Parents at Daniels and Leesville Road middle schools will get a second crack today at persuading the school board to reverse recent votes.
Today's board agenda includes a vote on converting Leesville to a year-round calendar and another on removing the magnet program at Daniels. Parents will be able to have their say during the public comment portion at 4 p.m.
As noted previously, a revote was likely.
The board had agreed to convert Leesville and demagnetize Daneils at an Oct. 7 work session. But questions had been raised whether both votes were official.
After all, prior votes on demagnetization and conversion were done during regular board meetings.
Those won't be the only parts of the votes.
During the same vote on demagnetizing Daniels, the board will also revote on confirming the decisions to add magnet programs to Brentwood and Smith elementary schools.
Also as part of the Leesvile vote, the board will vote on reconfirming the decisions to put Baucom and Green Hope elementary schools on a traditional calendar.
The regular board meeting will begin at 3 p.m. at 3600 Wake Forest Road, Raleigh.
UPDATE
Ron Margiotta unsuccessfully asked his fellow board members to pull the items for Leesville and Daniels off the agenda. Both of his motions to remove the items died from a lack of a second. He had argued they should be pulled to allow more time for public comment before a final decision is made.
Comments
Once again.....
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 13:20 — WuptdoIs this anyway to run a school system. Another problem brought on by being to BIG and being control by an elite few. Whatever happens to "at-large" voting, the next quest should be to give the City of Raleigh (The Elitist) its school system back. Almost all our core problems can be directly traced to the "navel gazing" of the "ITB" school board, their supporters and the incompetent buffoons they have hired over the years.
Break the Beast up!
Brier Creek will be moved
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 12:18 — jenmanBrier Creek will be moved out of Daniels, I have no doubt. It was funny to me that at the work session, these were the 'affluent' families that Chuck mentioned moving out of Daniels to bring it more in line with the magnet objectives. Not that I disagree that they are 'affluent' compared to the F&R families that the magnet should be serving as base. But there are ITB neighborhoods near Daniels that cost just as much to live in, if not more. I really don't think that Chuck has any intention of moving expensive ITB neighborhoods out of Daniels at all.
He is against de-magnetizing Daniels and said that by converting Leesville MS, it would open spaces for Brier Creek kids. I imagine he sees that as a way to open more magnet seats so that the rest of the Daniels base can stay.
Vsheehan--WCPSS has taken down the assignment maps for each school, but I don't think there are too many areas of North Raleigh that are assigned to Daniels. Besides Brier Creek, and they are only there because there was no room for them elsewhere.
I understand your frustration at losing Daniels, but one thing that bothered me was your dismissal a couple of weeks ago of E Garner or E Millbrook as viable options. I think you referred to E Millbrook as a social warzone and you mentioned E Garner's low test scores. I do understand where you're coming from--those two schools are not as good as Daniels, I will agree. BUT, E Millbrook and E Garner are the only options for a great number of other people in the county. I'll be applying to E Millbrook because I have few choices otherwise to get my kids more than the basics. So while I do worry a bit about E Millbrook because of all of the negative things I've heard, I've got to give it a shot.
I'm not meaning to attack you, vsheehan. Like I said, I can see your point but I can see another side as well.
The fact that WCPSS deems it ok or desirable to limit student access to academic programs is the real problem here. Even worse is that being able to receive the extras is mostly dependent upon which school you are assigned to and what neighborhood you can afford to live in. Neither of which we have much control over.
huge portion of Old North
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 19:36 — vsheehanhuge portion of Old North raliegh is a base for Daniel. A lot of families inour church live there and have Daniels for there base. Their home values are as high and mostly higher then Preston. They werre clueless to learn they may lose their MS. They have never had their bases changed unlike the rest of us.
Don't worry I didn't see it as an attack. Our son went to a social warfare school last year we needed a program that was there. This year the behavior is much better. I understand needing to pick a program no matter what the behavior. On the other hand to have a nonovercroweded school that wasn't a mess behavioral Daniels was our neighberhoods only choose. 1 hour ride or 40 kids to a class. The MYR MS does not pick any application from our neighberhood.
Brier Creek ?
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 10:29 — shank56The MS school kids at Brier Crrek currently are assigned to Daniels, far and away from their closest MS, Leesville. I am told Chuck mentioned at the work session assigning those kids closer to home which could be LRMS.
Brier Creek At LRMS
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 11:28 — Lisa_BYes, I think the Brier Creek families will be moved to LRMS, which means they are planning to assign some of the nodes closer to other MS out of LRMS to a different MS that is closer to THEIR homes.
Reassignments are going to happen WHETHER OR NOT LRMS GOES YR. Going through the whole MYR conversion at LRMS only makes room for an additional 200 students. (now we have 1300---MYR will increase the capacity to 1500)
There is NO REASON to put our community through such a drastic change just to make room for 200 students. Does it truly make sense to subject 1300 students to an undesirable change just to make room for 200 more??? I don't think so.
(we already have space in the building for more students TODAY---this is insane)
Why the need for more capacity?
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 09:15 — Anne (not verified)I have a feeling that because the magnet status will remain at Daniels they will need to reassign some base student to other schools. I foresee the BOE moving nodes OTB to Leesville to make room for some F&R node to come in to Daniels. This would increase the #'s at Leesville middle. Then with all of the YR elementary schools feeding into Leesville Middle, as there are no middle schools in the Brier Creek and Sycamore Creek areas, the Leesville middle population will increase significantly in the next several years.
should LRMS go YR, they'll
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 16:50 — AngelaWshould LRMS go YR, they'll lose nodes to Carrol or Millbrook anyway as opt outs
Daniels F&R with magnet-
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 12:15 — shank56Daniels F&R with magnet- 31%
Leesville MS F& R - 28%
Martin MS F&R - 24%
County average is about 29% , I think
It may not be a formality.
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 09:08 — vsheehanIt may not be a formality. Ron has allready stated that he will change his vote on The Daniels issue. I hope they put the magnet back and boot the rich kids out. They have no problem doing it to other kids in Cary. Why is North Raleigh special?
?? vsheehan
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 09:54 — JSB (who would like to be verified...) (not verified)Daniels isn't in "North" Raleigh - it's ITB? What do you mean by this?
I did email Ron asking for his thoughts/reasons on changing his vote but did not get a response. (He is not my rep though.)
North Raleigh proper is
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 11:40 — vsheehanNorth Raleigh proper is ITB. maybe I should state Original or Old North Raleigh.
ok
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 12:56 — JSB (not verified)thanks for clarifying... I live in "North Raleigh" (not "proper, ITB...I am North of Strickland!!!) and Daniels is not a magnet option for us at all. Like Jenman - we will be applying to East Millbrook because it's the only chance we've got.
Just A Formality
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 08:59 — Lisa_BAs much as I'd like to believe that the School Board has taken the time to study what a HUGE mistake a MYR conversion would be at LRMS, I'm afraid they're just looking at this vote as a "formality" and will vote to keep LRMS on the draft so that we'll need to make our case at the Community Engagement Meetings.
You're RIGHT Angela. There is NO REASON to add 12 additional mobile classrooms, and NO SPACE to put them either. We currently have empty classrooms at LRMS and several teams with just 3 teachers since there aren't enough students to justify paying a 4th salary.
I plan to attend today's meeting, but it unfortunately sounds like we're just going to be dealing with thoughtless "rubber stamping" and "business as usual" for now....UGH!
Fiscal Implications: Annual
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 08:53 — AngelaWFiscal Implications: Annual operating costs for Leesville Middle will increase but the capital cost of 12 additional mobile or modular classrooms will be avoided.
huh? 12 additional mobile units? Where and What for? LRMS didn't get any additional students? and by HOW MUCH will operating costs increase? inquiring TAXPAYERS want to know?