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I just read an article about the best schools in the U.S. Interestingly, Chapel Hill didn't figure in any of them! I would have thought...
BUT Cary did!
"Cary is a small suburb of Raleigh known for its public education. A unique feature of Cary's schools — and arguably what makes them good — is their successful integration policy. Wake County busses students to maintain economic diversity, working to limit the number of students eligible for free or reduced-cost school lunches to a maximum of 40% per school. And according to U.S. News & World Report, 63.8% of percent of Wake County's low-income students passed state high school exit exams, significantly more than in surrounding counties." Top public schools: Midsize U.S. cities - Cary, N.C. | GreatSchools
I just read an article about the best schools in the U.S. Interestingly, Chapel Hill didn't figure in any of them! I would have thought...
BUT Cary did!
"Cary is a small suburb of Raleigh known for its public education. A unique feature of Cary's schools — and arguably what makes them good — is their successful integration policy. Wake County busses students to maintain economic diversity, working to limit the number of students eligible for free or reduced-cost school lunches to a maximum of 40% per school. And according to U.S. News & World Report, 63.8% of percent of Wake County's low-income students passed state high school exit exams, significantly more than in surrounding counties." Top public schools: Midsize U.S. cities - Cary, N.C. | GreatSchools
Yes, in the same article it went on to say:
"But the future of this stellar district is in doubt. An election last fall changed the makeup of the school board, and the new board recently voted to end the diversity policy."
No, the school board elections are not "at large" elections and their terms are staggered. So some people in Wake County got to vote for a new school board candidate and some did not, even though their decisions as a whole affects everyone in the county.
So much for accuracy. I stopped reading right there!
Only certain districts had elections last fall, in an off-year when turnout was very low (which is the (non)-voters' own faults, of course). School board seats are typically something most people don't give a second thought to, but a well-organized group managed to get their candidates on the ballot and enough targetted Get-Out-The-Vote to get them elected. But, the number of folks who voted them in is a paltry % of the voters even in those districts, let alone the whole county.
Wow! I didn't realize that. How messed up is that?! Imho, EVERYONE should have a vote when it comes to the schools in a given district (meaning WCPS). I understand district representation, but still...
Busing may not have been a big problem in Cary, but it has been in Garner. Garner schools exceed the maximum of 40% of students eligible for free or reduced-cost school lunches per school. (One school was as high as 70%.) They have for some time now. That's one of the reasons Tedesco won our district. He said that he was trying to improve Garner schools. He knocked on a lot of doors and spoke to people face to face in support of Garner school improvements. It's also why plans were killed for a new high school on Garner road. It wouldn't be full of kids from Garner, it would be full of kids from Raleigh. If any schools need busing, it's not Garner. Our town is diverse.
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