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Check out this article in the N & O about "rim schools" These are the schools that line the beltline in North Raleigh and are under-enrolled. Yet F & R kids are bussed miles & miles past them.
Some "Rim parents" fear that if we go from nodes to zones, they will get F & R kids who used to be shipped further out. They are forming an organization to maintain teh status quo.
With nodes it is hard to see, in an organized way, where kids are being bussed. Thus, we are left arguing about whether or not we should bus, as if it is a clear cut either- or question, instead of looking at options for bussing more reasonable distances.
Nodes insulate the wealthy & well-connected from changes they do not want. And they do it in a way that is difficult to trace.
Choose your school, then you'll want to find the "Student Assignment Information" at the bottom right corner. On the next page you will choose the "Maps for Calendar Year" option. That will give you a map showing all of the areas that are bussed in for that school (except for individuals that may have been grandfathered or are pulled for magnet, but I think they are usually responsible for their own transportation).
Since you are from Wake Forest I used Wake Forest- Rolesville @ Heritage HS. The darkened areas are the zoned nodes and outside bussing areas.: 588 Wake Forest-Rolesville High @ Heritage High
Look at this nutty commute! Luckily much is changing for East Cary students in 2010, but keep in mind this school is near Cary Town Center near Kildaire & Maynard and some kids are being bussed from as far away as north of 540 & 70! 402 East Cary Middle
Maybe this will help folks to see how far reaching the bussing is. I am all for neighborhood schools and do NOT want my children spending any more time on a schoolbus than absolutely necessary.
The truth is that no one wants them in their school, but they have to go somewhere. Tedesco is presenting his "zone' plan on Friday, which should be interesting! I'm skeptical that it will produce true neighborhood schools, but am certainly interested to hear his plan.
As for East Cary, I don't necessarily disagree with the assignments for right now. It just recently re-opened as a YR school and was basically empty. It doesn't make sense to leave one school with 100 extra students while another sits empty. It's just 5 minutes off of I-40 and not really that long of a bus drive (probably 20-30 minutes, max). I live right behind the school and when my own child went to school in downtown Raleigh, I could drive there in 10 minutes. I'm sure a bus can make it in under 30, which for middle school students, is not that long. So, while I agree that it might "look" a little nutty on the map, honestly, I don't think it's that bad of an assignment.
I know how to find out info for individual nodes, it is the Big Picture that is obscured by the node system.
Not dissing your ability to locate a node... just pointing out (to anyone) there is an option to see ALL of the nodes (big picture) assigned to each school on one inclusive map, vs. one node. That way you can see how far reaching the areas are.
The last 3 years our subdivision was split into two and WCPSS sent 1/2 to East Cary MS & 1/2 to West Cary MS. Kids in the same development were not going to school together.
I realize the school just opened as YR and needed students (as our node is bussed to it) but why not send kids who live closer and additionally why send 1/2 of our neighborhood. Keep the neighborhoods together - if they don't there will be no sense of community.
Fortunately, we will all get to go to Mills Park MS TOGETHER, and all our base schools are traditional so families don't have to struggle with multi-schedules.
Not dissing your ability to locate a node... just pointing out (to anyone) there is an option to see ALL of the nodes (big picture) assigned to each school on one inclusive map, vs. one node. That way you can see how far reaching the areas are.
The last 3 years our subdivision was split into two and WCPSS sent 1/2 to East Cary MS & 1/2 to West Cary MS. Kids in the same development were not going to school together.
I realize the school just opened as YR and needed students (as our node is bussed to it) but why not send kids who live closer and additionally why send 1/2 of our neighborhood. Keep the neighborhoods together - if they don't there will be no sense of community.
Fortunately, we will all get to go to Mills Park MS TOGETHER, and all our base schools are traditional so families don't have to struggle with multi-schedules.
This is a tough call. We are one of those families shipped to East Cary (I don't personally have kids there yet but it's our base MS) from far away. There are no "feeder" schools so our kids go from an elementary in west cary (we pass 2 other elementaries to get there) over to East Cary MS then back over to Panther Creek for HS (we are closer to Green Hope). The bus takes longer than 30 min in the morning, according to my neighbors. Shoot, the bus to the elementary 2 miles up the road takes 30 minutes with all the stops and weird routing!
I am not anti-busing. I think everyone should have the option to go to a good school. I would like to see zones or nodes or some system that balances F&R in a logical manner. Maybe they can draw maps where even F&R children can go to a good school without passing 2 other good schools in the way. I don't know how they will do it, I just hope it's not willy-nilly and makes some modicum of sense.
The thing is that in the case of ECMS, it is more about capacity and long range planning, than diversity. Which is what may of us have been saying all along that the majority (not all) of assignments are growth related and not diversity related. The first year ECMS was re-opened as a middle school (like 2 years ago) it only had a 100 or so kids in it! The local kids around the school DO go there. It's our base middle school too, and like I said, I live in the neighborhood behind it, so it's not like they sent the local kids elsewhere and then filled it up with kids from far away. But because it's YR, they also have to allow kids to go to traditional calendar and many kids around here I know go to Reedy Creek middle school, further away, for that calendar option. The school is still not filled to capacity, so I wouuld expect (and hope) that is it utilized to it's full potential.
The thing is that in the case of ECMS, it is more about capacity and long range planning, than diversity. Which is what may of us have been saying all along that the majority (not all) of assignments are growth related and not diversity related.
If diversity does not play a major role in the assignments, why all the angst over dropping the diversity policy?
My point is that many, many assignments are blamed on the diversity model, when in reality many of them are a result of growth and crowding, which is likely not going to change under the new model either. I still think the SES diversity policy was a good one for the students that it serves/ed. But, the situation with ECMS is about filling a school to capacity and alleviating overcrowding at others. Luckily, ECMS is already a very diverse school, naturally.
Also, the base attendance area has changed significantly for next year. The entire large section in West Raleigh around 540 and 70 has been reassigned OUT of ECMS. Most of it having to do with what is going on with the severe overcrowding at Leesville Middle school, which is being changed due to the changes in the calendar over there. 402 East Cary Middle
My point is that many, many assignments are blamed on the diversity model, when in reality many of them are a result of growth and crowding, which is likely not going to change under the new model either. I still think the SES diversity policy was a good one for the students that it serves/ed. But, the situation with ECMS is about filling a school to capacity and alleviating overcrowding at others.
I'm not sure it's an "either/or" question - assignments for capacity or assignments for diversity. I believe the two are often intermingled. As schools reach or exceed capacity, students are shifted. In deciding which students to shift where, diversity is taken into account. So while the growth may not stop, the responses to that growth could be very different depending on the guidelines one applies in determining assignments.
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I am all for neighborhood schools and do NOT want my children spending any more time on a schoolbus than absolutely necessary.
