"I was thinking of something [chief facilities and operations officer] Don Haydon has said. We've been conditioned to accept things that five years ago we would not have. People have made it work."
The above quote is what Chuck Dulaney, assistant superintendent for growth and planning, told school board members at a facilities committee meeting two weeks ago.
Now what do you think he was referring to?
If you haven't figured it out, Dulaney was referring to the school district's increasing use of mobiles and modular classrooms. The use of mobile classrooms is one of the big questions facing the school board as it works on the next bond issue/capital improvement program.
Wake's long-standing goal has been to reduce the percentage of students in mobiles/modulars to 8 percent. But the district is far from reaching that goal.
Currently, 22.6 percent of elementary students, 16 percent of middle schoolers and 17.5 percent of high schoolers are in modulars.
It would be pretty expensive to reach the 8 percent goal. For instance, Dualney said it could require building an additional 10.3 to 11.7 elementary schools by 2015 to cut mobile usage down to 8 percent.
One idea under consideration is to freeze the number of mobiles and modualrs to the current total of 1,183. As Wake grew, the percentage using those spaces would drop.
Click here for the handout that was presented at the facilities committee meeting. The board could resume discussion of the issue today.
Comments
speaking of "UNACCEPTABLE THINGS"... bussing
Wed, 10/08/2008 - 08:23 — Anonymous (not verified)today our middle school bus didn't show up at all, and our ES bus showed up about 25 minutes late. Our "real" ES driver was driving a replacement bus. She said her orig bus ran out of fuel. Is this an isolated incident or is WCPSS (finally) running out of FUEL????? Anyone KNow. No Fuel? Who's fault is it? (the kids who show up late to school are probably made to feel like it is "their fault" ????)
on the schools converted back...
Tue, 10/07/2008 - 12:12 — Anonymous (not verified)So one school each in Patti and Ron's district.
Accepting...
Tue, 10/07/2008 - 12:04 — WuptdoI have been accepting the fact that the BoE(eR) and Staff will lie to parent in order to achieve their failed "social experiments." I accept the fact that they use new school openings as a means of hiding what they are actually doing to continue the failed experiments. I accept the fact that Wake County Democrats will protect the WCPSS/Staff/BoE(eR) at all cost (beside, since most of them are so rich, they go to private school anyway. Right Jennifer?) I accept the fact that local media goes out of it's way NOT to report really negative things about the WCPSS. I accept the fact that WCPSS is really a second rate school system. I accept the fact that the "lemmings" actually believe most of the "spin" put out by the WCPSS. And on, and on, and on even more........
When will the madness end?
I BELIEVE with you... can I
Tue, 10/07/2008 - 13:44 — rr77rr99I BELIEVE with you... can I hear an
AMEN>>>> NNNNN>>>>>A>!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'll take the bait
Tue, 10/07/2008 - 11:59 — shearertwOk Heung, I'll take the bait...
Acceptance of any undesirable situation is admission of failure, contentment in mediocrity. I've posted many of these quotes (below) here before but this statement warrants bringing them back.
Not doing more than the average is what keeps the average down.
William M. Winans
Mediocrity requires aloofness to preserve its dignity.
Charles G. Dawes
Only the mediocre are always at their best.
Jean Giraudoux
Nothing is as approved as mediocrity, the majority has established it and it fixes it fangs on whatever gets beyond it either way.
Blaise Pascal
It is a wretched taste to be gratified with mediocrity when the excellent lies before us.
Isaac Disraeli
Mediocrity is excellent to the eyes of mediocre people.
Joseph Joubert quotes
Show me someone content with mediocrity and I'll show you someone destined for failure.
Johnetta Cole
The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity.
James Fenimore Cooper (1789 - 1851)
In large states public education will always be mediocre, for the same reason that in large kitchens the cooking is usually bad.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900)
Loved the quotes.
Tue, 10/07/2008 - 17:43 — Anonymous (not verified)Reminds me of my impression after being banned from the system. That explains why they are such a tight group. We can joke all we want but the saddest part is that they actually fire staff with innovative ideas then steal the idea and make it their own! I speak from experience.
Have to give them credit. They raise "mediocrity" to new heights and are the best mediocre group I know.
Offtopic - Baucom and Green Hope back to traditional
Tue, 10/07/2008 - 11:57 — ConcernedParentFrom wral.com,
The Wake County school board voted Tuesday to convert two elementary schools from year-round calendars to traditional schedules.
Baucom Elementary School will return to a traditional nine-month school calendar next fall, while Green Hope Elementary School will make the switch in the 2010-11 school year.
can of worms
Tue, 10/07/2008 - 09:38 — Forget_not_the_..."We've been conditioned to accept things that five years ago we would not have. People have made it work."
Third world countries accept conditions that they have lived under for centuries as acceptable and they make it work.
Depends on the glasses you view your world through...
Hui, that quote will open a world of discussion here...LOL
It’s not Chucks fault. He
Tue, 10/07/2008 - 08:30 — vsheehanIt’s not Chucks fault. He was hired after he drank the Kool Aid. He believes he is here on a mission to help solve the evils of segregation. Yes ,what’s happening in Garner and the fact that most of Cary’s outer schools were diverse did not cure him of the Kool Aid induced blinders but going after him is not going to solve the problem. It’s the BOE and the crap they spew day in and day out. Until the BOE stops seeing Western Wake as a powerless enemy then nothing will change. So get off Chuck’s back he is doing what he was hired to do. Go after his bosses instead the BOE.
By the way a funny thing about the Trailers; Wake just won an award from the EPA for Wakes "Clean Air Policies" . This is hilarious because the EPA must of not walk into one of the older trailers or Wake would have never won the award. Those trailers are home to a plethora of mold and rodent droppings . Making the air the kids breathe in the trailers a daily health hazard but hey its only Western Wake kids they do not matter.
1.000% on the mold! I
Tue, 10/07/2008 - 11:27 — Anonymous (not verified)1.000% on the mold! I volunteered in one of the trailers at our school for two hours. I spent the next day in bed with a killer sinus headache. I am highly allergic to mold! There's no doubt that's what caused the stabbing pains in my head.
he most certainly IS a huge
Tue, 10/07/2008 - 10:33 — bigwinniehe most certainly IS a huge distributor of said kool-aid....he's done it at other school systems.
Boe takes it "recommendations from staff".....or so we are told, and I get that too, but man oh man, do not excuse Chuck his evils in this as well.
Really?
Tue, 10/07/2008 - 09:36 — Dadof3I agree we need to change the BoE(eR) BUT, come on, Chuck has already said that such change fulfills a personal desire arising from his childhood experiences. Why do you think he's so good/bad at it? The victim card here is a little odd.
All it takes for evil to happen is for good people to do nothing. He is actively, assertively and deliberately moving the WCPSS in the wrong direction; albeit with able assist from the BoE(eR). Del Burns, too, for that matter. Please view Louise's clip on the Ministry of Ed in England; it's a brilliant dramatization of Wake Co. today.
The truth
Tue, 10/07/2008 - 08:10 — Voice_of_Reason_Modulars are short sighted and very costly in the long run. They aren't cheap (purchase and setup) and should be used as a temporary measure. Building costs aren't going down, land costs generally go up. Utility costs for modulars are higher. School infrastructures are not designed for then. And the student population is not projected to get smaller. SO why have them??? We are paying twice for school capacity, once for the modular and then again for permanent construction. I don't have a problem with them being used a stop-gap fix, but to use them the way Wake County has is just wasteful in the long run. We are paying for past short-sightless now.
But, while I see this as a good proposal, this is not enough to make me vote for a new bond. This IMHO is no more than a carrot that probably will not come to fruition. Why have we slowed down building now? They claim we don't need the capacity yet... despite ramming MYR down our throats and the high percentage of modulars. Put a written plan down to eliminate modulars, build more permanent capacity at current schools, put that plan into BoE policy, and cut waste....maybe we can talk. Writing a blank check on empty promises is not a plan.
Frog, meet frying pan...
Tue, 10/07/2008 - 07:06 — Dadof3Frog, meet fire.
We cannot adjust to Chuck, no matter how hard we try. Chuck, would you please try adjusting to a new job somewhere else?
"Wake's long-standing goal
Tue, 10/07/2008 - 06:33 — Anonymous (not verified)"Wake's long-standing goal has been to reduce the percentage of students in mobiles/modulars to 8 percent. But the district is far from reaching that goal."
It's a crock of chedder! If they have this goal, why do brand new high schools like HSHS and Panther Creek have trailers scattered throughout their parking lots?
Bottomline............WCPSS BOE and staff cannot plan. They can't make decisions that are effective! Schools should be built with the very least, flex space. If they don't need it, it can be used as rental property, or for administrative offices...something. I have lived here for this "school boom" and I don't know of one school they've built that does not have trailer annexes. In fact, I remember Apex HS had two little single trailers........now they have a trailer park village at that school. Granted, that was one of the older schools and it was truly not built to handle the growth, but schools like HSHS and Panther Creek? I can't wrap my mind around why a massive number of classroom space had to be brought in. Esp. with high schools.. those are not even "guesstimates" like they have to do with elemenatary levels. Filling high schools their projections should be coming from the numbers at the "filler" middle schools and even the elementary schools for down the road projections..
Right, am I not right?
So, forgive me if I just can't dig up the "truth" behind such statements as they are so upset they can't reduce the trailer usage numbers. Go look around and see how many of these "mobile classrooms" are now entrenched in the landscape of the school and pretty much look like they are set to stay there for quite a while.
Our elementary is under capacity (yes MYR) and they have several units that they continue to use while brick and mortar rooms within the building sit empty during track outs. So your tax dollars go to heat and cool these empty rooms, and your tax dollars sail out the doors of the buildings all day long as doors open and close for kids to walk in and out to get to their trailers from lunch, or specials, or trips to the office, etc.
Yeah, seriously WCPSS officials, we see right through the BS ... cut it out. We have enough headaches already this year!