Here's a quick recap of the student assignment discussion at the Wake County school board meeting.
The staff will revise the online parent survey to make the wording more neutral and allow parents to do things like indicate if their feeder or not having their old base assignment was a factor. One area to be hammered out is whether it should be an anonymous survey.
Staff isn't recommending a blanket guarantee of transportation to all 584 remaining pre-assigned feeder students who don't have bus service for this fall. The board members are split on the issue and will likely hold off on making a decision to see whether staff can do further analysis on what it would take to provide them all bus service.
Staff will look at the possibility of extending the waitlists past June 29 to around July 20, before the 10th day of classes for the year-round schools. Staff warned that since state law says students can only be counted once they don't want a kid counted at a year-round but then going to a traditional-calendar school and not being counted for staffing purposes to that school.
Staff is still recommending delaying Abbotts Creek Elementary's opening by a year. They'll still provisionally recommend opening Richland Creek Elementary but could come back in June to call for a delay there too. With 46 applicants, they want to see if Richland Creek can get at least 120 students to be viable.
UPDATE
The school board voted to delay the opening of Abbotts Creek Elementary until 2013.
Comments
Would love to know more
Tue, 05/01/2012 - 15:52 — croaswife"Staff isn't recommending a blanket guarantee of transportation to all 584 remaining pre-assigned feeder students who don't have bus service for this fall."
I am wondering what schools these 584 are feeding to/from and whether the families involved tried without success to get into any or all all of their proximity schools that would have provided them bus service. I really feel for the parents that could be forced into this situation due to a WCPSS pre-assignment that they had no part in choosing.
No transportation
Tue, 05/01/2012 - 20:58 — jedaviWhen are they going to reach out to these families and see what they want??? We know several rising 6th graders who have always planned to attend their base middle school and they now find themselves in a feeder patter to a different, non-proximate middle school with no transportation. Most, if not all, would be happy with a seat at their former base school. Many are in fact on those wait lists today. The mistake on the part of the student assignment department was not giving them top priority for seats during the choice process (or even before). Quitting a job to drive your child to and from school isn't an option for most parents.
At the very least they
Tue, 05/01/2012 - 21:35 — jenmanAt the very least they should be making sure that those students have a seat at one of the schools on their choice list. It may not be the one they really want, but they should be given a seat with transportation at one of them. That's a no-brainer to me. I imagine that most of those families are ones that opted out of MYR. They already got the shaft once. We shouldn't do it to them again.
what about?
Wed, 05/02/2012 - 10:25 — EBDarcyIt's so tiring that there is so much sympathy for the people who left year-round for traditional but never the other way around. What about the families who opted out of their base traditional elementary/middle school for year-round and are now on a feeder pattern to a high school they never expected to be attending?
Feeder assignment 20 miles from home
Wed, 05/02/2012 - 23:02 — jedaviOne student at my daughter's year round opt-out elementary school now has a feeder middle school next year 20 miles from home with no transportation. She participated the choice 1 lottery and didn't get a 6th grade seat. These are the types of issues that need to be resolved. WCPSS shouldn't even consider busing this child 20 miles when the rest of the neighborhood goes to a proximate school.
I have sympathy for anybody
Wed, 05/02/2012 - 11:06 — jenmanI have sympathy for anybody who is now feeding to a school that has no transportation. For me the big difference is that most of the time when people applied to a year round school, it was one that was in their area. When families opted out of year round, they were purposely given 'odious' options (Dulaney's word) so they wouldn't apply in the first place. Those odious options were usually farther away and now feed to schools that aren't even on their proximity choice lists. I am guessing that most, if not all, of the families who applied for year round are feeding to schools on their proximity lists and receive transportation. If there are exceptions, please let me know.
I do feel bad for people who now feed somewhere that they didn't expect, but I feel worse for those who don't have transportation. I spent 2 years driving my son 11 miles each way to his magnet elem because there was no transportation provided. It sucked but at least we made that choice and we were getting a magnet program in return. I can't imagine being assigned to a school with no transportation and being told 'tough luck'.
I am guessing that most,
Thu, 05/03/2012 - 11:03 — momof5I am guessing that most, if not all, of the families who applied for year round are feeding to schools on their proximity lists and receive transportation. If there are exceptions, please let me know.
No not all families who applied for YR are feeding to schools on their proximity list. We live in Apex and were sent to Adams for our YR school for many years returning to Apex for middle and high school. Now with the new plan my youngest son was on a feeder pattern that would keep him deep into Cary for middle and high school, not what we had planned at all.
Not all YR application schools were proximate
Wed, 05/02/2012 - 23:15 — nmoskalFor example, part of the former application area for Adams does not have Adams (nor its feeder schools) on their choice list. Based on one address Adams was their 4th most proximate YR school (over 8 miles). That area had their application YR school changed from the most proximate one (which is on their choice list and is their most proximate school overall) to Adams a few years ago. Not sure how many (but know at least some) from that area went on to Adams (versus turning to their traditional base) or applied in the last few years, but I think they'd be in the no transportation boat.
Wake said they've already
Tue, 05/01/2012 - 21:54 — KeungHui (author)Wake said they've already reaching out, having reduced the number of students affected from below 1,100. Apparently a lot of parents participated in the magnet and proximity choice process
What was the split on the
Tue, 05/01/2012 - 15:48 — jenmanWhat was the split on the transportation issue? Who was against it & what were their reasons?
No vote taken but Martin and
Tue, 05/01/2012 - 16:21 — KeungHui (author)No vote taken but Martin and Hill were talking about providing bus service, arguing it should be guaranteed if it's their assigned school. Tedesco, Goldman and Prickett warned about tying Wake's hands financially if they guarantee the service, ie. running a bus for one student.
Well that is what is going
Wed, 05/02/2012 - 17:25 — biker1Well that is what is going to happen to us if we are kept at Carroll Middle (5th choice). They are going to send one bus past 540 up near Hwy 98 for one student! Meanwhile buses for West Millbrook, Ligon, Durant and Wakefield Middle will also be coming to the neighborhood. What is really frustrating is that West Millbrook (proximity choice and 4th on waitlist for 8th grade) has the capacity and the prinicpal wants to fill his school.
Didn't they run a bus for one student?
Tue, 05/01/2012 - 17:02 — ScoreOneDebra Goldman's
...
Tue, 05/01/2012 - 19:02 — SideburnsThey still are. And Goldman doesn't like the driver.