The Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children is accusing the new Wake County school board majority of violating due process rights and trying to dismantle the diversity policy without proper consideration.
In a press release sent Tuesday night, the CCCAAC blasts the board majority for introducing agenda items without prior notice to the public or the members of the board minority. The group also argues that the board hasn't considered how the diversity policy helps low-income children or that most students live near where they attend school.
"The meetings of the new Wake County School Board demonstrated just how far the new Board majority will go to push through its ideological agenda to dismantle the nationally-acclaimed student diversity policy and replace it with a plan designed to lead to resegregation and racially identifiable, high-poverty schools," the CCCAAC writes.
The group says that diversity and neighborhood schools can exist. They point to the district's as-the-crow-flies distance analysis study indicating that 99 percent of students attend schools within 10 miles of their homes. They say only about one percent of children are bused for diversity.
That 1 percent figure is definitely too low as it would only touch about 1,400 students. How much higher is uncertain.
Back in 2005, school administrators said that 7,196 students are bused for diversity. Even that number was likely low because it was only based on students who are solely bused for diversity and not when it's one of the factors.
Of those 7,196 students, Wake had said that 4,743 were bused more than five miles for diversity.
Since 2005, Wake has been more aggressive about using the comparability factor to try to keep the demographics at schools balanced. This had led to even more students being reassigned for that reason.
UPDATE
If you look at the property field for the Word document, the author is Mark Dorosin, senior attorney in the UNC Center for Civil Rights. Dorosin was one of the speakers at the Jan. 10 forum called by the state NAACP to warn about the new board's actions.
Comments
Time for a new sobriquet
Fri, 01/22/2010 - 13:58 — red_balloon"the new Board majority"
Given Goldman's defection, the composition of the "new Board majority" may vary from meeting to meeting depending on which way the independent thinker digresses.
CCCAAC is still around? I
Sat, 01/23/2010 - 11:01 — woodstockCCCAAC is still around? I thought they would have folded up shop by now. How are they even relevant anymore?
They stand for nothing of
Sat, 01/23/2010 - 14:33 — changewcpssThey stand for nothing of substance but will pop up when they want to be seen and heard. Ridiculous.
The gains?
Thu, 01/21/2010 - 20:30 — Duhhuh66654% graduation rates are worth saving?
Why are we giving them so much coverage?
Thu, 01/21/2010 - 20:29 — Voice_of_Reason_They are not national or even statewide. They don't have a large membership. Their only claim to fame is they are vocal and have a catchy name. Who exactly made them a representative of a large group?
I'd say the name is more
Thu, 01/21/2010 - 21:09 — woodstockI'd say the name is more lengthy than "catchy."
Let's shorten it
Fri, 01/22/2010 - 09:50 — Voice_of_Reason_Change the last part to P instead of ACC and maybe they would be happy with that point of view.
(Use search term CCCP in Wikipedia if you don't get it)
Personally, I hope they keep
Thu, 01/21/2010 - 21:05 — CaryCurmudgeonPersonally, I hope they keep cranking out press releases like the Tedesco one. They do a far better job of demonstrating how out of touch and vindictive they are than anyone else could.
Their attempted hatchet job on John shows how worried they are about the genuine connection he is building within the ED and minority community. While John sows the seeds of trust, they spread the toxin of distrust.
Soo...
Thu, 01/21/2010 - 19:02 — Bob_SconceWhy is one part of the government writing press releases for a citizens group that attacks another part of the government? This is really fishy.
yawn
Thu, 01/21/2010 - 18:47 — loriacWhy doesn't the CCCAAC talk about the current dismal results? The lower representation of minorities in 8th grade algebra? Where are their actions and ideas, except to issue press releases? Hard to take them seriously when they are missing the key issues.
Call me Mr. Obvious, but
Thu, 01/21/2010 - 22:27 — changewcpssCall me Mr. Obvious, but they don't talk about it because they don't care. They are following the Rev. Barber rule book of make a lot of noise, ignore the truth, and cry racist whenever you have nothing to say.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Thu, 01/21/2010 - 19:57 — CaryCurmudgeonMore of the same. This group couldn't even get 20 parents to come to the last meeting I attended. They have no interest in constructive dialog, only in preserving a system which has failed the children the claim to represent. Their 15 minutes are up, time to move on.
honestly the group and
Thu, 01/21/2010 - 19:10 — carson79honestly the group and others are currently in full defense mode, trying to preserve the gains of integration (that you may not believe is a legit function of govmt but they do) and don't have the luxury of time and energy left over to come up with all the new ideas you keep calling for. It's going to be like this for a while I would think.