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The WakeEd blog is devoted to discussing and answering questions about the major issues facing the Wake County school system: the reassignment of thousands of students, the conversion of traditional-calendar schools to a year-round schedule, the district's response to growth and the school construction program.

WakeEd is maintained by The News & Observer's Wake schools reporter, T. Keung Hui. While Keung posts information and analysis on the issues, keep us posted on your suggestions, questions, tips and what you're doing to cope with the changes in Wake's schools.

Defending the diversity study vote

Submitted by KeungHui on 12/19/2008 - 10:00

School board members are miffed at the fallout from their decision not to do a study on the diversity policy.

During Tuesday's committee of the whole meeting, board members argued that they weren't against a study, per se. Board member Beverley Clark said the problem was that the question was framed in a way that was unanswerable.

Board members Horace Tart and Ron Margiotta had wanted staff to see if students who were reassigned from North Garner Middle School to West Lake Middle School for diversity reasons are now doing better academically.

Board member Lori Millberg said there's no way to know how the students would have done if they had stayed at North Garner.

Clark said there are other ways that the results of the diversity policy can be answered. For instance, she said you can look at school-level performance and teacher retention data.

(BTW, Wake is touting a new state report that found that the district's 2007-08 teacher turnover rate of 11.67 percent is lower thatn the state average of 13.85 percent.)

Eleanor Goettee said Education Week will publish a study soon which notes the problems found in high-poverty schools.

Those kinds of studies likely won't appease critics who'd point out that it still isn't looking at the impact on individual students.

For instance, Margiotta told Clark he just can't "focus on the big picture" because he needs to see if individual students are being harmed.

Supt. Del Burns suggested that board members propose questions to see if staff can answer them.

(Barring any additional posts today, this is it for the next week while I'm on vacation. I wish you all a Merry Christmas.)

Comments

...

Sat, 01/03/2009 - 19:18 — AngelaW

ncDad - An article for your reading pleasure

Wed, 12/31/2008 - 08:22 — Voice_of_Reason_

Read this article from a liberal stronghold in tis country. Read this with the lense that the reporter is reporting fact. This is not a racist article, it's actually talking about poor people that are using the federal Sec 8 housing program, it an illustration of how economic diversity works in real life. In some ways it is very similar to the use of economic diversity in schools here.
Link to article BL- Behaviour does not change by osmosis.

PS - This is not isolated, I personally have observed similar results in four other places. Remember, try to take race out of this.

I love that this happened in the liberal stronghold of San Fran

Thu, 01/01/2009 - 12:02 — fiestamom

I forgot to add that I love that this happened in San Francisco. Tolerant liberals are suddenly stricken with NIMBY.

“I forgot to add that I

Thu, 01/01/2009 - 15:35 — ncdad1

“I forgot to add that I love that this happened in San Francisco.”

I think change is frighting for many folks whether they are a liberal / conservative, white / black or rich / poor. Whenever a majority is threatened by a minority (based on income, race, ethnicity, status, etc.) there is tension which leads to conflict.

I love that I live in America were we typically fight it out with words and sometimes in the courts and not with guns in the streets like many countries.

You love it here? Are you

Fri, 01/02/2009 - 15:55 — vsheehan

You love it here? Are you not the one who said that people in our area would next go after Muslims? My neighbor laughed at your comment. One his daughters go to Cary schools in traditional head scarves and are never treated any differently than the other kids. Plus there are Mosques in the area but an idiot like you wouldn’t know that. So if you love this country then why do you always characterize it as a racist evil place? As one of the wrong types of minorities that the BOE does not consider part of the diversity plan let me say out right you do not talk for me or any of our neighbors when you say those awful things about how racists Cary is. You’re the one with the problem and you’re the one kicking kids out of their schools.

"Are you not the one who

Fri, 01/02/2009 - 17:10 — ncdad1

"Are you not the one who said that people in our area would next go after Muslims? ...say those awful things about how racists Cary is."

Wow … you sure are full of vinegar today... I said that the conflict with Muslims may be the next tension point for the area and we will resolve it peacefully, lawfully, and equitably like we have for race and income.

If you don’t think people have bias and prejudices than you may not get out enough and talking about race does not make you a racist.

I think everyone has some bias in them and to deny it is to deny human nature but I have said I love that America has found peaceful ways to make the transitions and adjustments. Sometime it might be within a neighborhood or school and when the conflict can not be resolved we accept the courts verdict as in desegregation.

For example, you have seen the riots in Paris where Muslim girls are prohibited from wearing their hijab and Muslim males are excluded from higher education often segregate to ghettos. We don’t have that open discrimination and large discontent because we seem to be working at being more tolerant and accepting. The same tensions are in play in Germany where Turkish Muslins are excluded from much of German society.

I am sure we will need to work through some issue later as white Christians become the minority in the next generation.

Full of vinegar?

Fri, 01/02/2009 - 18:22 — Dadof3

Nah -- my guess is that she took you seriously.

Speaking of education, didn't your English teacher advise you against the redundancy of "I think?" What passes for adult writing is astonishing.

Vsheehan is just so bitter

Fri, 01/02/2009 - 22:57 — ncdad1

Vsheehan is just so bitter all the time … plus, making personal attacks saying that someone is a racist, and idiot or criticizing someone’s writing for using colloquiums is a sign that that people have run out of persuasive intelligent arguments and have resorted to name calling like third grade.

Whatever

Sat, 01/03/2009 - 08:48 — Dadof3

Speaking of which, here's an interesting discussion on projection.

vsheehan is passionate about her children, and even though she and I don't agree on other topics, she hasn't twisted my words or unfairly represented my point of view. You clearly lack that ethic. I'm here to learn, not win debates. I don't learn from you, so I disengage.

FWIW: A colloqulum is an informal meeting place, and Hui/N&O are doing a fine job. My guess is that you meant another word.

Dad3, I think you are

Sat, 01/03/2009 - 10:22 — ncdad1

Dad3,

I think you are not learning anything from me is because you are not listening.

You are probably well educated, have a good job and have your kids in one of the golden high income schools, lots of classes, long term teachers and a PTA that raises $100k. You are fortunate but not common.

Most of the rest of us are in average public schools with the county average of low income kids and non-English speaking kids. While your kids enjoy a wide range of classes that are reliably offered all the time, the rest of us have fewer offering and less stability. We are citizens and pay taxes but don’t receive the same level of public service.

At least, I understand why you are clawing to stay in your school since you have cornered all the resources for yourself but you don’t seem to understand how the rest of the people feel about this disparity. Better educated, high income parents like you have a disproportionate voice on blogs, in the media, and with politicians which leads to the wide disparity between schools. I can understand why you would want to remain ignorant of the facts otherwise you would have to work to correct the disparity and possibly give something up.

Calumnibot strikes again

Sat, 01/03/2009 - 10:45 — Dadof3

Undeterred by a lack of facts, calumnibot strikes again!

Go ahead, calumnibot, wax poetic on this post, too. Perform your pathological extrapolations using that rich and fantastic world inside your head.

It's called giving you a rope.

Still avoiding the issues

Sat, 01/03/2009 - 13:28 — ncdad1

Personal attacks, spelling correction, name calling, etc. all to avoid addressing the inequity in the system. When you have it all, I can understand why you would not want to address the issues and fix the disparity ... smart but sad.

.

Sat, 01/03/2009 - 16:00 — Voice_of_Reason_

Nobody cares

Sat, 01/03/2009 - 15:55 — Voice_of_Reason_

Ncdad1 your opinions fall on deaf ears because they are not based in reality. Ask yourself, how many times have people agreed with you? There are liberals and conservatives on this blog, but you seem to have a unique ideology for an American. You say you aren't liberal, but you sound more like a communist at times. You claim to have an advanced Ivy league education, but often write like an 8th grader. I sometime think your posts seem like the ramblings of a drug addict or madman, maybe psychiatric treatment would help. Anyway I think you might want to ask yourself why nobody agrees with you.

he's had more than enough

Sat, 01/03/2009 - 11:39 — AngelaW

he's had more than enough rope, the odious toad and yet continually ropes people into useless, baseless conversations....when will it cease?

I don't like that things get decided in the courts

Thu, 01/01/2009 - 16:30 — fiestamom

I don't like that things get decided undemocratically in the courts instead of being put to a vote.

Other than that, you know EXACTLY what I meant.

Most of the time, I thing

Thu, 01/01/2009 - 17:59 — ncdad1

Most of the time, I thing court decisions are a last stop when society can not compromise or decide things democratically. Again, we have a much more peacefull and humane way of settling these questions than many other countries.

Thanks Voice for thinking of

Wed, 12/31/2008 - 15:40 — ncdad1

Thanks Voice for thinking of me. I think I remember from studies that whites feel threaded when the black population in a neighborhood or school gets to 20% while blacks feel threaded when the white population gets to 50%. When race was allowed in school placements, I think they tried to keep the black population under 20% in any one school to avoid white flight.

I think income is replacing race as the new social tension factor. It probably has always existed but once race was banded as a metric and became socially unacceptable, people used income as a proxy for race. For example, much of the discussion in this educational forum is on F&R (who are they, where do they live, how do they apply for benefits, what is their fraud rate, where do their children perform better).

As I mentioned, compared to many places I have lived where the poor are warehoused in certain area and institutionalized by zoning, lending, Section8, etc. Wake Co. has a large rural low income population which is less concentrated resulting in more homogeneous income distribution across most school. Depending on how the county develops, it is still is possible that the poor can be centralized and marginalized like other communities have done in the past with the right zoning and incentives.

I am guessing the next minority / majority tension will come from the growing Muslim community threatening the predominately Christian residents. I am expecting a fire storm the first time a large Mosque is built near a school, there is a request for pray rooms in the schools, religious holiday recognition on par with Christmas, etc. It may set off a rush to private Christian schools like we saw when segregation ended and white set up their own school in response.

You made a point and I would like to give you a law lesson.

Wed, 12/31/2008 - 17:48 — Voice_of_Reason_

This is exactly the reason any established religion should not in schools. However, I think allowances for federally recognized holidays should be made. Churches, private schools and homes are where religion should be taught. I don't have a problem with displays celebrating religious traditions in the name of teaching diversity though. I've always had a problem with Valentines Day & Halloween celebrations during school time.

The last time I looked at US Laws, you cannot discriminate due to race, creed, color, national origin, sex, or political affiliation. We have also included most handicaps with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

However nowhere have I seen that discrimination due to behaviour or financial means is illegal. Can you imagine what would happen if they were?

interesting article

Wed, 12/31/2008 - 11:32 — fiestamom

Thanks for the link. Interesting read. A couple of months ago there was a similar article from Memphis.

I usually only have to use a

Fri, 12/26/2008 - 21:11 — vsheehan

I usually only have to use a dictionary to get through a Cornel West book. The comments lately have so many literary references, movie references, and advance vocabulary I need to keep a Google tab open. You do your former teachers proud. : )

Cornel West?

Fri, 12/26/2008 - 23:25 — Dadof3

I'd need Vivarian and pain killer to get through one of his tomes -- but I digress, as that's a lovely sentiment -- how powerfully formative our teachers are. Mr. Capitano, Mr. Zezza, Mr. Knish -- how many lives these men and woman have and will shape. Funny, I don't remember a single board member, office clerk or ed planning jockey from where I grew up -- as it should be.

don't forget horace

Wed, 12/24/2008 - 15:05 — Forget_not_the_...

Let's not forget that Horace Tart also requested this study...and rest assured Horace's district represents a huge chunk of F&R students.

Also note that an inordinate number of schools that have >40% F&R populations lie in Horace's district.

Many of us on this blog know Ron personally and know that he cares about the education of each child--every child that fails is a failure for WCPSS. Moving a failing child is not going to make him pass any more than buying him new clothes will...

Personally as a child, I lived a nomadic life going from elementary school to elementary school--I know what it is like to be moved and what it is like to be the low achiever in the class room...so my empathy and understanding comes from walking the same path and I will tell you it sucks. To be so far behind the learning curve is horrible...in so many aspects.

Thus I advocate for educating each child as an individual and where each child will flourish...if the resources are stronger for teaching a child who is failing at a Title 1, Magnet school and it happens to be in his neighborhood, then send him there, not to a suburban school 45 minutes away where he can't get the resources he needs.

Suburban people can care about the plight of their neighbors and the plight of the people of Dafar, Mumbai and Pakistan....and not be self-serving.

That of all things should be obivious during the Christmas season.

Go Ron, go Ron!

Wed, 12/24/2008 - 09:51 — AngelaW

Thanks to Ron, as always, for fighting the fight and trying to do the "right thing" for the children and families of WCPSS.
(in the Letters to the Editor)

School diversity's costs

Regarding Steve Ford's Dec. 14 column "Yellow beasts of the highway jungle":
Along with safety hazards on I-40, Ford seemed more concerned with his personal inconvenience being impacted by those yellow buses than with the disruption of family lives caused by the feel-good policy promoted by the Wake County Public School System. He too easily dismissed the importance of the time and distance children travel to attend the "right" school and the need for strong parental involvement in a child's education and readily jumped to the conclusion that "all boats" will rise by spreading disadvantaged students around the county.

What Ford failed to address is whether the spreading of students throughout the county is actually promoting individual academic achievement or just watering down the school's performance percentages to make all Wake County schools appear equal.

WCPSS is firmly entrenched in a diversity-at-all costs policy yet fails to demonstrate how and if diversity is helping our entire student population. Are we actually affecting the education of each and every child in a positive manner? That's a simple and necessary request.

Instead of blindly supporting a policy that looks good on paper yet has no proven benefits (as The N&O continually does), Ford should start questioning the student assignment policy of WCPSS, just as many parents are. Children of Wake County should be exposed to a quality and equal education in every Wake County school regardless of where they live or their income level.

Ron Margiotta

Member, Wake County Board of Education

Apex

Agreed! Well done, Ron.

Wed, 12/24/2008 - 10:12 — joeciulla

Agreed! Well done, Ron. It takes courage to speak up like Ron does. I think perhaps one or two other board members have similar opinions, but have never had the guts to challenge the socialista's. Merry Christmas, Ron, thousands of Wake County families are very thankful to have you.

I have never been sure why

Wed, 12/24/2008 - 10:41 — ncdad1

I have never been sure why fighting diversity was a top priority for Ron? His district has least diversity.

Plus, It appears most of the F&Rs are on the East side of the County (page through the charts to see growth history)
http://www.wcpss.net/demographics/special-need/F&R-historic-m.pdf

I have been successfully

Wed, 12/24/2008 - 11:19 — AngelaW

I have been successfully avoiding your troll-like, megalomanic passages for days now, but in this you go too far (again). I thought you didn't care about District Representation so Ron is for ALL districts according to you previously, or rather before you flip-flopped again.

He is NOT fighting diversity, he is looking to have the BoE prove that it is working. Given the propensity of the BoE (eR) to blindly keep on with something that shows no true gains, he is looking for ways to improve on a District that is NOT gaining, yet sinking with test scores, graduation rates, etc. under-serving the AG communities, shuffling rather than teaching and costing tax-payers money in ways that are NOT proven to work, both in diversity busing and MYR schools.

For THIS, he would appear to be the ONLY BoE member who is doing what he was elected for, working for the families and children of WCPSS.

I think it is just a message

Wed, 12/24/2008 - 14:39 — ncdad1

I think it is just a message problem .... successful white guy in a low F&R area suddenly shows concern for the plight of the poor when they might enter his district. It probably is bad timing. I am guessing what ever way Ron wants to measure success, it will be to his benefit in preventing F&Rs from coming to his schools.

Who are you to question

Wed, 12/24/2008 - 18:38 — vsheehan

Who are you to question anyone else’s motives? Your family had the resources to opt-out of public school till now. You put your kids in the neighborhood school and find that you do not like the other kids. You then fight to have those kids bussed out of the neighborhood school. It doesn’t matter to you that other people are forced into MYR so you can bus who you want out of your school. It’s your motives that are fueled by self interest and should be the ones you should contemplate.

Please stop hiding behind cries of racism when in fact all you care about is your needs. Just like N. Raleigh only care about their assignments. How Millbrook PTSA lobbied to have the magnet pulled from Broughton to fix Millbrook’s problem. Yet its Western Wake whose the only bad guys because they never asked for MYR or to be reassigned every year no matter if they were not in a high growth part? Stop trying to kid yourself because we all know the last thing you care about are the kids you want out of your school. If you did care you would be asking for more money so the school could have the resources to help all its students. Instead you insist on a plan that helps a few and busses the rest of the problem away.

"Stop trying to kid

Wed, 12/24/2008 - 19:56 — ncdad1

"Stop trying to kid yourself because we all know the last thing you care about are the kids you want out of your school. If you did care you would be asking for more money so the school could have the resources to help all its students. Instead you insist on a plan that helps a few and busses the rest of the problem away. "

These F&R are not my kids, they don't even live on my street. The school system happened to assign them to my school. You bitched enough to have those node not assigned to your school. And I am suppose to roll over and say please increase my alloaction so we can become a Title I school and you can gloat in your school's scores which are just a reflection of your low High Needs population not smart kids or great parents. The F&R are spread across the county yet you have been able to avoid carrying your fair share all these years of your civic responsiblity. And when you are asked to take responsiblity you invent some interest in these children's wellfare.

One man's halo

Wed, 12/24/2008 - 20:23 — Dadof3

When you look in the mirror, you see a halo. Everyone else sees a windex streak.

Merry Christmas, calumnibot.

Dear Dads

Fri, 12/26/2008 - 23:53 — SDR256

I think ya'll have had too much eggnog. Think again. No one is the evil empire. No one holds the shining truth. If we could get together in a livingroom somewhere, I'm sure we could find a violently argree on an answer for OUR CHILDREN. ........our children.....people - hello! our children your children and my children and the children of our neighbors.

Its not about THEM vs US, or YOU vs ME. WHO IS SMARTER? Who can find the right fact who can prove him wrong? Have I done my homework?

This is the stinking mess and disfunction the school board has thrust upon us. Fight them. Work with all parents who are working FOR their children. It can be done.

Thank you Mr. Potter (from

Thu, 12/25/2008 - 14:09 — ncdad1

Thank you Mr. Potter (from It's a Wonderful Life)

It's sad you have this view

Fri, 12/26/2008 - 11:43 — Voice_of_Reason_

Dadof3 is an small business owner that produces a product that makes money for others; he does not take advantage of others. He is just trying to make a good life for his family. Your reference to an evil capitalist with no morals is vile of the worse sort. If Mr. Potter is your view of people with any wealth, then you are cursed with a warped sense of reality. There exist few "Mr. Potters" in this country, even among the rich. Laws and lawyers actually keep most of that leaning in check.

Voice, you just don’t get

Fri, 12/26/2008 - 16:19 — ncdad1

Voice, you just don’t get it. This is not some capitalist struggle.

“Your reference to an evil capitalist with no morals is vile of the worse sort”

I am glad you at least revile him. I did not think you would see any excesses in capitalism. I was thinking you might hold him up as an example of an efficient capitalist. I used Mr. Potter as an example of a selfish, self-centered individual who has no regard or compassion for anyone less fortunate. He is all about my neighborhood first. He is the kind of man who wants a cost-benefit study on helping folks get into their own home and out of the ghettos he created for them.

Let me give you an analogy.

Its basketball skirmish time so we need to choose up teams. 30% of the players have not played before. Leader A gets all the first picks and stacks his team with the best players because Coach Ron likes him best. Leader B complains about the fairness. Leader A tells him he is a troll for complaining about getting all the poor players. Besides, Leader A says all the poor players are nearer B’s side of the gym so they belong to him. Leader B says we are all part of the same team. The A team goes on to beat the B team and lives the illusion that they are some how superior. At truly superior team is one which can excel with the full range of kids from the community.

In this county, where high needs kids (low income, low English, special Ed, etc. ) are spread across the county and make up about 30% of MOST ALL schools, you appear to want someone else to take the responsibility for them. You use all kinds of capitalism, efficiency, private ownership of PUBLIC property argument to make your point. A PUBLIC school building is not yours to own and dictate membership. If you want ownership and capitalism and freedom move to the private sector (e.g. private school).

You still are WRONG

Fri, 12/26/2008 - 17:47 — Voice_of_Reason_

To compare Dad0f3 to an evil, greedy, selfish man who cares about nobody but himself and his quest for power is just plain wrong.

As far as responsibility, we only have a responsibility to provide an opportunity for those children to get an education. We do not have a responsibility to make sure they succeed. It is an unrealistic goal unless some were removed from their environment and forcefully educated and watched over constantly. Even the military which can do this, does not have a 100% success rate. And those are the ones that already are educated at a high school degree level.

Your idea that a community should share, where do you draw the line? You could expand that to state level. If these children were helped, that would be one thing, BUT THEY ARE NOT ! So why should anyone pay PRECIOUS TAX MONEY to have children bused into a school to achieve no results except to lower the performance of good students? You forget a public school building is ours and the administration works for us, the taxpayers. School is not a capitalist system, it is a socialist system. Schools should strive to run efficiently and provide equal opportunities; economic diversity busing helps neither goal.

As far as your analogy, I find it hard to apply to school children if all of them have no training at the beginning. No school has a advantage other than one being harder to coach.

"Please do not feed the

Fri, 12/26/2008 - 18:34 — gwaihir

"Please do not feed the troll"

You don't know me, yet...

Fri, 12/26/2008 - 17:17 — Dadof3

Calumnibot Strikes Again™

You're welcome, Joe

Thu, 12/25/2008 - 15:09 — Dadof3

(From Andy Warhol's Trash)

To be fair and balanced :)

Fri, 12/26/2008 - 11:52 — Voice_of_Reason_

The fact that ncdad1's rants are similar to one of Joe's affliction, you might be stretching it a bit. But I understand after his leap of vile fantasy.

Thanks, VoR

Fri, 12/26/2008 - 13:28 — Dadof3

I appreciate the kind words, although "works around the clock" and "nervous about the impending kleptocracy" would nail it.

Calumnibot doesn't engage in a meaningful quid pro quo discussion, I suspect he either lacks the ability or is so heavily invested in his world view that such an open and honest process would melt the tender artifice.

I was wondering about what I was worried about.

Fri, 12/26/2008 - 14:59 — Voice_of_Reason_

Kleptocracy, that's a good word for the coming year. It is only tempered by the fact I get a nice earned allowance, albeit federally taxed, from that entity. (One hand givith, the other takith away)

BTW is Calumnbot your word? I understand it's meaning only from it's Latin roots. Nice description.

Feds auditing through taxes

Fri, 12/26/2008 - 17:15 — Dadof3

My guess is that the feds will track how "good" we are via our yearly love letter and check[s]. We also know how the "what you say is more important than what you do" ethic is all the rage, and more so on Jan 19. But my being a business titan, hell-bent on destroying everything good and American in my path, that's a trivial matter.

Calumnibot = "calumny" + "bot" for a automated process bereft of anthropomorphic properties.

Dear Dads

Fri, 12/26/2008 - 23:52 — SDR256

Its not about THEM vs US, or YOU vs ME. WHO IS SMARTER? Who can find the right fact who can prove him wrong? Have I done my homework?

This is the stinking mess and disfunction the school board has thrust upon us. Fight them. Work with all parents who are working FOR their children. It can be done.

You are right. I did not

Sat, 12/27/2008 - 10:42 — ncdad1

You are right. I did not need this during the holiday season.

I was living in ignorant bliss thinking all the public schools were similar -like it does not matter which DMV location you get your tags or which Post Office you drop off your mail. I was thinking everyone was working for the good of the whole - entire system, all schools, and all children.

Now that I have more information and can see the great disparity between each of the public schools it is dishearting.

"Please do not feed the

Sat, 12/27/2008 - 17:47 — gwaihir

"Please do not feed the troll"

Ignorant, but not blissful

Sat, 12/27/2008 - 14:36 — Voice_of_Reason_

All schools, DMV's, and Post Offices are not the same; but they offer the same basic services. Newer areas usually get better facilities, this has been true throughout history. The only difference is in schools you don't have a choice, except by picking where you live. This is how it is for the vast percent of the US population lives [of course Wake County thinks it is special]. It is impossible to be totally equal. Students, not schools, should be given the same opportunities in education. I will go one further and say some children should be given extra help to achieve, but changing schools without parent's consent is not helping them.

Students with the right leadership make the school, not buildings.

I do agree that it is a shame some schools get more availability of courses than others; especially those that are called magnet. But the real problem of inequity is in high school core subjects: math, science, reading, & language arts. All children should have the same opportunities to take advanced courses. If they don't want to take advantage of those opportunities....fine with me. Let them live with that decision; but don't deny them the choice.

You have a nasty and

Wed, 12/24/2008 - 10:55 — joeciulla

You have a nasty and annoying habit of twisting other people's words. Ron is not "fighting diversity." On the contrary, he is asking whether our diversity policy is, in fact, serving the children it is supposed to help.

Read the K.Misegades report over the holidays. Busing is not helping F&R kids.

Rather than accusing Ron of "fighting diversity," you should be asking why school board members who represent those F&R kids on the eastern side of Wake County continue to wear rose-colored glasses to look beyond the problem, instead of using a microscope to understand the problem. Parents from Eastern Wake should be asking the same thing.

Joe, the whole situation is

Wed, 12/24/2008 - 14:32 — ncdad1

Joe, the whole situation is eerie. You have one of nine board members in the wealthiest section of the county showing new found concern for a possible problem on the other side of the county. I would feel better if the actual parents affected where involved. Given that most act in their own self interest, I would like to know why you and Ron’s new found concern is for the poor. Of all the improvements that WCPSS could be making and studying, why are you so interested in the value of diversity? What is in it for you? I am not sure we have finished the cost- benefit study on mixing the races yet. Maybe Ron feels that keeping blacks in all black schools is better for them too.

This is not a "newfound"

Wed, 12/24/2008 - 17:32 — joeciulla

This is not a "newfound" debate, it is one which has been raging for over two years (Where have you been?). I have attended plenty of meetings where parents of F&R children beg to keep them in local schools.

And parents of F&R children also vote with their feet. Thousands of them have declined to be bused to schools far away from home.

Chuck Dulaney (May Santa bring him a lump of coal tonight) is the first one to admit that F&R balancing is the "engine" that drives redistricting. It is the engine which forces our children out of the neighborhood schools that their friends go to. So, yes, it makes perfect sense for Ron and others to question whether what we are doing is effective.

BTW, regarding "self-interest," you would be surprised how many parents who are fighting this battle are NOT doing so in the interest of their own children. I'm one of them. My kids are on the glide path out of WCPSS. But I'll keep advocating for school reform because our community cannot afford to have a diseased school system, and I don't want other families to suffer the way mine did.

A Merry Christmas to all, and my thanks to so many of you who have worked so hard to resolve school issues -- I have faith that '09 will be a good year for us.

Defending the diversity study vote

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