The Wake County school system is back to square one when it comes to finding a ninth-grade center to relieve overcrowding at Panther Creek High School.
The Cary Town Council voted Thursday against amending a town ordinance to allow the school system to place modular classrooms at the site of the future Alston Ridge Middle School to house the ninth-grade center.
Town staff said the change would open the door for any other school to put trailers on vacant lots. Council members were also worried about how temporary they'd actually be on the site.
It's been a long winding path where the school board initially voted to lease an office building in Morrisville that would have been ready for this year. But after parental complaints, the Democratic majority nixed the deal and voted along party lines to go with the Alston Ridge site, which wouldn't have been ready until 2013.
UPDATE
Click here for the Saturday article on the vote by Andrew Kenney.
Comments
I guess...
Sun, 05/27/2012 - 09:05 — bpuli9999they do that (amending town ordnances) only for commercial developers.
Excellent response
Sun, 05/27/2012 - 09:08 — starsonoursPlease tell us how many commercial developers have asked for a variance to place mobile structures on a property. I will await you answer.
Read what I...
Mon, 05/28/2012 - 15:20 — bpuli9999posted again. Seems like you have dyslexia.
Dyslexia no
Mon, 05/28/2012 - 16:03 — starsonoursNo problems with dyslexia...but you seem to have trouble showing a similar instance were a variance was granted and instead make simplistic comments that have no bearing on the topic at hand.
OT Q re: Enloe Waitlist
Sat, 05/26/2012 - 11:45 — Bob_SconceWe have friends whose child has a relatively low number on the Enloe waitlist and another child, with a higher waitlist number, was recently accepted to Enloe. Anybody have any clue what's going on over there?
...
Sat, 05/26/2012 - 14:55 — SideburnsThey must have replied negatively on the survey.
The only thing I can think
Sat, 05/26/2012 - 14:29 — jenmanThe only thing I can think of is if there was somebody at Enloe who wanted to go to that other kid's 'base' school. It would be interesting to find out what the deal is.
would that do it?
Mon, 05/28/2012 - 11:21 — turnerk1Are they running the wait list like that? It would seem the number on the wait list would then be irrelevant, if what they are really doing is swapping places. There have been other posts suggesting that the system is doing something funny with the wait lists. I also know someone who is on the wait list for Enloe that tole me that people with higher numbers that her child's had been placed.
I really have no idea.
Mon, 05/28/2012 - 12:37 — jenmanI really have no idea. I've wondered all along how they would work the wait lists and was wondering what would happen in a 'stalemate'. There are 2 kids who want into Enloe: one assigned to Wakefield and one assigned to Millbrook. The kid at Millbrook has the lower waitlist number and should get any open seat first, but there isn't anybody at Enloe who wants to go to Millbrook. Somebody at Enloe does want to go to Wakefield. What do they do? Swap out the Enloe & Wakefield kids and make 2 out of 3 students happy or not move any of them because the Millbrook kid should have the Enloe seat first?
I was just hypothesizing on how somebody with a higher waitlist number could get into a school ahead of somebody else. Barring a computer error, I don't know any other way that would make sense. I did ask this question during the community info sessions but of course it was never answered.
So...
Mon, 05/28/2012 - 13:25 — Bob_SconceTurns out both kids were slated for the same school. It's possible that there's something else -- do you apply separately for the AG and GT magnet programs? Or, maybe, it's just a screwup. Or, maybe, somebody is playing favorites.
I suspect that, despite having a slick web-based front-end, much of the assignment process is actually being done by hand on the back end, probably because the Alves software wasn't able to handle it. That sounds like absolutely the worst job in the world. I think I'd rather be the guy who drives around collecting roadkill.
I have to agree...
Tue, 05/29/2012 - 10:27 — eztaylorGiven the unexplainable placements, I have to agree that it is likely a manual process. If I had a child who was sitting on a wait list and a child with a higher number was placed, I would do everything I could to find out why. There may be a legitimate answer (such as a sibling placement or capacity issue) or, it may just be that the office is trying to grease the squeaky wheels.
I do have an issue with the $10,000 monthly payment to Michael Alves, who should be down here correcting the known computer errors.
So...
Tue, 05/29/2012 - 11:04 — Bob_SconceI suspect that the software itself was intended for a limited purpose, and the district is trying to stretch it well beyond that purpose. If that's true, then they will probably have to abandon it for 2013-2014 and start from scratch -- they should be working on that right now, because it will take time to do it right.
from other districts' experiences
Tue, 05/29/2012 - 16:19 — eztaylorFrom other districts' experiences, I'm not surprised that we have problems. The software was sold to us as a way to implement choice, given a set of parameters and weights. Whether there are 2 priority levels or 20, whether there are 5,000 kids or 25,000, the software should be able to handle the placements.
I have no idea what went on between the time the plan was created and the time it was implemented - I would have thought that we would have given Alve's employees the list of priorities and schools and weighting, and his people would have customized the software to take these parameters into account.
We now have evidence that the software did not carry out the priorities as intended. These errors could be due to improper coding of the input (student addresses are incorrect or students are not linked to siblings), or the program coding could have flaws. Either way, as I said before, for $10,000/month supposedly for technical support, Alves or his people should be here working to correct the problem.
I suspect you are right that we will have to abandon the system - no different than what Alves' other victims (districts) are/have been doing.
Well...
Tue, 05/29/2012 - 22:22 — Bob_SconceThe placement criteria are presumably different here -- just figuring out what priorities apply to each student is difficult. And then we added in feeder patterns, a magnet program, leadership academies, students at traditional opt-out schools, etc....
I'm pretty sure you apply separately for AG and GT
Tue, 05/29/2012 - 08:12 — nmoskalI know that is how it was for AG and GT middle, so seems HS would work the same way.
high school is different
Tue, 05/29/2012 - 11:15 — turnerk1You do not apply separately for AG and GT at the high school level as happens for Ligon and Carnage. Enloe does not have any AG classes, just the regular standard/honors/AP tracks like all other high schools. Whether or not a child is AG is not part of the equation as to whether they get into honors or AP classes, just teacher recommendation and how they did in the previous class. Though, obviously, an AG student is more likely to qualify for an honors section, there are plenty of kids who are not identified AG who take honors and AP classes. It is different from middle school where only children who are identified AG can take AG classes.
Officially, Enloe is a GT magnet, while Ligon and Carnage have two different magnet themes -- GT and AG basics.