/AG/AP classes were, for the most part, white and asian kids from well-to-do families. The regular classes were, for the most part, black and latino, or white kids from families that didn't value education that much. The best and most experienced teachers, for the most part, taught the advanced/AG/AP classes while the less experienced teachers taught the regular classes. If the school is integrated, but the classrooms aren't, then what's the point of forcing kids to ride a bus across town? It didn't make sense to me then, and it still doesn't make sense to me today. It's just a political shell game to try to make something seem like something it's not.
From the time I have spent inside a couple of the magnet schools in this county it seems like that mirrors what I have seen here. That's why I have said all along that this "diversity" plan the county has been on is a shame. It's perception over reality. Even the lunch rooms were segregated. I mean I thought to myself, this is diversity?
Because new schools can not be built fast enough to support the high growth in certain areas. Many new schools currently being built are anticipated to be over capacity the first day the doors open. The community based schools will now have to make room for students currently being bused to schools in other areas. I've heard nothing about how this new community based plan intends to deal with overcrowding issues if students can't be bused to other schools.
My point is, the proponents of current assignment system are saying not that many family's are affected and most kids go to their local schools.
You can't make that argument and then say if you switch exclusively to local assignments of students that there is going to be crippling overcrowding.
To make that argument you have to also admit that there is a lot of busing of students to other schools. I suspect the true is somewhere in the middle.
The question in my mind that needs to be addressed is why are the local municipality's issuing permits to build developments that will overload the local school systems without building in provisions for new schools? Is it because the town of holly springs views the education capacity of the local schools as a wake county problem and therefore ignores it?
Is there any data to show how the busing of F&R students has benefited them ?Have their test scores really improved? I get conflicting information for the media. I am more concerned about those kids getting a good education than diversity which for most part seems to be really good only on paper.
There was the SAS report, but it's been the subject of some debate:
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
