Broughton students want respect and the teachers want some consistency.
As noted in today's article in the main sheet, students were appropriately enough playing the song "Respect" as they made the case that Broughton should keep its IB magnet program. They want to be heard over the parents who want the program gone to avoid reassignment.
In today's North Raleigh News article, Wynn Cherry, Broughton's IB coordinator, said the school board's flip-flop about the magnet program has hurt teacher morale.
“They feel betrayed," Cherry said of the teachers. "They’ve lost faith in the school board.”
Cherry and some parents and students say teachers have been dusting off their resumes to leave Broughton.
Back to the students, they're not happy that the school board seems more willing to side with families who want to remove the magnet program to avoid reassignment.
Corinne Jurney, a sophomore, said those parents are being "selfish."
Hooper Schultz, a junior who helped organize Tuesday's rally, said removing the IB program will take away the things that make those families want to attend Broughton.
Comments
ObserverNY
Sat, 12/27/2008 - 23:16 — JSCAs an "insider" reading your "outsider" comments, you do not know anything about Raleigh, WCPSS, Broughton or the IB program. Your judgements are just that-judgements. when I try and get a picture in my mind of what is being said about Broughton, I don't picture a huge minority population, or a predominantly white population. I picture students who all hail from a general neighborhood -ObserverNY You obviously do not have facts, and have no experience with Broughton or Raleigh so stop 'picturing' and commenting on stories about issues of which you are ignorant. And the student who made the 'selfish' comment was certainly justified. A neighborhood school is not a birthright. Education is more important than real estate value or neighboorhoods.
Time to fix what's broken
Wed, 12/10/2008 - 12:56 — ObserverNYAs an outsider, reading about your situation, when I try and get a picture in my mind of what is being said about Broughton, I don't picture a huge minority population, or a predominantly white population. I picture students who all hail from a general neighborhood. A community, which has grown over the years with its own unique flavor and apparently constitutes 71% of the school. From a socialization standpoint, peers and friends all live in relative proximity to each other. Again, whether they are black or white or green shouldn't matter. If the FNR is much higher in one community than others, it is not the job of public education to attempt to make one community "socialize" with others. It IS the job of public education to make sure that the students in the community with the higher FNR percentages receive the same quality of teaching and produce the same levels of achievement, as those communities with low FNR percentages. Public education needs to strengthen the quality of teaching, instead of relying on designer label programs and moving students around like pawns in a chess game.
Job?
Wed, 12/10/2008 - 13:02 — SideburnsNicely said. Do you need a job? ;>)
as a matter of fact....
Wed, 12/10/2008 - 13:18 — ObserverNYYeah! LOL! I do! I currently freelance for my local paper, but it's not even coming close to paying an NYU tuition! I am also a licensed real estate broker who has put her license on ice for 2 years, due to the terrible market.
Actually have been thinking about relocating to NC or WV in a couple of years. What have you got in mind? ;-)
Wish I could....
Wed, 12/10/2008 - 13:51 — SideburnsI'd give you the job of King of WCPSS if I could. You seem to have grasped the problems in WCPSS rather quickly. If you decide to move to Wake County, you've been warned.
Dont buy into Observer
Thu, 12/11/2008 - 21:58 — shortycanShe is only toying with you, she will never move to NC .. she is a renowed venemous individual who opposes what the magnet programs are about . she is not liberal although she pretends to be.. her blogs are the same all over .take a look at the Washington Post BLogs.. she goes by the name of Lisa.. do not ever offer this one a job you may regret it
Thanks but ....
Wed, 12/10/2008 - 13:57 — ObserverNYI need a job that pays REAL money. I've been given plenty of titles already, some of them not very nice. ;-)
FYI - Broughton lost their Magnet Status
Wed, 12/10/2008 - 13:50 — Voice_of_Reason_Tie vote with the chairman breaking the tie. IB program will move to another school (TBD).
Just don't move to Wake
Wed, 12/10/2008 - 13:46 — SouthEastWakeMomJust don't move to Wake County - lol!
Awwwww
Wed, 12/10/2008 - 13:58 — ObserverNYBut I'm not your typical Noo Yawker, rahlly I'm not! ;-)
At least she wouldn't feel like an outsider
Wed, 12/10/2008 - 13:53 — Voice_of_Reason_There are a huge amount of New Yorker's that live here now.
Political correctness vs. actual achievement
Wed, 12/10/2008 - 12:23 — ObserverNYThank you for the replies. I do think the construct of your district is very similar to that of Fairfax, VA which also deals with over 100,000 students. Political correctness has overtaken common sense. Claiming balance based on "socio-economics" is nothing more than smoke and mirrors until statistics start showing that the MAJORITY of those who are FNR are white. It IS racial, it's time for Boards of Ed to call it what it is and stop sugar-coating integration agendas.
We allow HS students to take college courses without getting a college degree; why not let them take IB courses without getting the IB diploma?
Let's clarify that. HS students have the option of taking AP (college-level) courses and earning college credit. However, they still have to earn a HIGH school diploma. IB, for which your district is paying hundred of thousands of extra dollars for, consists of high school students taking college-PREPARATORY courses, a few of which are recognized for college credit. The IB diploma is being recognized in lieu of the regular high school diploma in NC, no? Therefore, if IB students are opting out of traditional education and all of this extra money is being spent on them, shouldn't they be expected to earn the diploma for that program(me)? Do the students who fail to achieve the IB Diploma automatically receive a regular high school diploma just because they failed IB?
Let me just add that I believe there is another reason that IB students should have to do the full diploma and not just be able to take one or two IB courses. The reason is because of IB's very design. A district has to buy the whole IB program(me). Unlike AP where a school can pick and choose which AP courses best suit its student body, IB forces a school to run its core Diploma courses (TOK, History of the Americas), no matter how few students are enrolled in them. Unlike AP, IB forces students to take the exam. Also unlike AP, IB course guides/syllabi are not online. If you want to know what is being taught, you have to buy them from the IB Store. IB wants privileges which are denied AP students. The design of the program(me) itself is inequitable and elitist. IB plays the "even just one IB course will enrich a student's life" card whenever it can't defend its weaknesses.
Broader, more convoluted issues
Wed, 12/10/2008 - 10:51 — RiversideRealistObserverNY,
Not to, for a moment, try to have you grasp all the variables here, but the IB issue is not that cut and dry.
See, in Wake County, there are reassignments ANNUALLY. Wake is a COUNTY district made up of well over 100,000 students spread over the ENTIRE county. Wake also has a diversity policy (hereafter referred to as busing) wherein reassignments not only occur because of growth but also to achieve a (randomly made-up) goal of 'no school having more than 40% FNR students'.
Now, throw in the magnet (IB, GT, doesn't matter). Magnets are FREE from reassignments (for application students). So... not only are parents liking the 'perks' of the magnet (more subjects offered vs. 'regular' schools), but they also are immune from the reassignment NIGHTMARE that the rest of the parents have to put up with year in and year out.
When you put all of that together, you can see that, in my opinion, this is more than just about the "IB" part of the equation.
Understand? :)
I grok
Wed, 12/10/2008 - 11:03 — ObserverNYDear Riverside Realist,
I appreciate your input. Let me ask you this, do you think it is fair that magnet programs are exempt from the FNR requirement when they are being used as the tool to "create balance" in the general public schools? This implies that the magnet programs are predominantly non-FNR and are being used to elevate the overall scores in any given school as well as being used for social manipulation. Be it IB or any other magnet program, this seems to be an ill thought out method of delivering education.
<i>reassignments not only occur because of growth but also to achieve a
(randomly made-up) goal of 'no school having more than 40% FNR
students'. </i>
Is that legal? I know of no State or Federal mandate that requires public schools to adhere to that expressed goal.
Yes....
Wed, 12/10/2008 - 11:12 — Bob_SconceIt's legal. Under current law, if you're going to group people by race, it had better be for a compelling reason, and you better not have any other alternatives. But, for most other ways of dividing people (including by income level), as long as you can come up with some rational reason, you can do it. There's no mandate, but they do it anyway.
And, you're right about the implication -- magnet programs are almost exclsuively non-F&R. I think that's fairly common for magnet programs anywhere.
Bingo!
Wed, 12/10/2008 - 11:09 — RiversideRealistLet me ask you this, do you think it is fair that magnet programs are
exempt from the FNR requirement when they are being used as the tool to
"create balance" in the general public schools? This implies that the
magnet programs are predominantly non-FNR and are being used to elevate
the overall scores in any given school as well as being used for social
manipulation. Be it IB or any other magnet program, this seems to be an
ill thought out method of delivering education.
No, I don't think it's fair. I don't think ANYthing that Wake does is based on Priority #1 being education; because it's not. (This is why we moved out of Wake).
Priority #1 is diversity. Thus we have busing, magnets, reassignment, and their (made up, Wake-only) goal of 40% FNR at every school.
Indeed, it is legal, because they use socio-economic data, and not race, to assign students.
The Haves and the Have Nots
Wed, 12/10/2008 - 10:20 — ObserverNYIt is really a shame to see what is going on in your district. As in many other parts of the country, the IB program has once again caused divisiveness and controversy in a general public school. Based on the article, it sounds to me that in order for Broughton to maintain its magnet IB status, it needs to import MORE students from outside of the neighborhood while forcing the neighborhood students to attend other schools! The numbers here seem to be very skewed. When referring to IB students, percentages are used (increase from 29% to 39%). Does that refer to any IB student grades 9-12? Does that refer to the full Diploma students? I don't think so because the present count for 11th and 12th grades is 184. But when it comes to the need to ship out neighborhood kids, we get an exact number:
As part of a draft countywide school reassignment proposal released last month, 593 students would be moved out of Broughton over the next three years to free more seats for magnet applicants.
Keep in mind, according to a poster in one of the other threads, in 2008, only 40 students (out of 45) earned the IB Diploma. That represents a greater than 50% attrition rate from 11th to 12th grade.
Why should the home base students be forced out to accommodate outside IB students? That doesn't make any sense, especially if IB already is offered in other district schools!
I respect the right of the 200 (probably mostly Diploma) IB students to protest. What is happening to them is unfair, but IB brings these situations on itself and the students by creating an atmosphere of elitism and arrogance that all other programs should defer to and be inconvenienced by IB.
<i> Corinne Jurney, a sophomore, said those parents are being "selfish."</i>
Selfish? You mean like those of us who don't want to pay higher taxes under the new redistributionist philosophy of the President-elect? People buy homes in certain areas for a reason. Those homes are often a family's single largest investment. Is it "selfish" to want to keep your children in their neighborhood school? Is it "selfish" to expect the community to give up their neighborhood school, travel longer bus rides (if they even offer them), possibly have to transport their kids to an outside school, just so the IB program doesn't get disrupted? No, IB is the selfish program.
Or so it seems to me.
http://truthaboutib.com/
Hmmm...
Wed, 12/10/2008 - 11:03 — Bob_SconceWhile I wish the number of students getting the IB diploma were higher, I don't think that diploma is that important. We allow HS students to take college courses without getting a college degree; why not let them take IB courses without getting the IB diploma?
From a HS student's point-of-view, once you've gottten accepted to college, there's not much point in finishing that diploma, as long as you graduate. (Seems silly, but I'm goal oriented -- why would somebody start down that course and not finish?)
THey make an excellent point....
Wed, 12/10/2008 - 09:00 — Bob_SconceOnce you have a good school, don't destroy it, because you don't know how to recreate it. Instead, the district should *add* Knightdale as an IB program.
Exactly...
Wed, 12/10/2008 - 11:09 — JSBinNCIt might take some time... to build up the programs at ALL schools - but that is what SHOULD be happening.
CREATE EQUALITY. Or at least try to!
Change the BS policies to allow private/public partnerships so that once a program is up and running at a school, the maintenance parts can be all or mostly funded out of that, so that board/tax monies can be spent on building up the next school... someone posted here just in the past few days (JonesSausage??) that it's the start up of any special program that kicks the money butt... once it's operational, it's less money to keep it running... and so on, and so on. IB, Technology, Science and Math, Creative Arts, Critical Thinking - I don't give a rats arse what you want to label it - but do SOMETHING to close the gap between what the desperate base, needy schools are offering their kids and what the magnets get to offer!
This current board does not even know how to SPELL priorities. They do not give priorities to staff, nor do they understand the concept of how to prioritize within their own charter or purpose. It's the blind leading the blind - or correction - the blind having no idea which way to turn - resulting in "staff" being left to their own devices (and agendas).
The magnet thing is just like bussing - it's ALL OR NOTHING. The board and their loyal followers believe in and will absolutely stand behind bussing at ANY cost - because they absolutely believe it is the best thing for the students being moved. 18 or 20 miles - they don't even bat an eyelash. There are IN BETWEEN solutions to be considered - but it is never up for discussion. It's their way or their way.
Magnets are the same... there are some awesome schools that have made huge strides becuase of magnet programs... but it's all or nothing. LOOK at the magnet schools, figure out how much tax money is funding them. Find a way to take some of the money and move it to MORE schools - let other forms of subsidy kick in, or let the parts of the program that are not efficient or well used die off. Leave the freakin population alone for the most part - if it's healthy.
There is NEVER any middle ground with these people (the BOE). EVER. I just don't understand. It's not rocket science, is it??
Stay Tuned
Wed, 12/10/2008 - 08:42 — Lisa_BWhile this may go on for quite awhile now, I have a lot of respect for these kids for mobilizing and coming together.
There are so many lethargic parents all over the county who are being affected but just have the attitude "it doesn't matter what I do, nothing will change".
While that may be the case, you never know until you try!
Apparently ....these
Wed, 12/10/2008 - 08:35 — MAGFANApparently ....these parents are under the assumption...that if the magnet goes their nodes will be put back into the base!!! Wonder why they think that???? Could it be.... that when the reassignments came out and they had secret meetings with Beverly Clark their neighbor and BOE rep...("The I was so worn out") BOE member they were told that the only way to win this is to fight to de-mag and we will put you back in????? Something reeks here!!!!
From the article...
Wed, 12/10/2008 - 08:25 — SideburnsFrom the article:
Why do the Broughton parents think they can choose between staying and not staying? If the magnet program is removed, this is just the beginning of year-after-year reassignments for Broughton. Welcome to the club.
Respect & Consistency
Wed, 12/10/2008 - 07:55 — g88ky072 things that will NEVER exist as long as Chuck, Del, Rosa and the rest of the liars are in control!!
Broughton better not recieve
Wed, 12/10/2008 - 07:09 — vsheehanBroughton better not recieve no reassignments and the magnet.
If they keep the magnet then allot of families need to be reassigned out of the school.
As far as yeachers dusting off their resumes so what the teachers at schools that went MYR did the same thing and the BOE did not care about that then so why should the BOE care about it now.
Broughton better not recieve
Wed, 12/10/2008 - 07:09 — vsheehanBroughton better not recieve no reassignments and the magnet.
If they keep the magnet then allot of families need to be reassigned out of the school.
As far as yeachers dusting off their resumes so what the teachers at schools that went MYR did the same thing and the BOE did not care about that then so why should the BOE care about it now.
You should speak at the meeting this morning
Wed, 12/10/2008 - 08:09 — Voice_of_Reason_Be there at 9 AM on Wake Forest Road WCPSS HQ and sign up to talk. It's just a little north of I-440. I'm sure you will have credibility. I'm going to try to be there also. It's better that standing in front of a train later when it starts moving again.
Last meeting Drs for son
Wed, 12/10/2008 - 20:32 — vsheehanLast meeting Drs for son this time working. I freelance so I take what I can. Plus I would send my hubby he is a much better public speaker.