Are there glitches in the selection algorithm for Wake County's new student assignment plan?

As noted in today's article, some parents and school board members say the first-round results may indicate that the software from Michael Alves has produced some errors. But Chief Transformation Officer Judy Peppler said the algorithm is working fine and processing applications correctly.

School board member Christine Kushner said she's heard from enough parents to think there might be a problem with the algorithm, especially in cases where applicants live within the walk zones of two or more schools. In those cases, she said some applicants didn't get placed at all or wound up in a school outside the walk zone.

The spin from both supporters and critics of Wake County's new student assignment plan is well in progress.

As noted in today's article, critics like the Great Schools in Wake Coalition and some parents dispute Superintendent Tony Tata's assertions that the first round of the selection process was a success.

But Michael Alves, who is being paid by Wake to consult on the plan's implementation, and Wake Education Partnership Vice President Tim Simmons say the results are encouraging.

It's not an understatement to say that internal Wake County school board emails showed a lot of suspicion in regard to how the student assignment plan review process has played out.

On the Democratic side, you have board member Jim Martin expressing suspicion that staff was trying to discourage them from changing the plan. On the Republican side, you have several board members expressing suspicion that the Democrats were moving to delay the plan.

You have Democratic school board chairman Kevin Hill trying to reassure both sides.

The Wake County school board has a lot crammed on its agenda today, including student assignment, school bus routing, the math placement policy and selling the Noble Road property.

That doesn't include the other items that may crop op, such as revisiting the mediation issue with the school board protesters and extending Superintendent Tony Tata's contract.

Let's start with the work session agenda, where we'll see if the new Democratic board majority heeds calls from its supporters to change the student assignment plan. Staff will give an update on the plan.

Michael Alves stands to get hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Wake County school system for his help implementing the new controlled-choice student assignment plan.

The school board will vote today on this contract to pay the Alves Educational Consulting Group up to $110,000 for the rest of the fiscal year. The contract pays Alves' firm for services in support of implementation of the assignment plan and the continued utilization of his proprietary "Controlled Choice" software system.

The contract expires June 30. But the contract also contains wording that it's expected to be renewed and in effect for at least the next three years.

UPDATE

The contract was approved 6-3. Jim Martin voted no. I'm not sure who else did.

Allison Backhouse now has her own blog and her focus today is on AdvancED's  accreditation investigation of the Wake County school system.

Backhouse criticizes the "ridiculous complaint" by the Rev. William Barber of the state NAACP that led to the review. Noting the recent positive AdvancED report, she writes that the organization's concerns were addressed "due to the hard work of the previous Board and Supt. Tata."

"But, what has really changed – besides the political majority on the School Board?" Backhouse writes. "Are our high schools and their students better in some way? Even the Wake Education Partnership came to the conclusion that accreditation is just a public perception issue. We think it’s important only because we’ve been told it is."

Wake County school board member Debra Goldman says she's taking on the role of board "watchdog."

During last week's board meeting, Goldman, a Republican, repeatedly raised concerns about the way she felt the new Democratic board majority was operating. She accused the board of committing several policy violations and not passing the "smell test" on email discussions.

"You’ve referred to me as the watchdog and I will pick up that mantle and go forward with it," Goldman said during the meeting.

The issue of Michael Alves' unannounced private meeting with the new Democratic members of the Wake County school board won't seem to go away.

The issue was revisited with some heated comments during Tuesday's board meeting. The discussion, more of which is detailed later in the post, shows the continuing wariness between the Republican and Democratic members.

More recently, Terry Stoops, director of education studies for the conservative John Locke Foundation, brought up the issue in a Thursday blog post.

Are the new Democratic members of the Wake County school board doing their job to make sure the student assignment plan is ready or are they micromanaging the process?

That was a point of contention between Republican and Democratic board members during Tuesday's review of the assignment plan. The first half of the meeting dealt with a look at how the school system is handling its outreach efforts, particularly informing parents about their options and getting them to register if they're new.

Some tense words were exchanged over the issue of whether school registrars and data managers are able to do the job of getting students registered and informed about their options.

The Republican members of the Wake County school board are not happy that they weren't notified that education consultant Michael Alves was holding a private meeting with the new Democratic board members.

Word about the meeting because public during Tuesday's board work session after GOP board member Debra Goldman asked about the references that the Democratic members were making about having talked with Alves.

"Did I miss a meeting where Mr. Alves came and talked to the board?" Goldman questioned Democratic board chairman Kevin Hill.

UPDATE

CLARIFIED THAT IT'S THE GREATER RALEIGH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE THAT HAS RETAINED ALVES TO HELP WAKE WITH THE PLAN

KEVIN HILL AND JIM MARTIN NOW SAY THAT THE MEETING WITH ALVES TOOK PLACE DEC. 7, THE DAY AFTER THE NEW MEMBERS WERE SWORN IN.