The board of directors of the Bedford at Falls River Homeowners Association is charging that collusion led to the Wake County school board not backing the community's efforts to stay at Wakefield High School.
In a handout provided to HOA members, the group points to e-mail messages between school board member Kevin Hill and Heritage High Principal Mark Savage. In one message to Hill, Savage writes he's "concerned" how the loss of the middle class Bedford students would impact diversity at Heritage.
Hill e-mailed back to Savage that he would "plan to stonewall any changes at this point in the year because we have not had hearings or done due diligence." The board deferred to Hill because Bedford is located in his North Raleigh district.
When the new majority agreed to review the assignment plan for the 2010-11 school year, Bedford residents jumped in to argue for changes. They tried to reverse the decision made by the old board to move them to Heritage High, located in Wake Forest.
After the board refused to drop the reassignment, the Bedford HOA's board of directors filed a public records request for e-mail messages. One of the messages is a March 29 letter from Savage, the former principal of Wakefield High, to Hill.
"I have heard floated that if I lose Bedford l will be given houses behind (Triangle Town Center) mall - Fox Road, etc to make up for the seats - I'd be lying that I am not concerned with that group, who I have worked with extensively at Wakefield will do with my other high F and R from Brentwood - and losing Bedford and gaining Fox Road plus last weeK's nodes from Knightdale is a pretty big shift," Savage writes to Hill.
The HOA board complains that they received "no due process or fair representation of our petition" from Hill.
"We (the BoD) have our interpretation of the email exchange which we have shared with the Chairman / Vice Chair of the Wake County Board of Education (BoE) but need to leave it up to you to review the email contents, form your own educated opinions as voters within District 3 of the Wake County school board and respond accordingly," writes the HOA board.
Comments
Reassignment
Sat, 06/05/2010 - 17:11 — prescott2Does anyone know if all the students originally assigned to populate early start of Forest Ridge ( to be housed at Heritage) have been reassigned back to their original sending school? That was some 1400 kids as I recall. Does this curtail availability of magnet seats at Millbrook- for the next 4 years?
Appropriate governing body?
Sat, 06/05/2010 - 16:40 — WadingInDoes anyone know how to file an official ethics complaint to have this email exchange reviewed by the proper governing body(s)?
Directive for Community Based Assignments in effect
Sun, 06/06/2010 - 16:33 — WadingInIn looking at the timeline of the email exchange, the Board of Education had already approved (second vote on 3/23) the Directive for Community based Assignments.
When the email exchange took place on 3/29, it was counter to the "In the interim" section 3.1.
" Be it further resolved that effective immediately: Board level committees, WCPSS departments, and other administrative committees with relevant responsibilities, assignments or authority are directed to prepare constructive suggestions to support the development of the above noted transition, and be mindful in their approach to decision making that could impact these future directives."
This will be sorted out and
Sun, 06/06/2010 - 07:21 — woodstockThis will be sorted out and resolved during the BoE elections next year. Hill, if he runs, is toast. He gave up even pretending to represent his constituents years ago. It is all about ultra-left-wing status quo ideology with him.
"ultra-left-wing status quo ideology"?
Sun, 06/06/2010 - 07:42 — Athey01I have no idea what that means... any supporter of diversity... supporters of "forced" busing...opponents of community based zone?
What is means is the
Sun, 06/06/2010 - 08:13 — woodstockWhat is means is the relentless and desperate attempts by people like Hill, MacLaurin-Meeker, Morrison, GoodmonFitzsimonsBarber and the editorial board at the N&O (all members of the ultra-left-wing status quo) to cling to the failed and pointless forced-busing and so-called "diversity" policies. From the instant the community schools model was mentioned, these hardcore ultra-left-wing ideologues went into defense mode and have not even pretended to try understand the new model or to participate in making the transition successful. They are obstructionists who so far have demonstrated that they have no intention of lending a helping hand. It is all about politics for them.
Gee woodstock
Sun, 06/06/2010 - 08:43 — exYank_WCprinbit early on Sunday to be ranting like that...take your Prozac and relax. You remind me of a historical figure who ranted against the hardcore left wing back in the 30's and the people who wanted to launch a coup against FDR.
I'll be waiting to hear your simple solution for Halifax County's "3 neighborhood school districts" since they apparently not working well.
LOL You can put your mind at
Sun, 06/06/2010 - 09:19 — woodstockLOL You can put your mind at ease, I am relaxed, confident and clear-headed.
Have you been to Halifax County or do you know anything about it? If so, then you would know that their challenges are far deeper and wider than anything we have to deal with in Wake County. BTW, they graduate more ED students than Wake.
Since we now know a bit more
Sun, 06/06/2010 - 12:49 — Dove314How is the grad rate among Halifax County's both for ED and NED when further stratified by ethnicity and ESL and LEP subgroups and how do those compare to WCPSS?
I don't know but am wondering if they have had the same population growth in ESL and LEP subgroups as WCPSS.
I'm not sure who you would
Sat, 06/05/2010 - 17:15 — danofncI'm not sure who you would complain to, and I'm also not sure I see an ethics violation.
It isn't against any rule to think about how a reassignment would affect the F&R percentages at any particular school, is it?
The HOA was ASKED to get involved....
Sat, 06/05/2010 - 07:34 — bryjachFor those wondering why the HOA would get involved, they were ASKED to do so by residents. 321 residents signed a petition asking not to be reassigned from a school their kids had attended for 6+ years and that was located only 2 miles from their homes. The HOA was ASKED by the residents to speak at the community engagement meetings in support of NOT being reassigned to Heritage. The HOA was ASKED to request more information on why the community was being reassigned when the residents would be passing by their current school to get to Heritage HS (the HOA never received an answer on why Bedford was being reassigned, despite multiple requests to Kevin Hill, Chuck Dulaney and other administrators). And regarding the health and welfare, residents were very concerned about kids getting on a school bus at 5:45 am, having a 45-minute bus commute, teenage drivers negotiating Capital Blvd in rush hour, and further congestion on other roads not designed for more buses and commute traffic. THAT's why the HOA got involved.
I live in Bedford and I was
Sat, 06/05/2010 - 08:52 — zandeI live in Bedford and I was not at all supportive of the HOA stepping
into this issue. A petition was set up at the clubhouse and was heavily
promoted by a few residents. I am not sure who actually rented the
clubhouse for the petition but I hope it was not the HOA or that the HOA
just gave a pass to the petitioners. In that case the HOA would have
financially supported a petition asking them to get involved. That would
imply a more active role than just being asked by residents. Overall
the HOA has done a good job for us. I just hate that they jumped into
this politically charged issue.
Heritage is only 3.9 miles farther from my house than Wakefield.
The clubhouse wasn't rented
Sat, 06/05/2010 - 12:33 — jenmanThe clubhouse wasn't rented for this. There is an activities director there during the day and the clubhouse is open for all residents during the day.
321 is a lot of signatures, but what is the number of residents
Sat, 06/05/2010 - 08:22 — Athey01in Bedford... it seems a fairly large place.
On a separate note, the Bedford community and the Wakefield community, although close in proximity, seems like two separate neighborhoods.
Bedford and Wakefield are not at all connected
Sun, 06/06/2010 - 20:26 — bryjachThey are two separate neighborhoods and share nothing...not facilities, schools, HOA's, etc.
See below
Sat, 06/05/2010 - 09:47 — Dove314I had a similar question -- site plan information suggested around 800-900 homes of various types with about 250 for sale. It's not clear whether signatures were limited to one per household or whether the 320+ represent multiple members of the same household. Jenman mentioned stats on children and the people in Bedford reflecting that, although 320+ people signed the petition, not all were parents iwith children in WCPSS or HS/MS parents.
Jenman mentioned stats on
Sat, 06/05/2010 - 12:43 — jenmanJenman mentioned stats on children and the people in Bedford reflecting
that, although 320+ people signed the petition, not all were parents
iwith children in WCPSS or HS/MS parents.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry, I misunderstood
Sat, 06/05/2010 - 13:36 — Dove314My apologies if I misunderstood.
That's ok, I just wanted to
Sat, 06/05/2010 - 13:45 — jenmanThat's ok, I just wanted to clarify. And like I said, I wasn't yelling at you--hope you didn't take it that way. I can understand how you misunderstood--my original post wasn't the clearest.
I do not believe that the
Sat, 06/05/2010 - 11:21 — zandeI do not believe that the signatures were limited to one per household.
Well...
Sat, 06/05/2010 - 10:22 — Bob_SconceAs a percentage, that's a lot greater than the number of people who voted in Kevin Hill's last election.
I just got a letter in the mail from our HOA, saying "Hey! we didn't get a quorum to vote for new HOA directors at our last meeting, so we're trying again." A quorum here is 5% (!). I suggest that 320 people is a big number in HOA circles.
Yes.
Sat, 06/05/2010 - 08:32 — Bob_SconceThey are two separate neighborhoods. Heritage is its own neighborhood also. But, what's your point? It's common for elementary schools to serve single neighborhoods (or even parts of single neighborhoods), but high schools typically serve multiple neighborhoods.
If they were the same neighborhood, would you argue that the Bedford students should go to WHS?
my only point, albeit very small, is that there is no
Sat, 06/05/2010 - 10:28 — Athey01compelling reason why Bedford students should go to Wakefield. The "I can hear the band" arguments, doesn't really mean a whole lot, when the distance between Wakefield and Heritage is less than 5 miles.
Yes, if Wakefield and Bedford were in the same neighborhood, I would be more sympathetic to the argument of Bedford students going to WHS; As an aside, I hope Bedford students are assigned to Wakefield as part of the community zone assignment program.
But there's no compelling reason NOT to go to Wakefield either!
Sun, 06/06/2010 - 20:22 — bryjachLet's use an analogy....suppose you had a branch of a supermarket chain 5 minutes from your house that you frequented for the past 6 years. And suppose that same chain built another branch several miles up the road, selling all the same products and brands you already purchase from your current grocery store. Would you drive PAST your existing store to go to the new one twice a day, when they sell the exact same thing for the exact same price? Probably not. What a waste of time and gas, right? Who would do that? Let's go one step further....let's suppose that the manager of your current store decided to become the manager of the new store. And he really wanted you to come spend money in his store. Since he knows you wouldn't voluntarily drive further without a compelling reason, he enacted a ban in your old store, prohibiting the employees from selling you the same products he sells, and FORCING you to drive to his store. Crazy, huh?
I understand your analogy, but it does not quite work in
Mon, 06/07/2010 - 06:47 — Athey01this situation. Let's try a "what if"... What if the Wakefield community could fill their neighborhood schools with children who live within the Wakefield community Although, Bedford is close to Wakefield, there is no room within the Wakefield community schools to accommodate students from the Bedford community; however, there is room at the Heritage school, which is less than 5 miles from the Wakefield schools.
Since I have done zero research, I'm unsure of the validity of this "what if".... but since this is a blog... I can make any wild assertion I wish.
there's room at WHS for Bedford students, with room to spare....
Mon, 06/07/2010 - 13:58 — bryjachAccording to WCPSS data, there are over 400 seats available at WHS. Only 91 are needed for Bedford high school students. Room to bring lots of other neighborhoods along too! It's not a capacity issue. The trailers that were added are in for the long term. They've added brick decorative walls around the 9th grade trailers, air conditioners, etc. Very nice actually! Some of the classes in the 10-12 high school building are very low fill. Biology I in the main high school, for instance, had 20 students in it this year. Hardly the over-crowded picture painted by Mr. Hill (he actually likes to use the term 'Wakefield is swamped'). It has a lot of students, but it's a large building....designed for lots of students! And using WCPSS' own data, there's room for the Bedford students who already attend there. So why move them????
This goes back to the original question that Hill and Dulaney have yet to answer. Why do students in a close-by neighborhood have to leave a school that has the capacity to hold them? If you can explain a logical rationale, the neighborhood would probably have been able to better accept the reassignment. But since 2008, no explanations have been provided. There are neighborhoods next to Heritage who have been reassigned to Wakefield HS! They are scheduled to cross back over Capital to Wakefield going the opposite way of Bedford students. Neighors around Heritage HS have spoken up at the community engagement meetings; they WANT to go to Heritage because they live close to it and have asked if they can trade places with the Bedford students. Seems logical. Why make more buses travel further passing each other while shuffling students???
Who is that benefitting? And why would anyone in WCPSS administration say that makes sense?
several good points and questions...
Mon, 06/07/2010 - 15:46 — Athey01I wish I knew the answers.
In addition, Hill claims in
Mon, 06/07/2010 - 15:27 — jenmanIn addition, Hill claims in his email to Savage that keeping Bedford at Wakefield goes against Policy 6200. Not true. Policy 6200 has SEVERAL factors in it that are to be considered in assignments. Diversity is only one of those factors--proximity and peer continuity are 2 others. Dulaney stressed over and over and over how the 3 year assignment plan was focusing on peer continuity. 100% of WMS students used to move on to Wakefield High. The 3 year plan pulled about 18% of WMS students out of WHS. So the move to Heritage actually goes against Policy 6200.
There is nothing in Policy
Mon, 06/07/2010 - 16:33 — magnetParentThere is nothing in Policy 6200 (old or new) that mentions peer continuity. So how does this move go against Policy 6200?
It Was Criteria For the 3 Year Reassignment Plan
Mon, 06/07/2010 - 16:42 — JanisTangoIt was one of the big buzz words and factors they used when they created the 3 Year Assignment plan. We were moved because of 'peer continuity' according to Chuckie!
Goals for the Assignment Process
The recommendations made by staff are rooted in Board Policy 6200. The policy calls on staff to utilize six factors in making recommendations.
The six factors are:
I don't think number 4 is a
Mon, 06/07/2010 - 17:26 — danofncI don't think number 4 is a very good fit when you're considering assignments for a brand new school. Unless you open it with only one grade, you're obviously going to impact some kids.
Not exactly..
Mon, 06/07/2010 - 18:38 — Bob_SconceI think that refers more to having students at a middle school all go to the same high school.
I agree, but that's just not
Tue, 06/08/2010 - 10:01 — danofncI agree, but that's just not realistic (or best).
The assignment zone for my daughter's school is made up of two different areas. Depending on which part of those two areas you live in, you could be much closer to one middle school than another (and potentially a third).
If the assignments for MS sent all of those kids to the same MS, you'd have some parents who were very upset.
feeder pattern. Sorry about
Mon, 06/07/2010 - 16:39 — jenmanfeeder pattern. Sorry about that. The two are very closely related.
The policy says "Whenever
Mon, 06/07/2010 - 16:56 — magnetParentThe policy says "Whenever possible". It seems to me that it would be a moving target. Any time they build a new middle school they would have to have it feed to a high school that can handle the entire new population? Typically not possible nor practicable. Even with the new policy. There might be some out there because I don't know the feeder patterns of all middle schools, but are there any MS that feed 100% into a HS?
If there is room
Mon, 06/07/2010 - 15:24 — Dove314How many trailers does Wakefield have? If there is room at Wakefield with 39 trailers (if accurate as noted below), then why was Garner overcrowded with 40 trailers; even if both seemed "undercapacity" according to WCPSS stats?
Uh...
Mon, 06/07/2010 - 15:40 — Bob_SconceI suspect that part of it is the amount of land taken up by those trailers. About 1/2 of Wakefield's tralers (IIRC) are at the 9th grade center, basically on a parking lot. The other half are at the main campus. As a result, they don't chew up athletic fields and so on.
Are you looking at this year's numbers or next years? Heritage is intended to alleviate overcrowding in that part of the county and should logically take just about all of WHS' students East of US-1.
Heh...
Mon, 06/07/2010 - 10:08 — Bob_SconceYou're right that there is no "Compelling Reason" -- nobody's going to die. But, similarly, there's no Compelling Reason for Bedford to be assigned to Heritage.
After next year's other reassignments to Heritage (and, IIRC, WF-R HS), there will be enough space at Wakefield to accommodate Bedford. And it's logical for Bedford to go to Wakefield -- there's space, the geography indicates that it's a good match and the neighborhood has a history there. And, because Heritage will only open with 9th & 10th grade, there will be buses runing through Bedford on their way to Wakefield to accomodate 11th & 12th grade.
I see no compelling reason, or even an important reason, to assign Bedfod to Heritage.
Wakefield and WFR have a
Mon, 06/07/2010 - 11:23 — danofncWakefield and WFR have a combined 66 mobile units right now.
Wakefield has 39, which is only one less than the 40 at Garner High School that was apparently a huge problem for WCPSS.
Are all the Heritage kids coming from WFR and Wakefield or are some going to be reassigned from other schools as well?
The "buses running through Bedford" scenario you mention is a bit of a strawman. The fact that WCPSS isn't forcing 11th and 12th graders to switch schools shouldn't be considered a reason not to reassign a node. If that was the logic used, no one would ever go to a newly built high school since they never start with a full complement of classes.
"Wakefield and WFR have a
Mon, 06/07/2010 - 14:36 — Apexter"Wakefield and WFR have a combined 66 mobile units right now."
Uhmmm....... NO.
WFR HS is closed for construction this year. Its students are attending Heritage HS. If you're using mobile counts there, you must be using the counts from a previous year.
So....
Mon, 06/07/2010 - 11:32 — Bob_SconceSome of the Heritage students are coming from Knightdale HS.
I agree that the busing argument isn't the strongest. But, due to proximity, Bedford will likely be reassigned to Wakefield under the new assignment plan. So, running an additional bus through the area for two years just doesn't make sense.
If the problem is capacity (which I doubt), then there are nodes which are closer to Heritage than Wakefield but are still assigned to Wakefield -- those areas would be better candidates to be switched.
The last time I checked,
Mon, 06/07/2010 - 11:29 — jenmanThe last time I checked, Heritage was getting kids from 9 middle schools. I don't know how many different high schools they represent, but I would imagine that some might be coming from East Wake & Millbrook.
I just looked that the plan
Mon, 06/07/2010 - 11:37 — jenmanI just looked that the plan and it appears that Wakefield, WF-R, East Wake, Knightdale, Millbrook & Leesville are all sending some kids to Heritage High.
Political Principals (Principles)?
Fri, 06/04/2010 - 16:06 — MissVSo if school administrators can try to impact a board member's decisions, why do we need a Superintendent or Assistant Superintendents at all? Silly me: I'm still thinking about the relationship between Chuck Dulaney and Kevin Hill.
Wow
Fri, 06/04/2010 - 10:27 — supportwcpssThis comment has nothing to do with my feelings of the current board but more about my pet peeves with HOAs. This HOA has completely overstepped their boundary. The only purpose of an HOA is to enforce the covenants of the neighborhood - that's it. They are not a political entity and should never pretend to represent all community members in any outward community issue. This is a complete misuse of their role.
If the same group of people wanted to get together and file their complaint that is fine. But to slap on the HOA label and call it a community 'protest' is just wrong.
Completely disagree as
Fri, 06/04/2010 - 11:19 — shearertwCompletely disagree as well...
HOA are there to represent the best interest of the neighborhood in whatever matter that may be. Their by-laws may require a certain percentage of the neighborhood to sign-off no taking action but that's about it. HOA's are the pefect tool to use in this type of situation. This is a much better use of their time vs measuring how high your grass is or telling you to get your trash can off the road by a certain time.
Disagree....
Fri, 06/04/2010 - 10:56 — Bob_SconceHomeowners associations are just that -- an association of people who own homes in specific areas and can do whatever is allowed under their bylaws. HOAs often represent their communities in issues that are common to all members of the community. So, the HOAs along Falls of the Neuse provided input about how they would like to see that road widened. They often participate in public discussions regarding nearby public amenities, zoning issues and law enforcement in an area.
If an issue arises which affects people in a specific community, why should they have to form a separate organization to address that issue when an organization --the HOA -- already exists?
So...
Fri, 06/04/2010 - 13:20 — supportwcpssIn the absence of text of the infinite number of things they can't do you are indicating they can do anything. By the legal definition of HOAs they are there to uphold their bylaws (which don't really have rules in them - they are simply the ruels for managing the HOA and voting rules) and the covenants.
Anything else beyond it is outside the realm of their legal perogative. Trust me, many years in New York I went through this with one of my neighborhood and the legal system agreed with her. It involved an HOA mispresenting the entire community which led to a negative impact on some of their community and specifically a number of houses.
I'm not saying the exact same group people can't meet and protest the issues but legally you will get in trouble for doing it under the guise of an HOA label.
I don't know the NC laws and my understanding is they are more strict then other states.
I guess I have run into too many power hungry HOA board members ;-)
So...
Fri, 06/04/2010 - 14:05 — Bob_SconceCan't speak to what happened in New York, except to say that New York has all sorts of nutty laws.
I checked Bedford's Articles filed with the Secretary of State. According to them, the HOA can, among other thing...
By my read, trying to get the area assigned to a closer school fits into both of those categories. I see no reason that the HOA would run afoul of the law for doing this. [I can think of some scenarious where they could -- maybe their bylaws forbid it, for example -- but don't have any reason to believe that any of those apply.]
The health, safety and
Fri, 06/04/2010 - 16:51 — danofncThe health, safety and welfare aspect is probably a stretch, unless you're anticpating that Heritage will be especially violent or they used asbestos during construction.