Jamil Smith, producer of the liberal "The Rachel Maddow Show" on MSNBC, questions whether the Wake County school board election results "really matter" because the old diversity policy isn't being reinstituted.
In a post today on The Maddow Blog, Smith writes that the GOP board majority "has been pushing a nouveau-segregationist 'neighborhood schools' plan. He writes that "on its face," Kevin Hill's victory "would seem to spell the end for the idea of resegregating the county's schools."
But Smith then points to how Hill and other members of the new Democratic majority "aren't saying that they'll reverse what the Republicans did" when they dropped the socioeconomic diversity policy. He points to Kevin Hill saying they'll only make a few tweaks to the new student assignment plan.
"Now, keep in mind: the Wake County school system has been a national model for school integration," Smith writes. "The district is not particularly diverse along racial lines, but its schools have reflected socio-economic diversity for a long time now.
The Republican 'neighborhood schools' plan aimed to completely undo that progress, concentrating poorer students in inevitably poorer schools. And Mr. Hill thinks all that needs only a few tweaks?"
Locally, Heather Losurdo and board vice chairman John Tedesco had charged that Hill's support for having seat set-asides at high-performing schools for students from low-performing areas was a return to forced busing. Smith isn't impressed with Hill's idea.
"How taking the extreme Separate but Unequal, 2.0 and 'tweaking' it into a slightly more palatable 3.0 serves the interests of voters in Wake County, only those voters can answer," Smith writes. "Yes, Democrats stood up to 2.0, but they were hemming and hawing on replacing it before they won the majority. That may have helped them get elected.
But the consequences of their election appear to be scrapping what was working, and then diluting the Republican plan replacing it. How much, then, does last night's victory really matter?"
This comes after Maddow, like a number of other liberal commentators, have praised the Democratic takeover of the school board.
Comments
ECHO
Wed, 11/09/2011 - 19:14 — concerned2What was working? 1/3 of students not graduating - 1/2 of minority children?
Don't be fooled by what Evans & Co. say. They won't be bound to their word for very long.
Keung will feel the biggest impact of yesterday's election. Wake Ed was the hottest topic going for the last two years, but with dems back in control, they'll never let him question them or write anything negative about them. Dissent will not be allowed, so school board meetings will fade back into "boring" (to quote one of the new members).
The democrats want it to be boring so they can do what they want unhindered, and Republicans are too timid to raise a ruckus like Barber and all the paid-for hooligans from outside of the county have done for the last two years.
Parents - this is your warning shot to pull your children out of the school system before it's too late.
?????
Fri, 11/11/2011 - 10:28 — will1973Test scores in Wake County are on par or higher than most any county in the State with diversity in place. Your numbers are incorrect. At least get the facts straight before going on your idealogical rant. ncreportcards.org/sc
The show's producer is right. The school policy isn't going to change from what Republicans want yet they'll still find a million reasons to complain. And when it fails they'll say it was democrats fault, just like they're doing with the nation's economy.
Just like the anti-smoker lobby (yes largely democratic, I stand on issues, not party ideaology) with ultra-conservatives if you give them an inch they'll take a mile. They will try to get the schools even more segregated in four five years now that they moved through this first step and Kevin Hill is on board with it all.
What The Heck...
Fri, 11/11/2011 - 13:10 — JanisTangoOff the edge of reality
Wed, 11/09/2011 - 21:07 — festus"Parents - this is your warning shot to pull your children out of the school system before it's too late."
Do you really mean to say that if your politician isn't in charge, you want to torpedo the public schools? That, to extend this to national politics, if your candidate isn't elected president, you want to leave the country?
In a democracy, we participate and then we accept the will of the majority. That is how it works.
Words in the mouth...
Wed, 11/09/2011 - 23:18 — concerned2"Do you really mean to say that if your politician isn't in charge, you want to torpedo the public schools? That, to extend this to national politics, if your candidate isn't elected president, you want to leave the country?"
I did not say that if "my politician" was not in charge I would "torpedo" the public schools. To that extent you then build on a false premise to make the ridiculous follow up. I'll leave the leaving to your friends Alec Baldwin & Co.
What I did say was that we can expect more of the same failure out of our school system that we have had and that the current board majority was trying to address (notice here that I don't say that they were 100% right, but that they simply recognized some of the failings and were trying their hand at fixing them). Kevin Hill has spent over 3 decades contributing to a system that can't graduate 1/3 of its students, and yet can't seem to see that it has a problem. I don't see any of the other democrat board members willing to do much more than placate Willie Barber.
Since it appears that you have had a WCPSS education, we live in a Republic, not a democracy. In a Republic, we eschew mob rule. The problem is that when the voting public only sporadically participates, then mob rule wins the day. Just as the 2009 election was not necessarily an accurate reflection of the will of the people (as you were all so willing to point out then), so this 29% turnout does not necessarily reflect the general will of the people. It reflects the will of the just over one-quarter of the registered voters who showed up.
It is unfortunate that a lot of outside money helped to shape this race around everything but the issues. Still, an election has taken place. As parents we have to work within the framework we have been given. I merely pointed out that since we know that the new majority clings the old status quo that brought failure, responsible parents will seek alternatives to the public school system. The sad fact is that those alternatives are limited and early evacuees will have more options than those who wait.
Regarding your hypothesis that this would "torpedo" the schools, I would suggest the opposite. An exodus of students from the school system would assist in relieving the overcrowding and resource problems brought on by democrat boards that spent money on everything but students for decades.
It is false to keep
Thu, 11/10/2011 - 06:36 — virginiadareIt is false to keep repeating that WCPSS fails to educate 1/3 of its students. The graduation rate is now 80%, which means 1/5 fail to graduate. Even when it dropped to 78%, that was still not failing to graduate 1/3 of the students.
And That Makes It Better...
Thu, 11/10/2011 - 06:58 — JanisTangowhether we are failed to graduate 20% , 22% or 33%, it is still bad correct? There are subgroups of children that are graduating less...correct? What is happening to all the African American males that don't graduate? You have to wonder don't you. I know you want to be a stickler for numbers, but we can't keep saying we are world class and continue to fail so many children. Agreed?
Madcow disease is a terrible thing
Wed, 11/09/2011 - 19:29 — FSandYOUYou are spot on.
Prepare to be chafed as you are serenaded.
Are you dreaming? If you
Wed, 11/09/2011 - 19:24 — KeungHui (author)Are you dreaming? If you hadn't noticed, the board majority pre-2009 elections weren't exactly happy with the N&O's coverage. They were complaining that the paper was being too negative about them.
You're taking a short view
Wed, 11/09/2011 - 23:37 — concerned2In 2008 and 2009, the craziness had finally come to a head that even the democrats had trouble swallowing. The out of control spending, wacky Wednesdays, and assignment nightmares that occurred under the incompetence of Rosa Gill and Kevin Hill couldn't have been overlooked by a blind man! What I remember most about 2008 was the school board complaining that the county commissioners weren't giving them enough money. If I recall correctly, it was during this time that they were willing to pay double what the property was worth for the Apex school site and were leasing 5 administrative buildings that the current board reduced to 1.
However, prior to that the N&O was plenty content to carry the water for the left. Of course, the paper in general has long maintained a strong left slant in just about all of its coverage. There's no dreaming about that. The N&O's body of work speaks for itself and is there for all to see.
If there ever was a time
Fri, 11/11/2011 - 01:13 — LongtimeLurkerWhile I agree with certain aspects of your cynical take on what may come next and your general assessment of the N&O's overall editorial service to the left, I can't help but seriously disagreeing with your assumptions about what will come of this from/for Keung, for the WakeEd blog, and for his perrsonal reporting. We are in the presence of more integrity than that. It ain't gonna happen.
Its hard to get more cynical than I often feel these days. But if there ever was a time that the N&O would have been tempted to make Keung toe/tow an ideological line and stifle politcally aligned dissent it would have been during the last two years as we tore this district open with exposure to data and equity issues that made the previous administration look foolish.
I expected it. I watched for it. And it did not happen. And this article right here, where national left-leaning media outlets have suddenly realized the disconnect - Wha? The Dems in Wake County are not going back to the diversity policy?!?!?! - is a strong sort of proof of that. They know why they can't do that. As cynical as I feel about what may happen next, dissent was not shut down in this blog, we made a difference, we redefined the issues, and the messages were clearly noted. Now its up to the new majority and any bipartisan alignments whose potential might survive this godawful election to decide what to do with that.
And if you want to talk about restricting open discussion, keep an eye on the rumored restrictions that may be coming to the ED Task Force participation. If that comes about, keep a close eye on what corner that restriction of productive sharing comes from.
Interesting
Fri, 11/11/2011 - 01:33 — nmoskalInteresting. So while Tedesco opened up participation to literally ANYONE who wanted to participate (including people who regularly and openly disagreed with him like Dr. Martin) and all one had to do was show up and provide name and email address, there is now talk about restricting participation?
You are correct about
Fri, 11/11/2011 - 02:08 — LongtimeLurkerYou are correct about Tedesco's role. He did that.
But we have to wait and see it this materializes - just a rumor so far. And don't be too sure where its coming from. Wait and see. All the alignments are being reworked here.
...
Wed, 11/09/2011 - 19:09 — SideburnsDon't worry. We still have GSIW to yell, scream and dance at meetings to protest the plan - although they are short 3 members of their troupe.
Maybe there is a middle in
Wed, 11/09/2011 - 19:08 — mnordbergMaybe there is a middle in there somewhere as I am not sure the current frankenstein plan that is neither completely neighborhood nor completely choice is going to survive the test of time. I believe as people start seeing how little choice there is after seats are filled in feeder patterns and popular schools fill up that you really are getting assigned by the school system anyway with little real choice.
* Assign nodes to schools with a choice of calendar (or maybe make all schools year round with one track or two tracks that are traditional schedule)
* Use the concept of having a backup school in a node as a capacity overflow school (becomes easier by merging yearround/traditional calendars in one school) -- taking some of the concepts from the choice plan
* Reduce the worst 10-15% of bus rides in existing node plan and address long bus rides each year to keep in mind the students but allowing better allocation of students to schools to try not to make any school segmented by any one particular thing
* Leave magnets as the significant choice option and these new specialty schools become more magnets (leadership, etc,etc)
* Don't reassign people out of existing schools (this is a big one that got a lot of people upset)
"Scrapping what was
Wed, 11/09/2011 - 18:54 — eddie2"Scrapping what was working..."???
Earth to Planet Maddow: It wasn't working.