The Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children and the local NAACP are again turning toward Mecklenburg County Commissioner Vilma Leake to warn against the end of the diversity policy in Wake County.
Leake, a former Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board member, will be the speaker at Thursday's "High Poverty Schools Impact on Our Children's Achievement" forum. The forum will run from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Martin Street Baptist Church's Johnson Building, 1001 E. Martin Street in Raleigh.
"Commissioner Leake served on the Board of Education during the historic battle over the student assignment policy change that resulted in the resegregation of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools of today," says the flier for the event.
(Disregard where it lists 1001 State Street as the address in the flier.)
This isn't the first time Leake has entered into the Wake school diversity fight. She had bemoaned Wake's election results in an October CCCAAC press release.
The flier says the following topics will be discussed:
* Perpetuation of the Cycle of Poverty
* Lower Percentage of Graduating Students
* Higher Dropout Rate
* Lower College Enrollment
* Low Performing Schools
* Reduced Earning Potential
CCCAAC wants people to register for the forum on their web site. You can call 231-9057 for more information.
Comments
I don't know why everyone is
Sun, 06/13/2010 - 21:30 — aquaman4life68I don't know why everyone is so worried with high poverty schools, because just look at all the photos in the gallery of the high school graduations. If it isn't diverse then the photographer showed his own bias there. I could have done a better job at catching great moments of at a graduation to easily represent all people.
Do you see dollar sign ove the heads of the graduates?
Sun, 06/13/2010 - 22:23 — duvalThe diversity policy is not about skin color, but the parents income.
Soooo....Tricky to pick out poverty vs affluence under the caps and gowns.
you're partially correct.
Tue, 06/15/2010 - 14:55 — jenmanyou're partially correct. Policy 6200 was about assigning kids based on income and not race. However, even supporters like Dr. Kahlenberg have said that Wake County is unique in that poverty and race are closely aligned. They talk about how this policy wouldn't achieve the same results in many other communities. Income was substituted for race after the decision in Charlotte and because Wake knew that the results would be the same with the substitution.
Yet another meeting on
Sat, 06/12/2010 - 10:10 — woodstockYet another meeting on "diversity" at the least diverse place in Wake County? Why does the CCCAAC insist on this type of orchestrated segregation at their meetings?
...
Sat, 06/12/2010 - 12:51 — SideburnsAnd don't you dare think you can help without Calla's approval. Here's what she had to say about The Homework Haven:
http://www.midtownraleighnews.com/2010/05/12/2575/use-real-data-to-help-students.html
"Please read about Dr. Shila Nordone and team who tutors in the back of White's Barbershop in Washington Terrace, Southeast Raleigh. Based on my knowledge of Washington Terrace, White's Barbershop is a small establishment and can hold only a small number of children. Dr. Nordon and team have very brief visits here in Southeast Raleigh and should she make comments/remarks about our children when she has no real connections, here? Secondly,I wonder if she takes these children home with her to interact with her children and her social network of friends? Are the children she tutor able to see where/how Dr. Nordone live so they too can develop real dreams and aspirations about how education equality really can benefit those when given access/opportunity. Dr.Shila Nordone is a supporter of Mr. Tedesco's community zone intiative, and I believe I read that Southeast Raleigh will be called "Promised Zone." What do they know about Southeast Raleigh and the children who live here, other than they want our children to remain in our turf/area!!!"
How anyone can grant Calla
Sun, 06/13/2010 - 11:57 — woodstockHow anyone can grant Calla Wright any credibility is a mystery. Dr. Nordone provides a wonderful example of personal commitment, community involvement and putting words into action to make a difference, and Wright finds fault with it. Just amazing.
Additionally, although Calla Wright is a WCPSS teacher, judging from her grammar, I will assume she does not teach language arts.
I wonder if this poor excuse
Sat, 06/12/2010 - 19:35 — red_balloonI wonder if this poor excuse of a leader bothered to thank the volunteers instead of belittling them. She is a disgrace but I guess, between Barber and Wright, one need not be surprised with this class of leadership.
No Kidding!
Sun, 06/13/2010 - 11:37 — JanisTangoI have had the pleasure of chatting with Dr. Nordone. She is someone who is totally committed to the success of these children and all children! It's really a shame that Calla feels it necessary to question her motives and 'belittle' her instead of working with her and her group! With this kind of comment it just discredits Calla's group even more!
Honestly, I'm amazed that
Tue, 06/15/2010 - 14:50 — jenmanHonestly, I'm amazed that Calla has any 'followers' at all. She has rebuffed many sincere, serious attempts at dialogue and she proudly displays her rude emails and comments on her user group for all to see.
Yes, it's laughable and
Sat, 06/12/2010 - 08:47 — wireless200Yes, it's laughable and ironic that they have these special electives and programs such as the IB and as a practical matter little-used foreign languages, where either the kids that can't do basic reading and math or the liberal-elite kids are the ones who utilize them. I mean, come on, you can interact with the slow kids everyday at the minimum wage jobs where they can't make change without a cash register (or give a crap about anything customer related for that matter) or with the rich kids "vacationing" in these programs all the while without the first idea about how things work in the real world. Meanwhile the 70% of kids in the middle make do with one AG teacher for 3 grades in the entire school beside the help students who each have their own personal teacher and are socially promoted through the system. Go to private schools? Is it any great mystery?
Yes they did and still do
Fri, 06/11/2010 - 14:32 — aquaman4life68Yes they did and still do acsims!! You are so right. I still do not know what this "uproar" is all about?
Re: High Poverty Schools in Wake County
Fri, 06/11/2010 - 12:45 — acsimsI sat in a meeting about 8 years ago listening to the same lecture thinking I live in Garner and they are describing just about every school that we have here. I am still perplexed as to why everyone does not understand that high poverty schools existed before the new board came on board. And, they existed because that is what the school system created by all the bussing.
I agree. As long as those
Tue, 06/15/2010 - 14:44 — jenmanI agree. As long as those schools weren't ITB then everything was ok.
We all know world poverty
Fri, 06/11/2010 - 14:42 — user12345We all know world poverty could not be solved in WCPSS ... the diversity policy was just a way to spread the work load around since voters wanted the cheapest education possible ... the concern now is how big and concentrated will the new board make high poverty schools ... will they be able to zone all the poor kids into a few school like most big cities up north?
No, what they were heading
Fri, 06/11/2010 - 16:32 — acsimsNo, what they were heading for was all poor kids in the system because everyone else was leaving. What in the world do you think happened in Charlotte? All the kids had already exited to private schools. There are private schools on every corner in Charlotte. Of course, that left high poverty. Is it not better to give everyone an equal opportunity?
you guys already did this
Fri, 06/11/2010 - 16:18 — snordonethrough policy 6200 you concentrated the high poverty in the Rim. Your ITB schools are great, the political elite in Raleigh enjoy the riches. Meanwhile, the rim schools are high poverty with no resources. Have you ever been in a school that is >50% LEP with one ESL teacher to serve 130 LEP students? I am thrilled that we could sacrifice getting another ESL teacher in order for the magnet kids to enjoy Japanese and many of the other 300+ honors and electives they have to choose from. User, you need to wake up to our reality.
Could you tell me where the
Mon, 06/14/2010 - 09:50 — danofncCould you tell me where the >50% LEP school is located? Based on the numbers I saw, Brentwood (40.6%) had the highest LEP numbers in WCPSS. It's a magnet, and it's very likely that those numbers come from the base assignment neighborhoods near the school. Without the magnet program, its numbers would likely be higher.
Then, Hodge at 36% and River Bend at 31.7% are the only other two I could find over 30%. There were also 6 schools over 20%.
Hodge: community assignment zone
River Bend: community assignment zone
The 20% - 30% schools are a mixed bag....3 have non-contiguous assignment zones, 2 are community assigned, and one is a magnet that would likely have higher numbers for LEP if it weren't a magnet.
If you're going to tell someone to wake up to reality, shouldn't you be using real statistics?
"the rim schools are high
Sat, 06/12/2010 - 08:42 — HJ2ss2"the rim schools are high poverty with no resources"
I worked in a "rim" school in Wake County. It was a challenge but I really enjoyed connecting with the students and actually making a difference.
One day my daughter stopped by. I asked how the population in the rim school compared to the high school in Wake County that she attended. I was struck by her comment. Her response was that it "looks like an inner city school." (in comparison)
I don't understand "looks like an inner city school"
Sat, 06/12/2010 - 18:22 — Athey01Does she go to an inner city school? Otherwise, how would she know how an inner city school look? I don't get it. Is it inner city because it has more than the number of "inner city" students at her school? How is she able to identify students from "inner city"? What is your point? Also, what was your response to her comment?
This is difficult to answer
Sun, 06/13/2010 - 08:59 — HJ2ss2This is difficult to answer without a lecture on socioeconomic and cultural diversity.
She went to Leesville. She has been raised with an understanding of differences as well as similarity among people. We are from a large northern city with a high poverty and crime rate. Her comment was an observation, not a criticism. The school where I worked had a high population of (at risk, socially disadvantaged, poor - however one describes it) students with academic and behavior problems, often based on coming from homes that could offer them little support or guidance.
I was posting in response to snordon's comment about rim schools and high poverty.
sorry to be critical, but it struck the wrong chord with me
Sun, 06/13/2010 - 13:10 — Athey01We are in the Leesville school district. Compared to Leesville, I'm sure the composition of other schools may look "inner city" to her. Regardless, its her perception, therefore, it has validity.
No apology necessary. I
Sun, 06/13/2010 - 14:44 — HJ2ss2No apology necessary. I probably should have used different words in my post.
Ah Yes, Chinese
Fri, 06/11/2010 - 16:32 — willynillyThe joke we have going for next year is that now our children can NOT read and write in 2 languages. Hopefully things will keep getting better score wise. We did pretty well as a school jumping some 20+ points in our composite score.