“We lost.” That was the text message I received from my friend Nick Johnston, sitting at the school board meeting, in the middle of my IB Theatre Arts class. It was my responsibility to inform members of the school, including faculty, of the atrocity committed, the loss of Broughton’s magnet and International Baccalaureate program. As expected, I had to witness the sheer disappointment of hundreds of committed IB students, who were taught a valuable lesson that sometimes politics trumps the needs and desires of others to have quality education. For this I am sorry for those who were negatively impacted by this.
It was the IB program that brought me to Broughton, and although I am a senior, I still feel deeply impacted by our school’s loss. The reason, because IB is much more than a different abbreviation for difficult classes; it is a program, it is a people, it is a community and it is a movement. It has been a wonderful opportunity to spend the last few years of my life with students and teachers who have learned and taught for a cause much greater than themselves: the quest for knowledge.
I want to thank everyone who fought for this program from beginning to end, and every member of faculty who brought the IB program to the level of such high competency that the school board assumes were not deserving of it anymore. My grades in the long run may not be as pretty as they would have been if I had taken AP or Honors classes, but IB has taught me that those things are irrelevant when given the opportunity to equip myself with the knowledge needed to succeed in our global community.
Andy Sherman
Raleigh
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Some mistaken information has been circulating throughout the community regarding the efforts of Broughton students who were in favor (and still are in favor) of the school keeping its magnet status.
Just as the e-mails sent by students to the Wake County school board regarding their concerns on the magnet status of Broughton were actually NOT written by teachers (another rumor), the students who attended the board meeting Wednesday were not provided any extra credit, either.
The IB middle years and diploma program teaches students to think for themselves and to stand up for what they believe in, and that is why we went to the meeting Wednesday. The attendance of students from grades nine to 12, as well as of alumni from Broughton, demonstrated the profound sense of community that the magnet program has brought to the school: We Are IB.
The decision to remove Broughton’s IB status came only too quickly and brought many to tears and embraces that attempted to ease our disbelief. The wise philosopher Confucius said, “Our greatest glory consists not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” Stay strong, Broughton High School.
Caeley Kane
Broughton High School junior
Raleigh
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Today, I can only feel disappointment, the disappointment caused by losing Broughton’s magnet status. The disappointment caused by the fact that we were seemingly not heard, or if so, not taken seriously. And what’s more, the disappointment that the people who we as a society have elected for the common good of the student have failed to act upon that good.
By deciding to strip Broughton of its magnet status, and thus its internationally acclaimed IB programs, they have helped create a cycle of success and failure; one that, once started, is difficult to bring to a halt. Broughton High School is renowned for its IB diploma program and has one of the most successful programs within the United States of America today. This success came because those of us who participate in the program have come to embrace it and have nurtured it in a way that few schools have that is necessary to spur on IB.
Today, the board has killed our program and taken away from our community one of the things that we treasure the most.
The decision to “relocate” Broughton’s IB program makes the situation seem even more desperate for the school board. It implies that board members have no idea how such a program works and the time, money, care and patience it requires to become something satisfactory.
I feel disappointed with the knowledge that five school board members have turned their backs on a decision that they all reached just seven weeks ago! They have gone back on their word to allow us to keep our magnet program, because they were confronted by a host of angry parents who live on the other side of Glenwood Road from Broughton; a neighborhood that has had the privilege of sending its children to Broughton for almost four decades. A group of people who have rallied together in order to go against everything that the board has strived to attain for years; they have caused the board to go against social equality within our schools? And why? Just so that they can feel comfortable knowing that their children are able to go to a school that has been given the opportunity to show the rest of the world what America has to offer to its students; something that their children can no longer partake in, because, as of today, they succeeded in getting the board to remove it.
These are the families who will abandon Broughton within a heartbeat once things begin to change and go back to how they were. These are the families who, once they realize that Broughton no longer has to offer their children an education like no other, they will send their children to private schools where they can gain an education that many of us are unable to afford.
The board has sealed Broughton’s fate to allow it to sink back to the situation that it was in 10 years ago, a situation that was mended through the magnet program, a program that Wake County will no longer be trusted to issue to its schools.
Rob Collis
Raleigh
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What occurred Dec. 10 at the school board meeting was not unusual, so why should we feel shocked that the board voted to remove Broughton High School’s esteemed magnet program? After all, political maneuvering is a commonality in our society. Every day morals are compromised and agreements are sealed in the bureaucracy that is American government.
Perhaps we are sheltered within the halls of Needham Broughton High School, perhaps we are foolish, to have expected better of Wake County. Because we did expect better.
As a student, I saw the hope among our student body. So many had faith that the school board would not take away our program. We truly believed that the board members would see our great success, that they would understand the great impact of the program and that they would see how such a program cannot be taken for granted and transferred at will. We fought for our program. I saw countless students work for hours, writing letters, publicizing, organizing rallies and vigils, and I am proud of what we have done.
We, the students of Needham Broughton, are unique. Defying common profiling of teenagers, we have decided to fight for the opportunity to challenge ourselves in class, to reach beyond the normal level of high school students. I believe that it’s the IB program that has made us this way. The program teaches us to learn for the sake of learning, to expand our knowledge of ourselves and the world around us.
Even non-I.B. students at Broughton come away with a greater understanding of the world. In protesting removing our IB program, we exercised our rights to free speech, assembly and petition with the greatest respect for everyone, the school board included. Our protests were nothing but positive and respectful.
People make the news every day for violent and inappropriate acts, and all that we asked for was the chance to speak out about our school. Some people seem to forget, but this is our education. It is our future. It is our siblings’ future. This belongs to our generation.
So I would like to thank those who voted to remove Broughton High School’s IB magnet status for teaching us such a valuable lesson. The real world is all about politics. Everything is about taking that step up the ladder or preventing yourself from being pushed down a rung. I must say, I appreciate finding out about this now, before I get any older.
Lydia Thurman
Raleigh
