Here's some bad news for the Conn Elementary parents in Node 94 who had hoped to be reassigned to Underwood Elementary.
The school board voted this morning to leave the kids at Conn. The charge was led by Beverley Clark, who argued they need to leave the kids at Conn.
This node was not in the draft plan, prompting these Raleigh parents to argue they should be attending Underwood because they're within walking distance. When Asst. Supt. Chuck Dulaney said he'd add it to the revised plan, parents at the CEM meetings thanked him.
But during the work session, Clark complained that Underwood's low-income percentage of 24 percent was too low for a magnet school. She said that if they're going to hold Lacy to a standard of not having enough LI kids then it should be the same for Underwood.
Clark added that Conn, which has an LI percentage of more than 40 percent shouldn't lose that node.
“I don’t think we should move them out of Conn," Clark said. "It will not help Conn.”
Clark downplayed the assertions that these parents are within walking distance of Underwood. She said they're close to Conn as well. She said they can "scoot down to Whitaker MIll [Road]" by car and get to Conn quickly.
After voting to leave the node at Conn, the board also agreed to ask staff to find a high-needs node to send to Underwood to raise its LI percentage.
Comments
Jneisner--They moved the
Fri, 01/23/2009 - 16:16 — jenmanJneisner--They moved the node out of Underwood because underwood was too crowded. In the plan, GM acknowledged that Underwood's F&R was too low for a magnet but they couldn't identify a node to move in to raise it. Hello!?!?!?!?! How about not moving out the low income kids in the first place? How about moving out the non-F&R nodes that are basically receiving a private school education at our expense?
They said the same thing about Wiley last year--too low for a magnet but gosh darn they just can't figure out a way to raise it. Both Underwood and Wiley have gone down in F&R for the past 4 years. Both are in the mid 20s, which is unbelievable for schools supposedly deserving of magnet status.
This just further
Fri, 01/23/2009 - 15:53 — jneisnerThis just further underscores the absurdity of this process -- only LAST YEAR they moved a "high needs" node out of Underwood, under the pretense that Underwood's LI % (at 29%? last year) was too high and needed to be reduced!