There used to be a time when parents of schoolage children made up a large share of the Wake school board.
But with the grueling meeting schedule that the school board has, parents of current students have become a minority. Until Keith Sutton was appointed to the board recently, Lori Millberg had been the only board member of schoolage children.
That number will increase by at least two after this fall board's elections with parents of schoolage children making up all the candidates in districts 1 and 7. (I'm counting Rita Rakestraw because her oldest child is 4 and will be in a Wake school in the near future.)
Parents of students could also win in district 2 and 9. Parents of schoolchildren are also among the applicants for the District 6 vacancy.
Comments
GO IN AND TRY THE SHOES ON
Fri, 08/28/2009 - 22:42 — PJBOARD MEMBERS must go into the schools and see really what is going on, get a feel for the culture of each school and then they can make better decisions... or have Dulaney and staff go into the schools to better make reccomendations....cause they sure have made some bad reccomendations in the past... It is good to go into the store to try the shoes on before buying them..
Board Members Should Visit Schools
Sat, 08/29/2009 - 08:43 — rainforestNothing like talking with the teachers, parents, administration, and students first hand. I guess you won't see Mayor Meeker comment on the schools since his wife is a School Board member, Anne McLaurin. How did this happen?
TEDESCO Silenced?
Fri, 08/28/2009 - 14:50 — JTedescoYesterday on a thread about Saturdays CCCAAC forum, I commented that I would be attending. Well my friends, it appears I may have been mistaken about the willingness of the CCCAAC to hear all candidates. I was just contacted back by Mrs. Sutton and told I would not be permitted to speak in tomorrow's forum.
My call to them yesterday to notify them of the oversight and express my sincere willingness to participate was not met with appreciation. I was told that they already have a schedule and other candidates have been allotted the time. I was further told that I would not be allowed to participate.
I was then informed that they had no other problems with candidates who used the e-vite process, although as you can see from the update they did allow other candidates the opportunity to enter in the forum late. The update posting of their acceptance came after my phone calls to the CCCAAC. I encouraged them to reconsider they said “no”. I asked if, while I may not be permitted to partake in the whole forum, that maybe I could simple have an opportunity to have a 2 minute introduction of myself. I was again told “no”. So needless to say, I am extremely disappointed.
I am not one for bold remarks about others, but I can confidently say, that no other candidate in any other district has done more to serve, or been more entrenched in the needs of African American children than myself. I grew up in and out of slums, projects and gospel churches. I have an African American God-son (Ty). I have lived in the same households with African American friends and families several times in my life after various life situations.
I have dedicated my life to serving vulnerable communities. More so, for over a decade I have built countless programs, homeless shelters, prison outreach, mentoring activities and generated millions of dollars for public private partnerships for at-risk youth and tens and tens of thousands of African Americans. All of which I can confidently say will serve me with a better understanding of the needs of this community than Mr. Tart or Mrs. Truitt will ever have.
I have dedicated my life to helping our communities most vulnerable. The core centerpiece of my platform is targeted to vulnerable low-income communities. But it appears that because I have been endorsed by some they might not agree with that I am not welcome to share my views and vision on how we can better serve our most challenged children. I will avoid rampant speculation on their motives, but this is a sad day for Wake County and the children who need us the most.
I will attend tomorrow, and would welcome anyone who wishes to join me.
John Tedesco
UPDATE to Tedesco Post
Sat, 08/29/2009 - 16:13 — JTedescoI would like to update my two previous posts regarding the forum this morning hosted by the CCCAAC.
I had attended this morning’s event anyway, and was welcomed graciously by event organizers. While it caused a slight adjustment to their agenda, Mrs. Wright and Mrs. Sutton were hospitable and allowed me opportunity to participate in full at this morning’s affair.
The forum was engaging and organized well with a diverse set of questions. This allowed for clear differences between me and the other candidates to become evident. The audience was warm and welcoming as well. I was honored to receive numerous applause and several individuals were kind enough to offer to volunteer with my campaign.
At one point I noted, while we may have some differences of ideas, as a community we need to stop fighting over the lines that divide us and seek the ties that bind us. We all want excellence for all of our children - not adequate - not proficient – but excellence.
Our children deserve to be engaged not enraged, our systems should be able to challenge our most gifted and raise our most vulnerable at the same time. We should be able to engage and support parents in the education of their children (regardless of their station in life). We should be able to be innovative while building a sense of community for all of us.
Some have questioned why I so wanted to participate. They noted that a particular interest group or another may be focused on either side of a divisive issue. One of the cornerstones of my campaign is to begin to change the tone in which we work together. All of us will need to be able to build relationships with our parents, our neighbors, diverse partners, community leaders, County Commissioners, State Legislators and so on. Strong leaders build consensus around complex issues and mobilize actions that achieves results for bold visions. This is the man God has taught me to be.
We have many good things happening in our WCPSS, but we still have significant challenges. We will need to build a world class education system that can truly be the key to upward social mobility for ALL. I envision a public school system that will cause so much envy, that our private school students will return, and our most challenged students would not dare drop out.
Strong leaders also hold a sense of humility in the working of that vision. Too that regard, I wish to apologize to Mrs. Wright, Mrs. Sutton, and CCCAAC’s event organizers if my previous posts caused any offense or appeared disrespectful of your efforts. Together we will need to do heavy lifting if we are to go from good to great for all of our students. I look forward to working closely with you and all in our community on this road before us, because together we can dare mighty things.
Sincerely,
John Tedesco
Vibrations
Sat, 08/29/2009 - 23:57 — SDR256I heard you received the warmest applause.
Impressive. Good
Sat, 08/29/2009 - 18:30 — shank56Impressive. Good luck
Unbelievable!
Fri, 08/28/2009 - 16:33 — g88ky07You've got to be kidding me that THESE people are threatened by your campaign SO MUCH that they tell you they won't allow you to participate! They'd rather hear Horace Tart give some babble about a Vo-Tech school he dreamed about once, or Stan Norwalk stand up and pat others just like him on their backs!
Whether the media bothers to show or not, I'd let the fireworks go!
...
Fri, 08/28/2009 - 12:57 — SideburnsMs. Rakestraw may have kids but she has no idea what WCPSS can do to your children. Her family has no concept of reassignment, MYR, split schedules, wacky Wednesday, and on and on.
In her Indy Weekly questionnaire she stated "There are no mandatory year round schools in Wake County. Parents in Wake County have a choice." Really? She's completely clueless.
Yes, that is a totally
Fri, 08/28/2009 - 13:16 — rr77rr99Yes, that is a totally CLUELESS statement! Families do not have a choice. Their "choice" is to apply to a different school and then be at the mercy of the "diversity committee" to determine if your children fit all the right criteria to be transferred. That's the choice... to apply, not to be "accepted"
I think it's good.
Fri, 08/28/2009 - 12:46 — fiestamomParents will have the ear of a school board member in the car pool line, at the PTA meetings, etc.
It's one thing to ignore people you never see, but to see the faces of people you are affecting with your votes has to make a school board member think differently.
While it may be a good thing
Fri, 08/28/2009 - 09:25 — rr77rr99While it may be a good thing to have parents on the school board, I have to say, Ron does not have school aged children, and he's the only one on there currently that makes any sense, so.... while it's a good thing, I wouldn't make it the backbone of my vote!