School board letters keep rolling in

Here are a dozen more letters on the issues in the Wake County school board race, including one about a Garner group's endorsement of Cathy Truitt and one about Truitt's spat with school board member Ron Margiotta over whether she was "vetted" by him.

Find more letters on tomorrow's Other Opinion page and in Sunday Forum on Sunday. Also find some opinion pieces on the main Opinion Shop blog page.

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Garner finds itself in a unique situation for the school board election Tuesday. While many voters are polarized into two camps, many in our community are not comfortable in either.

Some say we are the poster child for what’s wrong with the current busing-for-diversity policy.

It has resulted in high F&R numbers at most schools with resulting low school scores. As the learning environment has deteriorated, many in our community have sent their children to private school, to schools outside our district or opted for home schooling. After no real evidence that the school system was going to give us any relief, the town board finally denied building permits for building new schools. We think that the way the busing program has been handled in Garner has helped to galvanize the neighborhood schools advocates.

At the other end of the spectrum are neighborhood school proponents. Actually, true “neighborhood” schools we could live with. What is unknown is how large our “neighborhood” might really be per the school system’s definition. Right now our close proximity to the source of much of the busing has played a large part in our current problems. Where are large numbers of students with no neighborhood schools going to go? We have concerns.

For these and many other reasons, we have chosen to support Cathy Truitt for school board in District 2. She understands that forced reassignment is not working and disrupts learning for students. Her vision is to assign students to schools in their communities, build schools in growth areas that have no schools and expand Magnet Programs to balance socioeconomic diversity. She wants to involve parents and community leaders in establishing school board direction and policies. Her goal is to give people more choice in where they attend school while working to preserve diversity.

Cathy brings to the table over 30 years of experience in education as a teacher and principal. This experience plus her current work as a self-employed national consultant on planning for tomorrow’s schools across the nation easily qualifies her to serve on the school board. It is for her passion for doing what is best for the children that we seek to work with her for some much needed help for Garner schools.

George Rucker
Garner School Advocates

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Read the background for this letter on the WakeEd blog at http://blogs.newsobserver.com/wakeed/defense-of-cathy-truitts-assertions-about-school-board-member-ron-margiotta

Although it is not something I normally do, I felt compelled to write regarding the reporting on Cathy Truitt and Ron Margiotta. Cathy’s statements are true and she does have a witness to them. However as she has said, Ron, Keith Weatherly and others have stated in public meetings that what we really need is more people like Ron Margiotta, people who will follow Ron.

The e-mails shown by Margiotta are the ones requesting a meeting (THE meeting she is talking about) in which she wanted to discuss with him what being a school board member entailed as she was CONSIDERING whether to run for office. That is why she went. Upon getting to the meeting she found herself “being vetted” by him. When asked what his vision was for children in WCPSS, he said he guessed he had none. That is who the Alliance is looking up to as their hero. Let me say that I believe that many of them are innocently looking for him to make this BIG change they are looking for in the system.

People meet with others for many reasons. WE all would do well to remember what ASSUMeing does to us. Cathy had her reasons for each of her meetings. Many assumptions are being thrown out there about her actions. However, no one has taken the time to ask her. Could it be because they only want to throw slime?

Some people from the Alliance like to tell how they know so much and how they know what is best for all of us in Wake County. Problem is the “problem” looks and feels different in each district and one simple answer does not fill all. There are complicated issues which underlie the “problem,” and it will take the school board, the county commissioners and municipalities to bring about a meaningful change.

I encourage everyone to look at where the funds are coming from to support John Tedesco in his bid for office. Not from District 2, but from Western Wake County. All one has to do is check his campaign reports. So it is obvious in District 2 what is going on, but it is playing out in just the same way in all districts. All the candidates supported by the Republicans were vetted by Ron. Those same candidates were supported by the Alliance. Therefore, they all had to take the same allegiance. Having attended many board work sessions and meetings, Ron says nothing about anything unless it has to do with bringing in poor students to schools in his area.

I would encourage all voters to do some real research in their districts to be sure what they are getting for their vote. Is it good for you and your district or good for Ron and his district’s agenda? I would challenge the papers to do investigative journalism as they are supposed to do. Where are they in looking at campaign contributions, backgrounds of these candidates, allegiances that they had to take for endorsements and reporting on them? Where are the reports on voting record, attendance at work sessions, etc., on incumbents? You reported on these Alliance meetings. Where was the reporting of what these elected officials said? This is an important election and where are you? Build on the truth that has come out in District 2 so that all districts can know who is actually pushing the candidate and agenda for their district. We will be glad to share the data we have with anyone. Our system may need change, but change that benefits all districts and all children, not one district, some children and one person.

It is easy to throw darts when someone puts themselves out there. All people have to do is just check the facts. I have no interest in the back and forth rantings. Just thought it was time that someone spoke up for the truth. And not the kind of truth that is in the eye of the beholder. Actual factual truth which can be backed up with facts and witnesses.

Debra McHenry
Garner

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This letter is about the Wake County School Board races. First let me say a few kind words about a Cameron Park neighbor, John Gilbert. Thanks to John who chaired the school board for many years, we have the highly regarded System we have.

I have enjoyed reading the various articles in The News & Observer covering the upcoming Wake County School Board races. The candidates advocating significant changes surprise me. The present Wake County Public School System is batting over 300 and getting national acclaim. This acclaim was not achieved overnight but goes back to the merger of the Raleigh and Wake County School Systems. It also reflects back in time to those remarkable school board members and subsequent members who built a good foundation for improving education. Today the Wake County Public School System is bearing the fruits of their good judgment and steady hands as demonstrated by the national acclaim.

I do not see from those candidates advocating significant change in this upcoming election any concrete proposals to improve education. The proposals put forward are of personal and neighborhood convenience but little educational substance.

Lastly, I am pleased that my district’s seat is filled by the very capable Dr. Anne McLaurin.

Lee Folger
Raleigh

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I do not feel effort to diversify schools in Wake County helps the students who are bused for that purpose. I believe that neighborhood spirit is best served when children value where they live by going to school there. It puts the parents in a position to better attend meetings and meet with teachers.

I believe that it is better for children to attend school in their neighborhoods and to keep their minds intact, rather than to go off somewhere else that will only confuse them under the illusion that they will somehow be better off attending schools with middle class children.

If IBM can teach maintenance personnel to become programmers, and missionaries can go all over the world teaching with results, then it shouldn’t be that difficult for our students to succeed by attending schools close to where they live.

Ideas:
Let teachers be moved around for diversity. If this were the case it would be a lot fewer teachers to move around than students.

Let’s create a few all boys schools in the so-called poverty areas and staff them with exceptional teaching personnel.

Thomas Jarrett
Raleigh

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One morning my son and I arrived at school early enough to be one of the first cars in the carpool line. It was the first time I had seen the school buses disembark, and I watched a line of white and lighter complexioned, well-dressed students walk straight into the school building while a line of mostly black and brown children crossed over this line of students to a far entrance.

As an African-American woman I was shocked to see what looked like 1950s segregated entrances to school. Appalled, I e-mailed the assistant principal of the school to ask “why.” She informed me that the F&R students from the buses were going to the cafeteria for breakfast. I tried to discuss the research on the psychological effects of isolating these students, but my concerns fell on deaf ears.

Despite our insistence that our public school policies integrate our community, we continue to mark our low-income minority students and their families as lesser individuals. It is for this reason that I am an advocate for a Community Schools model. We must develop public schools that foster cultural respect and most importantly, are inclusive of all children.

Crystal Gafford Muhammad. J.D., PhD.
Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership, East Carolina University
Greensboro

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I can tell you what the future will look like if we abandon the policy of balancing our skills along socioeconomic lines. We’ll have affluent schools and poor schools.

I moved here from Dallas where the local schools were so bad that parents who could afford it sent their children to private schools. One reason we moved to Raleigh was because of the excellent schools.

Let’s not kill this golden goose! If you are concerned for your children, consider the magnet schools so you can have more certainty where your children will go each year. A balanced school system is a huge asset that we need to preserve.

Margaret Escobar
Raleigh

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I didn’t live here when the cultural/educational elites forced busing on Wake citizens. I was shocked to learn that even back when this idea first surfaced, voters decidedly voted it down. Yet the always-wiser government officials forced their own will on Wake citizens.

Proponents of busing for socioeconomic diversity would have us believe that this plan is working out great. The problem with the social engineers is that their goals are not in sync with the goals of parents, and their children’s best interest. This is clearly evidenced by their condescending attitudes toward parents at reassignment meetings. The question we have to ask is: Why do we shuffle our children around each year like pawns, while only creating the appearance of progress through test score averaging?

The top goal of the school system and parents should be the same. We should strive to educate every child to the best of their potential. Hiding failure through busing may give the appearance of attaining healthy schools, but the reality is that income levels have much less to do with achievement than parental involvement and quality teaching. I support Goldman, Malone, Prickett and Tedesco in their efforts to improve WCPSS.

Doug Watson
Apex

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I've heard a lot about how poor kids benefit from the diverse mix we have in Wake County schools. But when I was teaching at an expensive private school, my students had the problems that wealth brings. They were pretty clueless about a lot of practical things. Many suffered from parental inattention. Some even showed signs of arrogance and were quite closed minded. So, let's not assume that only poor students benefit from Wake's diversity; rich students do, too. We all do — students, teachers and society.

Wally Myers
Raleigh

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Here is a real story about how the Wake County school system’s diversity policy works.

Maria was a Latino second-grader learning English at Adams Elementary in Cary. Maria was bright but kept falling asleep in class. Her teacher soon realized Maria didn’t have a bed to sleep in, nor did her mother or brothers. Families at Adams came together to buy beds for Maria’s family: seven people living in a one-bedroom apartment.

After that, Maria stayed awake in class and made huge academic gains. Maria gave me a big hug of thanks every week. It was a heartwarming success story until third grade. That was the year Maria and her brothers were reassigned to another elementary school. Yep, a strong ESL school with a bilingual receptionist, bilingual PTA newsletters and supportive families wasn’t good enough for Maria. The school system knew better. It cherry-picked Maria and her brothers to go to a low free-and-reduced-price-lunch school with no ESL program.

This is just one example of how the current diversity policy can affect a child. I will never forget Maria’s hugs, and I will never vote for a candidate who thinks the current diversity policy works.

Barbara Walsh
Cary

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I can see how The N&O is saving money. You don’t bother to interview the very people you write about. In regards to Steve Ford’s Sept. 27 column, I’m disappointed, but not surprised. He makes assumptions about a group of parents he has never even talked to!  

Wake shuffles kids for the appearance of healthy schools. One candidate states that there are unforeseen consequences of these movements, but I guess if you are the child who has to attend three different schools in four years (yes, I do know that child), that is just the sacrifice you are expected to make!

WCPSS has a lot of good things that we can be proud of, but we can’t continue to overlook the things that are not working! I want diversity in our schools, but I also want a school board that puts academics first, listens to parents, studies the impacts of their decisions on families prior to making them, works with one another to come up with the best solutions to our schools problems and looks at new innovative ideas to reach the children that need it the most.

Janis Tangeman
Raleigh

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Maria Mauriello’s Sept. 29 op-ed supports Wake County’s school diversity policy on the grounds that “a diverse student body in every school is an excellent way to prepare all students for the global community they will eventually enter to live and work.”

What hogwash. The so-called economic “diversity” policy has nothing to do with exposing students to people or ideas from other countries. In fact, the district is so uncommitted to that sort of exposure that some district middle schools recently dropped foreign languages courses in favor of home economics! Apparently, the district wants to prepare students to be the housekeepers and cooks of that global community.

On Tuesday, voters will decide whether the school board will continue such asinine decisions or find a new, common-sense approach to meeting the district’s challenges. Since they generally support what Mauriello calls the “status quo,” it’s clear where her candidates stand.

Chris Fulmer
Raleigh

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Steve Ford argued in his Sept. 27 column that our obligation to “community” (whatever that is) necessitates diversity in our schools. A socially vibrant community requires those students who are above average to attend schools with those who are below average. It’s only fair and it benefits “our community.” Those who oppose this ideal are simply selfish toads.

Community is indeed important, as long as community is formed voluntarily. Otherwise, it’s simply authoritarianism – one person or group of persons imposing their preferences on others.

So I wonder how much Ford really believes in his ideal of community. More pointedly, does Ford actually live in the neighborhoods where the disadvantaged children live with whom he wants to force others to have their children attend school? If diversity indeed promotes the interests of “community,” it certainly can’t stop at the schools. Having disadvantaged kids and their families live among successful people like Ford must certainly benefit our community.

If Ford does not live in such neighborhoods, his concern for the disadvantaged families in our community is hollow and should be discounted accordingly.

Mark Steckbeck
Holly Springs