Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata told school board members today he needs their commitment to implement a $130.3 million construction program that includes two single-gender schools, the K-8 Hilburn Elementary project, a career and technical education school and a science academy.
Tata said he's been talking with multiple groups on the various innovative projects. But he said he needs the board's support now to show others Wake is serious with implementation.
“We need to demonstrate the board’s commitment to those people we’re dealing with daily," Tata said.
Most of the discussion was on the leadership academies, including questions about their demographics and costs. Unlike in Guilford County, Tata said the Wake single-sex schools would not be dramatically different in costs than the other schools.
Tata and other school staff said that Guilford's cost per student at its single-gender schools is double that of its other high schools because class sizes are only 1 to 10. They said Wake's two single-sex schools would be up to 20 students in a class.
In terms of demographics, the goal would be to make them as broad as possible. That's amid concerns the schools could be almost all black like the two Guilford single-gender schools.
A goal in Wake is to attract first generation bound college students as they'd complete the leadership academy with college credit.
All students at the leadership academies would be require to participate in the Junior ROTC program.
The students would go to the nearest high school or middle school, such as Enloe for the boys and Broughton High for the girls, to try out for sports. If accepted on the team, they'd get bus service out there to participate.
Similar accommodations would be made for Hilburn's middle school students who participated at other middle schools for sports.
The male academy would be located at the current site of Longview School. The Longview students would relocate to River Oaks Middle School's site. River Oaks' current students would either go to Mt. Vernon or Phillips High.
Wake would lease the Pilot Mill site formerly occupied by Raleigh Charter High for the female academy.
As for the CTE/vocational school, Tata told board members he was committed to implementing it in the 2013-14 school year. He said he's had preliminary talks with Wake Tech President Stephen Scott about partnership up with them.
UPDATE
The plan was approved on a 5-3 vote with Keith Sutton crossing party lines to give his support.The other three Democrats, arguing they felt the decision on the leadership academies was being rushed, voted no.
Earlier, a motion was defeated 5-4 on party lines to have have separate vote on the single-sex schools and the Hilburn Elementary conversion.
Comments
Tony Tata is asking for support for FADS!!!
Thu, 09/22/2011 - 20:35 — paulastamPaula, "Independent, Fair & Speaking Up for MY Kids."
Speaking of innovation programs, that has been mentioned
Wed, 09/21/2011 - 08:54 — Athey01before, it would be great to have a performing arts high school. I think the demand would far exceed the number of available seats. Entrance would be be based upon an audition or their portfolio. BTW, Ligon has an excellent middle school program for those interested in the performing arts.
I agree
Wed, 09/21/2011 - 10:30 — EBDarcyIt wouild be a great idea but if they pursue this is should be a large school. And we need more performing arts offered at the middle school level. There are many talented kids and lots of interest in the arts in this county. Unfortunately most of them don't have a chance of going to Ligon
Does every interest of evey
Wed, 09/21/2011 - 20:29 — woodstockDoes every interest of evey child need to be addressed by public schools? Aren't there other ways to fullfill one's interest in the arts? Don't get me wrong, I think arts are important [[ they add enrich our lives -- just questioning where priorities should be in a public school setting when there are still too many students who don't even make it to graduation.
Sounds like you could use some homework
Wed, 09/21/2011 - 21:28 — duvalhttp://www.arteducators.org/research
well
Wed, 09/21/2011 - 21:21 — EBDarcyIf band or theatre or visual arts is the hook that makes a child want to get up and go to school every day, and keeps them in school thru graduation, then I think they have a place in schools just like sports. There is some research that has been done that shows (can't remember the exact numbers) that children who are involved in music get better grades and stay out of trouble. I've read that playing an instrument strengthens some of the mental skills needed for math, and helps one maintain mental sharpness later in life.
Participating in the performing arts is a great way for children to build self-confidence and creativity and become comfortable speaking or performing in front of a group of people. Valuable skills they can use later in life.
Yep, as I said, I see value
Wed, 09/21/2011 - 22:39 — woodstockYep, as I said, I see value in the arts. My point was involvement is not just limited to what is offered at public schools.
Some instruments can cost
Thu, 09/22/2011 - 01:24 — jeffrey1Some instruments can cost thousands of dollars. Music Lessons, dance lessons, acting lessons, etc. can cost $100/month or more.
Many kids do not have the money to seek art and music enrichment outside the school system. Arts and music education are needed in the public schools.
Great Idea!
Wed, 09/21/2011 - 07:05 — stansburyI think the single gender schools and other options Mr. Tata is supporting are great ideas. I work for a large corporation, so I'm not a big fan of studying things to death - too many good ideas are killed that way. Give it a chance - if it doesn't work, try something else. Sounds like these single gender schools are a way to gain additional capacity quickly without the million dollar expense of building new schools plus the time required for construction. Seems like these type of schools had great success in Greensboro, although demographics of those attending in Wake county may be different. What's not to like?
Go, go General Tata!
money
Tue, 09/20/2011 - 23:28 — turnerk1It seemed pretty clear to me based on the article in the N&O that one of the main reasons that the single-sex schools in Guilford are so successful is because they spend so much money per pupil there. I think Tata and the board are repeating mistakes long made in this system -- looking for cheap fixes with splashy ideas but nothing else to back it up. Just as "healthy" schools without the programs to make sure that struggling kids would get what they needed didn't work, so too will single-sex education fail to show dramatic results without the kind of financial commitment that Guilford County has shown.
good question
Wed, 09/21/2011 - 08:34 — EBDarcyIt was mentionned that the Guilford schools have a student - teacher ratio of 10 to 1. A formula that is almost surely going to result in academic improvement and success. But the schools Tata proposed will be 20 to 1.
How did the price tag for Hilburn retrofit increase so much in one week. Last Tuesday Tata said 1 to 1.3 million, In the article today it's at 2.1. Does that include the purchase of laptops? Last week Tata that aspect of the plan was not a done deal.
Price tag?
Wed, 09/21/2011 - 19:09 — Dove314The price tag doubled in just over a week? For a project that has only been under formal public consideration for ~ 3-4 weeks? How expensive will it be in another month? What will that mean for the finances required for the gender-specific academies with required ROTC programs and classroom sizes of 20 teens per class versus the usual 30-35 per class? These have only been on the table for 2 weeks. These really do seem like facilities driven decisions.
An argument can be made that
Wed, 09/21/2011 - 06:22 — DrActualFactualAn argument can be made that to save the money/expenditure for buildings it was necessary to act quickly to secure the Raleigh Charter Bldg. This may create a large savings and add seats much more quickly than waiting for something to be built. There are plenty of single-gender religioius schools across the country that work well and these academies seem to target a minority demographic that is currently struggling academically. It will really enhance their ability for employment and give them a boost during the economic downturn. The ROTC componant even adds the perk of potential scholarship money down the line.
ROTC Component
Wed, 09/21/2011 - 21:15 — Solon77The ROTC componant even adds the perk of potential scholarship money down the line.
How so ?
Google ROTC
Wed, 09/21/2011 - 22:26 — DrActualFactualGoogle ROTC scholarships--you will see plenty of options with the eligiblity explained.
Feeder Patterns
Tue, 09/20/2011 - 22:08 — sam123456Keung,
Hi. Was the revised school assignment plan reviewed at the meeting today? Do you know if they changed the Brassfield feeder pattern back to Wakefield Middle and High Schools? Thank you.
Feeder patterns were
Tue, 09/20/2011 - 22:28 — KeungHui (author)Feeder patterns were discussed but nothing was mentioned about Brassfield.
What About The Feeder Pattern For
Wed, 09/21/2011 - 07:57 — JanisTangoJeffreys Grove. Was there any discussion on that?
Nothing about Jeffreys
Wed, 09/21/2011 - 10:33 — KeungHui (author)Nothing about Jeffreys Grove. I'll blog about it later but there was some general references about looking at some high school feeder revisions, noticeably Millbrook and Sanderson.
Proving once again
Wed, 09/21/2011 - 16:57 — FSandYOUthat if enough parents bitch loud enough things can change. Sanderson, the next to accomplish the mission.
Keung -
Tue, 09/20/2011 - 19:33 — louiselee44Am I correct in assuming that all of the new schools under discussion are to open as traditional calendar schools? Thanks...
why?
Wed, 09/21/2011 - 10:51 — EBDarcyAre you talking about the leadership schools? Science? Wouldn't operating some of them on a year-round schedule give more children an opportunity to attend? I feel this way about magnets...if they are the best WCPSS has to offer then they should find a way, including multi-track year-round, to maximize the number of children who get the opportunity to attend them.
There really wasn't a
Tue, 09/20/2011 - 20:10 — KeungHui (author)There really wasn't a discussion about any calendars for the new schools, aside from mentioning the survey on the middle school grades for the K-8 Hilburn projects.
From WRAL Website "Tata says
Tue, 09/20/2011 - 19:23 — occum_sharpeFrom WRAL Website "Tata says transportation costs will likely go up at first as they continue to provide busing for students who want to stay at their current schools as well as implementing the new assignment plan. Transportation leaders estimate they will need to buy an additional 15 to 25 buses at $87 thousand a piece to make it work at first. Tata noted that it will take about five years to make a full transition, and says Wake County schools will significant savings overall once most students are attending schools closer to home."
Military logic, add 15-25 new buses at 87K each in year one. Add additional buses to transport 15-20 K new students to god knows where in years 2-5. Add additional fuel costs to run the additional buses.
Save lots of cash.
Makes perfect sense.
I'll get into the
Tue, 09/20/2011 - 20:09 — KeungHui (author)I'll get into the transportation costs in a separate post but actually staff said the cots weren't going to be that bad. I'll elaborate more later.
Seriously?
Tue, 09/20/2011 - 18:40 — truthBtoldIf Bill McNeal or Del Burns had suggested a single-sex school, a K-8, or whatever else T.T. is throwing at the wall to see what sticks (a Broad Academy tactic from waaaaaay back--the more you propose, the less the community can focus on and hold you accountable for), they would have been crucified given the lack of research, data and informed debate about these subjects that are needed. Last week, a survey goes up on the system website about a very specific K-8 school, and the general needs an answer this evening?
There still isn't a student assignment plan ready and it won't be until after the election, even though it was promised to the community in June. This assures a decision will be made under our current circumstances (aka board dynamics) and will be too far down the road when any new board members are sworn into office in December.
More thought has gone into what John Tedesco had for lunch today than is going into this these "proposals" which will have consequences and expenses to this community long beyond when these "weekend-trained Broad-i-acs" are gone.
Why do we need a commitment to innovative programs today? First of all, new to us isn't ncessarily innovative. Innovative isn't necesarily successful, and these programs come with cost, direct and indirect, that we might be able to afford once, but can't be repeated or sustained.
Who is asking the hard questions? Who is holding who accountable? The amount of personal and fiscal integrity that is lacking by the good general and the board of education is comical.
WEll...
Tue, 09/20/2011 - 19:59 — Bob_SconceIf Burns had done it, he would have presented it to the board about a week before it was supposed to go into effect.
Which would have been about
Tue, 09/20/2011 - 20:01 — truthBtoldWhich would have been about 4 days longer than we've had this time.
You've had plenty of notice
Tue, 09/20/2011 - 21:25 — FSandYOUSounds like you recall the shove it through mantra we've lived through here for years, so you should absolutely be used to it by now.
military???
Tue, 09/20/2011 - 16:56 — stepbystepIn terms of demographics, the goal would be to make them as broad as possible. . . .
All students at the leadership academies would be require to participate in the Junior ROTC program.
I have a big problem requiring students to participate in ROTC! There are a lot more (and I would argue better) ways than ROTC to develop leaders. I believe this requirement will narrow the pool of potential applicants rather than broaden it. Keung, do you know if it's Tata or others who want to make ROTC a requirement? Did anyone question this requirement?
Staff said JROTC is a proven
Tue, 09/20/2011 - 17:26 — KeungHui (author)Staff said JROTC is a proven leadership program that would fit into the leadership theme of the academies.
It is a choice school - a purely voluntary option...
Tue, 09/20/2011 - 17:18 — woodstockIt is a choice school - a purely voluntary option - no one HAS to go there.
And, judging from Keith Sutton's favorable response to these schools and the fact that Rev. Barber has not sung or marched in the streets yet, I suspect there is buy-in from community leaders and constituents who know of the challenges of the students who will likely attend these academies.
Wait a minute
Tue, 09/20/2011 - 18:16 — duvalSo you are saying that these schools will not attract students like Woody Jr.?
10-1?
Tue, 09/20/2011 - 16:37 — nriemannNow that's a class size difference that's likely to matter. Too bad we aren't planning to replicate that aspect of the Guilford program.
Will the public...
Tue, 09/20/2011 - 16:35 — bpuli9999be given any useful information on these single-gender schools - as they pertain to Wake county? Before they start assigning students to them?
You'd have to apply to
Tue, 09/20/2011 - 16:39 — KeungHui (author)You'd have to apply to attend. One federal requirement for single-sex schools is attendance must be voluntary.