The Wake County school system announced today five public hearings that will be held in conjunction with next week’s release of the proposed 2013-14 student assignment plan.
School administrators will present the new plan at Tuesday’s board meeting, which begins at 5:30 p.m. at 5625 Dillard Drive in Cary. The new plan is based on the directive passed in June by the school board calling for Wake to go back to assigning each address to a specific school in lieu of the choice plan used this school year.
The school board will spend several weeks receiving public comments before a scheduled vote on the final plan in late October.
The new plan will be available to view on the district’s website.
Parents can also comment at five public hearings:
* Sept. 24 at 6:30 p.m. at North Garner Middle School, 720 Powell Drive, Garner;
* Sept, 26 at 6:30 p.m. at Leesville Road High School, 8409 Leesville Road, Raleigh;
* Sept. 29 at 11 a.m. at Ligon Middle School, 706 E. Lenoir St., Raleigh;
* Oct. 4 at 6:30 p.m. at Panther Creek High School, 6770 McCrimmon Parkway, Cary;
* Oct. 8 at 6:30 p.m. at Rolesville Middle School, 4700 Burlington Mills Road, Rolesville.
People can sign up for the hearings beginning Tuesday on the district’s website, or in person at the events. Speakers may talk for up to three minutes.
Comments
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Sat, 09/15/2012 - 09:10 — SideburnsThis is quite a quick turn-around time from presentation to public hearings. The Board must be confident that the presented plan is what they want.
Last we heard...
Martin said he's concerned about rumors he's hearing that staff isn't recommending implementing the address-based component in a way board members had expected.
Something, obviously, has changed.
Keung, do you know if parents will be able to look up their address online to find their new assignment?
The Monday article and blog
Sun, 09/16/2012 - 00:04 — KeungHui (author)The Monday article and blog post will touch on a lot of these points. As gor the lookup feature, staff has set it up so you can search by individual address. Staff says the board hasn't yet given the go-ahead for when they can post that info live.
WCPSS put on FB that on
Sun, 09/16/2012 - 08:44 — mevans27587WCPSS put on FB that on September 21st the lookup feature will be released. It once in response to a question a facebooker had.
It turns out that the
Sun, 09/16/2012 - 15:09 — KeungHui (author)It turns out that the Facebook response might have been premature. It was posted when staff thought they'd have the search function up for the public on the 21st. What I had previously put as a comment is actually the last word. Staff will ask the board on Tuesday when to post the lookup information.
Surely parents will be able
Sat, 09/15/2012 - 10:02 — woodstockSurely parents will be able to see their proposed assigned school under this plan, which by the way has been hastily drawn in isolation. Otherwise what is the point of the community engagement meeting? What information will parents have to comment on?
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Sat, 09/15/2012 - 10:43 — SideburnsWell, it could be a flat file with a list of nodes. I was just wondering if the look-up would be interactive.
I hope so but maybe that is
Sat, 09/15/2012 - 12:45 — mevans27587I hope so but maybe that is their game plan. Don't tell them anything until after it is passed. I wouldn't put it past WCPSS. (And this has nothing to do with teachers. I love my kids teachers. I just don't get the board).
Good question. Since
Sat, 09/15/2012 - 12:17 — woodstockGood question. Since everything was essentially done at the direction of a few radical board members in virtual isolation from the public and key stakeholders, who knows what information will be presented. I guess we'll find out, but I bet it won't be pretty.
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Fri, 09/14/2012 - 12:09 — woodstock---
The meeting at Ligon is
Fri, 09/14/2012 - 08:14 — kbrooks500The meeting at Ligon is being held at 11am on a Saturday. Think it is good to offer a weekend option and a meeting that is not in the evening.
Again.....
Thu, 09/13/2012 - 23:44 — willynillytip toe. Hmmmm......nothing here when an AP gets his head pushed through glass. Nothing on this site when students post on blogs that fights are a regular happening. Keung,,,,where is the 8 ball here. WRAL completely pulled the story.......what is up with that!?
I don't generally post about
Fri, 09/14/2012 - 08:27 — KeungHui (author)I don't generally post about school fights. I also don't generally post about lockdowns.
Athen's Drive HS
Fri, 09/14/2012 - 07:57 — stansburySo this is a regular occurance at Athen's Drive? I've heard before it's a rough school. Unfortunately, it's the one we were (will be??) assigned in the old/node based/bussing assignment plan. Sigh......... Hope they keep opening more Charter schools, else we'll have to keep saving for private school.
It is interesting why this story wasn't covered on this blog. I hope it's NOT because this is such a common occurrence in Wake Schools it isn't deemed news worthy! Thanks for the heads up about this school.
I have a friend that worked
Fri, 09/14/2012 - 11:39 — jenmanI have a friend that worked there for 5 years and she loved it. She didn't feel unsafe and was hoping to send her kids there for HS. Like others responded, there is violence time to time in all of our high schools.
Take heart
Fri, 09/14/2012 - 10:25 — nmoskalAll the people I've known who went/go to ADHS have liked it. Violence happens in all the schools. I've heard at ADHS, the fights happen within the trouble group. Other kids manage to avoid them. I'm sorry to hear about Dr. Miller being injured. I've heard he's wonderful.
fights
Fri, 09/14/2012 - 08:31 — turnerk1Unfortunately, fights are a pretty common occurence in all high schools in wake county. Put over 2000 kids in close proximity, trying to get through incredibly crowded hallways that were often not designed to have so many people pushing through them in a few minutes, and sometimes tempers flare.
I think the bigger story, though it would be difficult to cover because I'm sure it would be hard to get anyone on the record, is how much pressure there is on schools NOT to report violence, and NOT to suspend students who do very serious things so that the numbers schools report look better. When Wake was slammed for suspending too many kids, instead of figuring out ways to encourage kids to behave better, the upper administration just told schools not to suspend fewer people -- no matter what they did.
They Are Going To Approve...
Thu, 09/13/2012 - 21:42 — JanisTangoIn 6 weeks.....are you kidding me!
What the...?! Again? What is
Thu, 09/13/2012 - 20:31 — woodstockWhat the...?! Again? What is the point of this?
To fix this year's fiasco
Fri, 09/14/2012 - 07:15 — SatchHHThe obvious, glaringly obvious, point of all of this is to fix the mess that the previous board made. Hasn't this past year been enough for you? What will it take for you to realize that the old board was taking us down the wrong road? It's about time the new board, paused, backed up and reconsididered some of the terrible decisions that were made over the past few years. I'm glad they're having public hearings and think they should schedule more. There should be at least one in every board member's district.
raise your hand if you are a magnet parent
Sun, 09/16/2012 - 17:16 — snordoneand have never had to play assignment russian roulette with the unwashed masses.
Raise you hand if your child goes to a school that has band, strings, foreign language, clubs.
Raise you hand if your child can wear gloves and scarves to school because in their school they are not consider gang insignia.
Raise your hand if your child went to a school where students went on school field trips.
Until this year I could not raise my hand, but now I can. I spent 11 years doing my part for policy 6200, unlike the magnet parents I stayed and advocated for my schools. I won't do it anymore. My kids are now in good schools with educational enrichment, and they are not leaving. They can reassign my node all they want, I will not show up for any move.
And Jim Martin can put his son in the base if he wants to live his principles. They are ALL the biggest bunch of hypocrites I have ever seen.
You won't show up?
Mon, 09/17/2012 - 00:44 — FSandYOUUnless your kid(s) graduate this year I'm pretty sure you won't have a choice.
Get it, WON'T HAVE A CHOICE!
That's what we'll all be saying once they kick in the 3rd assignment plan in as many years won't we, NO MORE CHOICE!
Or HOLEs huh Sam!!
Good news, this board can now begin to enjoy the screams from the public and let me start with this oldie but goodie,
ANY NEW ASSIGNMENT PLAN MUST NOT BE RUSHED THROUGH!
We expect this board to survey parents at least 4 times, we expect 2 years worth of studies and data to back up why we must change, we expect full cost analysis now, now after the plan cranks up AND we expect NO HOLES TO BE CREATED with this new NEW plan! Right Sam!!
We also fully expect Martin and Evans to stand in the way of each and every attempt for parents to be heard!!
All 130,000+ parents who were just fine with this current plan that is.
as a district
Mon, 09/17/2012 - 20:03 — snordonewe have a long history of parents not showing up for reassignments. That is how MHS became a magnet, they gave up trying to force high income parents into the school and decided to use a carrot.
Maybe, but no shows with this board
Mon, 09/17/2012 - 20:47 — FSandYOUare doomed to fail their children because they, the parents, are not in control.
What in the world are you
Fri, 09/14/2012 - 08:11 — woodstockWhat in the world are you talking about?! The past year has been fantastic! Parents finally have some choice and there have been long-sought-after academic gains across all student populations. All Evans, Martin and Kushner are doing is throwing a wrench into the works at the direction of their master, Yevonne Brannon.
fantastic?
Fri, 09/14/2012 - 08:37 — redcityI think "fantastic" is in the eye of the beholder. This problem had some serious issues and I think it's a FANTASTIC idea to review and revamp it. The biggest problem, as I see it, is that if you didn't get you FIRST choice school (as determined by priority list) then you were essentially in a lottery for all of your other choices. There was no priority for the rest of your list. And if NOTHING else, they should address the 4-5 busses coming through neighborhoods because everyone got to "choose". Logistically (the proof is the bus fiasco and the ridiculous start times that were supposed to "fix" them) it's impossible for a neighborhood to have 5 elementary school choices and the school system to provide transportation for that. I know there were problems with the node system, but there are problems with this system too and it behooves us to work through them, NOT pretend everything is FANTASTIC.
I agree the lottery aspect needed to be fixed
Fri, 09/14/2012 - 22:31 — raleighlaura... But overalls, the choice plan represented a significant improvement to me. I think the lottery for any choice but the first was a real departure from the way staff said the plan would work, and when I specifically called to ask about it, was told that they were " sorry I misunderstood.". We didn't misunderstand, staff just changed the rules mid game and got caught. That part should be fixed, absolutely.
However, the idea that once you are assigned to a school, you stay in that school, is a very good one. And those promises can't be kept in a high growth environment if seats are tied to an address; you run into too many capacity issues.
Exactly
Fri, 09/14/2012 - 22:35 — local23Well said about staying in one school! I just wish everyone would give this plan more of a chance, like 3-4 years and still work out the kinks as they prop up, but going back to Nodes where those changed to suite their needs is a just a failed plan in the making AGAIN
I agree. I never liked this
Sat, 09/15/2012 - 12:48 — jenmanI agree. I never liked this plan and predicted some of the issues we are now having with it but we should work through those issues rather than ditch it. The new board should have axed the plan at their first meeting if they didn't like it. I feel really bad for the parents who put in so much time, effort and emotion into this plan only to have it change for next year.
But on an optimistic note, staff is coming up with the new plan and maybe they are working base assignments in within the overall construct of the plan rather than going back to exactly what we had before. I can hope, right? lol
If they put in the "stay
Fri, 09/14/2012 - 22:47 — danofncIf they put in the "stay where you start" rule that Kevin Hill talked about earlier then the new plan won't be bad at all.
I think it's much more realistic and real-world manageable to promise people that when they start at a particular ES, MS, or HS they will finish that particular grade span at that school than it is to promise a kindergartener the school they will attend for each level.
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Sat, 09/15/2012 - 09:28 — SideburnsIf they put in the "stay where you start" rule that Kevin Hill talked about earlier then the new plan won't be bad at all.
How so? You don't have any details of a "stay where you start" rule, do you?
There's only so many ways to
Sat, 09/15/2012 - 17:43 — danofncThere's only so many ways to have a plan called "stay where you start".
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Sat, 09/15/2012 - 21:06 — SideburnsWhat are those ways?
My first thought is... with transportation or without. How 'bout you?
If they offer it without
Sat, 09/15/2012 - 22:04 — danofncIf they offer it without transportation it will be just as ridiculous as calling something a choice plan that was actually a lottery if you didn't get your #1 preference.
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Sat, 09/15/2012 - 22:23 — SideburnsAh, yes. Back to dan's definition of "Choice is a list of one."
Regardless of its name, it provided parents some say in their child's assignment and offered long-term stability and predictability. Don't you wonder why the Board didn't just use the term "grandfathering" - if that's what they really meant - instead of creating their own "stay where you start" term?
Here's the deal....in a
Sat, 09/15/2012 - 22:53 — danofncHere's the deal....in a choice plan, every effort should be made to get every family into their #1 choice based on whatever criteria they are using. Then, every effort should be made to get them into choice #2 if they didn't get into #1. And so on until they get assigned.
If you don't do it that way, you don't have a choice plan anymore than you did when the old board assigned you to a school and then you went online to see about 30 different schools you could, in theory, apply to attend, but unless you lived in the right spot you had a snowball's chance of attending.
We didn't participate in the selection process. We like our current school so we had no reason. But, if they had parents put the schools on their list in an order from 1-5, then the district gave them a false sense of how the process actually worked. It should have been one line...pick your favorite......then hold your breath and hope you get it.
I don't know why they chose not to use "grandfathering". Perhaps because they know that a certain segment of the population would take that term to mean what it meant 3 years ago.
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Sun, 09/16/2012 - 10:12 — SideburnsIt should have been one line...pick your favorite......then hold your breath and hope you get it.
Really? And what happens when 1000 families pick their "favorite" and only 800 seats are available. That's why a list of choices is necessary. Capacity is an issue under any assignment plan. I'm not sure why you don't understand that.
Your claim was -- with a "stay where you start" policy, the new plan "won't be bad at all". I have no idea how you reached that conclusion considering you have no idea what that policy entails.
When 1000 pick the school
Mon, 09/17/2012 - 01:54 — danofncWhen 1000 pick the school with 800 seats, obviously some people don't get to go.
The problem with calling it a "choice" plan is that, according to people here, those people would have been entered into a lottery rather than having the district continue down their listing of choices.
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Mon, 09/17/2012 - 07:28 — SideburnsThey aren't entered into a lottery. The district does continue down their choice list. The problem is that some people want to have priority over others. Some have claimed that they live 0.1 mile closer than others, therefore they are more deserving of a seat.
I think the priority points given for first choice only was a problem, however.
Yeah....stay where you start
Sat, 09/15/2012 - 18:51 — shearertwYeah....stay where you start and have freaking idea where you'll end up.
Drama.....even under the old
Sat, 09/15/2012 - 19:02 — danofncDrama.....even under the old plan, how many kids were bused way away from home, unwillingly, for MS or HS?
It may seem like drama to
Sat, 09/15/2012 - 20:05 — shearertwIt may seem like drama to you but to the thousands who endured it every year, year after year. Also, we are not stupid. We know how this will start and, more importantly, how it will end up. It may start with "stay where you are" to garner initial support or acceptance but over time it will morph right back to a "go where we tell you to" policy. Because, just as before, the go where we tell you to go policy will never help achievement and will continually need to be adjusted due to population shifts and constant failure. Stability will never be achieved. No one will be sure which MS or HS their children will attend until the day they actually get there. No of us can be sure what wacko future school boards are ahead of us so with the assignment power fully back in the hands of the BOE, you can be sure the nonsense will continue for decades. The choice plan was at least a move towards taking some of that power away from them and giving it to parents which is where it should be.
I'd be fine with base assignments but only with a policy that places proximity first instead. What we're going to get instead is a base assignment policy that places what Susan Evans thinks first, because she knows best...just ask her.
Many parents may still
Sat, 09/15/2012 - 17:51 — DrActualFactualMany parents may still be under the impression that we "started" last year. You know, the year that promises were made that we'd do a choice plan lottery and then have fixed feeder patterns into the future.
The thing that bothers me is
Fri, 09/14/2012 - 23:02 — mevans27587The thing that bothers me is that they have gone back on their word. We were guaranteed a certain feeder pattern if we stayed in the school system. ONE YEAR (not even) and they change it. I have a kindergartner who LOVES his school. 99% sure he won't be there next year though (unless they include some sort of grandfathering). It isn't good for these kids to not know what to expect from year to year..
The thing that bothered me
Sat, 09/15/2012 - 08:40 — danofncThe thing that bothered me was that the old board attempted to promise a bunch of 5 year olds where they'd be going to school when they were 18. That seems ludicrous in a district the size of WCPSS.
I think your kid should be able to finish ES at the school he is attending. I don't think he should already have a spot reserved at a certain MS or HS.
But doesn't the magnet
Sat, 09/15/2012 - 13:53 — DrActualFactualBut doesn't the magnet school feeder path operate this way--if you get into an IB ES then you feed into an IB MS/HS, etc. Most of those parents that seemed to be in the magnet program for curriculum reasons didn't seem to mind the stability of a predictable feeder pattern. Although, the magnet parents that got into magnets for ES/MS stability did seem to mind when they couldn't go back to the local/neighborhood/ proximate HS. As students age up it seems that in YR schools there is a grade level that parents of multiple kids plan to leave for traditional and with magnets it seems that as students aged up there were parents with different HS intentions. If the assignment plan had been able to project those intentions and appropriate 100 seats for example for Fuller/Ligon/Enloe and 100 for Fuller/Ligon/Apex or whatever seat numbers you want and then hold 1 lottery for everyone, parents would know way ahead of time whether that is the assignment they want and either accept or go private/homeschool. Once the slots are rejected a non-changeable final lottery for those open slots is held. Something along this line would give administrators more leadtime to set their MOE/hire teachers/run class schedules for HS, etc. Each school would have a certain fixed number of seats available for certain feeder pattern schools so that none would go too far over capacity.
It mgiht be crazy but that
Sat, 09/15/2012 - 12:46 — mevans27587It mgiht be crazy but that is what was promised. There are going to be tons of mad parents once they realize their kids assignment will be changing. Most people don't pay attention until it is too late.
Going back on their word is business as usual in the wcpss
Sat, 09/15/2012 - 08:06 — FSandYOUEspecially when you have a board as we do now. Heck, Evans and Martin got caught telling several non-truths during their campaigns, so anyone who thought they could trust this bunch anymore than the past boards needs to either drink more to cope or drink less to clear that clutter in their head.
Never forget, "just pass the bond and we'll work with you".
You'll be hearing that one again soon, along with many other beauties that only the Martin & Evans Show can deliver, I have no doubt.
Still fantastic!
Sat, 09/15/2012 - 18:49 — woodstockChallenges? Yes. But, still it was a fantastic year in many ways; specifically, parents now have a choice, forced busing is history and there have been some very, very noteworthy and long overdue academic gains. I am sticking with fantastic!
Admitedly, some (i.e., Martin Kushner and Evans) seem intent on bowing to far left-wing political pressue and screwing things up. We'll see.
I would not use that word.
Sat, 09/15/2012 - 22:03 — mevans27587I would not use that word. You either got your first choice or did not have a child participate. We got our fifth choice 1st round. Second Round we received our first choice (with more choices in schools). I love his school but there are 4 schools closer than the one they are in.
I don't think anyone is
Fri, 09/14/2012 - 10:18 — shearertwI don't think anyone is claiming or pretending that everything is "fantastic" with the brand new, first school year of an entirely new assignment model never before tried in WCPSS. What is glaringly obvious to anyone with any common sense is that the first year of any "model" of anything doesn't ever go perfectly. There are always kinks that need to be worked out. I don't think anyone ever thought that we would have to tweek the choice model each year for the next 4 or 5 years until we get it right. The other issue you and others seem to ignore is that the previous node assignment model/diversity busing created a web of nightmares that couldn't be untangled in one year by any model (except a move to complete proximity based model that would have sent WCPSS into chaos with 10's of thousands of reassignments in the first year). In the first few years of the choice model, most people were going to choose the school their children were already attending for obvious reasons. As those kids aged out, however, the newer kids would be more and more likely to choose schools closer to home or the schools their neighbor's kids were attending, etc. Over time, that would have made the choice model much much more managable.
Of course, we all know that "tweeking" or "reviewing" or "revamping" is not what the Dem BOE members have in mind. From the day they took their seats, the have been discussing how they would revert back to some type of node assignment model. They've spend 10x more time focusing on that rather than overseeing how the new choice model would even be implemented effectively. In fact, I'm not sure they've spend ANY time focusing on implementation of the new choice model in it's FIRST FREAKING YEAR! So we all know what the BOE majority means with they say base assignment. What they mean is exactly what Ms. Evans-Martin said (paraphrasing), "we know what is best for your child and we will assign them to the school that is best for them". The BOE majority simply wants to control where kids go to school so they can control the racial make up of every school in the county. Their "revamping" has nothing to do with "tweeking" the choice model and is only about bringing more assignment control back to the BOE.