Tony Tata hoping at least 10,000 parents participate in simulation of blue plan

Here's an rundown on today's news conference from Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata on the online simulation of the blue plan.

Tata said he wants at least 10,000 parents to participate in the simulation over the next week. He said it would provide "invaluable information" on the "real-world choices" parents would make if the blue plan is used.

“The more families who participate, the better our information will be on how a choice plan would work,” Tata said at a news conference today.

Tata said the sim will help answer how much priority families place in going to their closest school as opposed to their achievement choice.

“We need to see what Wake County parents will want,” Tata said.

It's not purely a survey about what choices you'd make under the samples listed online. Another purpose is to ask parents a variety of questions that will help shape details the about the blue plan, such as:

* How important would only getting express busing impact your selections?
* How far are you willing to go to an achievement choice school?
* How important is it for year-round schools to feed into each other?
* How important is it have a guaranteed K-12 feeder pattern?
* How important is it to attend your closest school?

To help generate response, Tata said he’s used the school system’s telephone messaging system to contact parents of all 143,289 students to encourage them to take part.

For areas with limited Internet access, Tata said he’s contacted community centers and more 300 faith-based groups to help provide computers that families can use.

If it’s shown that certain areas of the county are being underrepresented, Tata said they can target them to try to get more responses.

You'll participate by inputting your child's NC WISE number. If you don't have it, you'll be directed how to find it.

Parents who don't have children in the district yet can also participate.

From May 23 to midnight, the school system took feedback on the two plans. There were 682 comments in favor of the blue plan and 331 in favor of the green plan. Overall, there were 1,968 comments.

The green plan supporters helped mobilize things over the final week to make the response rate a little less lopsided in favor of the blue plan.

Tata said his staff is analyzing all the comments before giving an update on the process to the school board at a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. today.

Based on the feedback from the board meeting, Tata said he’ll have a better indication whether he’ll recommend a specific plan to the board for adoption on June 21.