John Tedesco and that 94.5 percent

Got several letters about today's front-page story on the Wake County schools parent survey (read it here) and school board member John Tedesco's reaction to it. Find others on tomorrow's editorial page.

As I read the article  about the new school board’s survey results, I thought, surely they will be smart enough not to say the obvious. Sure enough, I was wrong. John Tedesco, elected in his district by a majority but by a pittance compared with the eligible voters in Wake County, said it. We should not pay any attention to the 94.5% who were satisfied because the 40,000 parents who expressed an opinion were a small percentage of the total school families in Wake County!
 
Pot calling the kettle!!!  Too bad, isn’t it?
 
Doug Richmond
Cary

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I read with interest your Feb. 5 article on the school board's survey of parents with students in Wake County schools, in which school board member John Tedesco raised doubts about the validity of the survey results.

This survey reveals that 94.5% of parents surveyed are satisfied with where their children attend school.  Now Tedesco is expressing concern that the survey — taken by nearly 1 out of 3 eligible parents — may not represent the views of all parents.  For perspective, Tedesco was one of several board members who insisted the survey be rushed out to parents so that the board might use the results quickly to make decisions about changing mandatory year-round schools, among other things.  

In hindsight, how could Tedesco know that so many Wake County parents approve of their children's schools, when he was elected by less than 50 percent of the 9.3 percent of eligible voters in District 2 who turned out for last falls elections?

Marilyn Sandorf
Raleigh

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As parents of two magnet students, my husband and I are watching the direction of the new school board with respect to magnet schools very closely. John Tedesco, our board representative, has publicly stated that he wants to eliminate the magnet system as we currently know it in favor of neighborhood “assignment zones.” In early January, I attended the information session at Combs Elementary where Tedesco presented his “vision” of the Wake County School System. He was specifically asked whether it would be OK with him if his zone system would result in creating high-poverty schools within our county. He reluctantly, although truthfully answered that no, it would not bother him.
 
Then amazingly I read in the Garner-Clayton Record (“Some say magnet schools can't go,” Feb. 3) that Tedesco thinks that crowded and high-poverty schools are a problem. He even cited Garner High's conversion to a magnet school as an example of "fixing the problem" of a high-poverty school by luring nonpoverty students to that school.
 
So are high-poverty schools OK in our county as long as they are not in Tedesco’s district?
 
Ann Overton
Garner

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Not being a resident of Wake County, I have paid little attention to the antics of the school board. A report in the Feb. 5 N&O compelled me to write. It appears that 94.5% of the parents who were surveyed are satisfied or very satisfied with both traditional and year-round school schedules. This suggests that the school board might reasonably consider the thought that there is little need to change anything. Now comes John Tedesco, a proponent of change, who counsels that we should not give too much weight to the survey because only one-third of the parents responded. Given the fact that  Tedesco and friends won their positions with less than a 10 percent turnout of voters it seems reasonable to think Wake County parents should give no weight at all to their opinions.

Conner Atkeson
Clayton