Looking at the impact of the new student assignment plan on Eastern Wake County

What lessons should be taken from the way Eastern Wake County parents responded to the new student assignment plan this year?

As noted in today's article by Paul A. Specht, data analyzed by the Eastern Wake News indicated that about 11 percent of the student population in Knightdale, Wendell, and Zebulon participated in the first two rounds of the school choice process (about 990 of 9,070 students)

Approximately 67 percent of the students from eastern Wake who participated in the choice plan picked schools outside of the region as their top choice (670 students listed a non-regional school as their top choice, while 319 students listed a local school as their top choice).

Of those who listed a non-regional school as their top choice, approximately 35 percent (239 of 670 students) were granted their request by Wake County.

Brad McMillen, of Wake Schools’ student assignment task force, says the numbers indicate the choice system is working in eastern Wake County.

“In the end, only about 7 percent of our student population will have participated in the choice plan countywide,” McMillen said, noting that assignment is ongoing. “I think the results show that most people, in east Wake and elsewhere, are happy where they are ... and those who aren’t were able to pick a school they wanted.”

But Toshiba Rice of Track My Steps says the results can’t be taken at face value because many parents in eastern Wake did not know how to participate in the school selection process.

“I talk to parents everyday. Many of them told me that they didn’t know how to get their kid into the right school because the online process is complicated,” said Rice, who held a rally in May to boost support for local schools.

School officials held student assignment information sessions earlier this year at East Wake High and Knightdale High, but few parents attended. Rice says officials need to do more to educate parents about the choice process.

A third of students who participated in the choice plan listed a magnet school outside the region as their top choice.

Shannon Hardy, a leader of Knightdale 100 said the exodus from Knightdale to magnets has always existed because local schools don’t have the same level of classes.

“From what I hear from parents, it’s not about the teachers or anything else. The teachers are great,” Hardy said. “It’s the curriculum. Parents want more challenging courses that are only offered at outside magnet schools.”

There are no magnet schools in Knightdale, Hardy noted.

Middle and high schools were impacted most. More than 110 students listed a magnet high school as their top choice. About 200 students chose a non-regional magnet middle school as their top choice.

School board vice chairman Keith Sutton, whose district includes part of Knightdale after the redistricting plan, said Wake should look at adding magnet programs to Eastern Wake.