The Wake County Republican Party is calling votes for Democratic-backed school board candidates support for "the failed policies and programs of the past."
Today in the latest issue of The Elephant Express, Wake GOP Chairwoman Susan Bryant pushes heavily on the diversity issue as being a difference between the Wake County school board candidates backed by both political parties.
"The only certainty a parent has that their child won’t attend 3 schools in 5 years will come by not going back to the policies of the old board!" Bryant writes. "Let’s just call it like it was. These people (Democrats), who claim to be concerned for the students, were trying to bus children all across the county to balance out the family incomes of the children attending any one school."
Bryant writes that Democrats "could not fix the mandatory long bus rides for children, "could not stop the increasing trend in student suspensions and "were powerless to control decreasing graduation rates."
"Our Republican members have focused on students, keeping them in school, improving their performances, and graduating more seniors," Bryant writes. "And, they did this while balancing a severe budget shortfall without eliminating any teacher’s jobs. Graduations rates are up, suspensions are down, appeals over student assignments are significantly down and, the Democrats are having none of that!"
"Clearly, and with one voice, we hear the Democrats saying no to the positive results of the current school board," Bryant later writes. "Therefore, please recognize the Democrats are saying yes to the failed policies and programs of the past, yes to lower graduation rates, yes to higher suspension rates, and yes to more busing. We don’t need that kind of leadership. It didn’t work then and it won’t work now."
Comments
So.....
Thu, 09/22/2011 - 00:30 — tabdjbJust wondering what this great solution of yours is? Exactly what is this "ugly" truth you are referring to? Somewhere I missed your point. I wasn't aware of them passing something to remove the thugs from the schools and making kids stay awake in class. Where exactly will you be sending your child next year, because you choose to pass on diversity. I do hope you mean a charter or private school and trust me, with the amount of students in Wake County, your son and his friends won't be missed too much since all of the advanced classes are already full.
Diversity as a buzzword
Wed, 09/21/2011 - 21:25 — hownowI've heard and read dozens of times that it is important that students "experience diversity," but no one has ever explained to me how that is true or what diversity is. Well, I'm getting some answers. When my child started ninth grade in August it was his first time to attend public school. He was previously deprived of experiencing diversity, a shortcoming quickly made up. Each day he came home to tell me of his latest enrichment: 1st time being shoved into a locker, 1st time watching students sleep through an entire class, 1st time hearing a student threaten a teacher, 1st time being taunted for participating in a class discussion -- and now (at Athens Drive HS), 1st time being stopped from boarding his bus while Raleigh Police arrested a dozen students, retrieved baggies of white powder thrown under a bus, and 1st time seeing someone arrested for assaulting and injuring a bus driver. All of this enrichment came after we tried to sign him up for advanced academic classes that had no seats available. I feel sorry for the teachers who will lose him and his friends next year when one can choose to pass on diversity, but maybe it will bring the WCPSS closer to dealing with the real, underlying problem instead of trying to dilute and cover up the ugly truth. And I've learned that the promised diversity has nothing to do with encountering those from different ethnic, cultural, racial or religious backgrounds - all those positive experiences are overshadowed when the system fails to place thugs, people who don't want to be in school, and students not prepared for grade level work in classrooms with the students who can benefit from a public education.
you are describing children
Thu, 09/22/2011 - 08:35 — snordonewho are disconnected from their education. Early in elementary school we don't track, all children are taught the same curriculum, and there is little disruption. We start tracking by middle school and that is when you start to see what you describe - children disconnected from school and situations made worse by adolescence. This is not diversity, it is a failure to educate and value all children.
I am not making an excuse for what you see, it is our reality and I am just trying to explain why it happens. We all have 3 choices - walk away from it, turn a blind eye (and avoid) as Dove describes, or hold our system accountable. I choose option 3.
It takes too long to hold anyone accountable
Thu, 09/22/2011 - 09:14 — FSandYOUBy the time you can/do your children are grown.
I now like option 1, after almost a decade in this system.
HS
Thu, 09/22/2011 - 07:47 — Dove314Not sure where your child attended previously but having a first public school experience be as a HS freshman and the difficulties he is experiencing have very little to do with any diversity policy and very much to do with life in a public HS. All HS, whether public or not, will have pecking order battles, drugs, sex, and more. And teenagers are very clumsy with handling all of these due to their lack of maturity. The sheer size of the majority of the HS's makes it very easy to feel inconsequential and invisible. And the first month of the freshman year is the worst. Give your son a bit more time to find his element. HS is not for the faint of heart, either parent or student, but freshman do find their feet and learn ways to respond to those who taunt them just for speaking up in class. They do learn how to tell who is dealing drugs and how to avoid that whole segment as much as possible yet interact with them in class as needed. For the AP aspect, one option Jeffrey has suggested here in the past is to talk with the counselors about taking courses online where space is not available in the school. As for buses, by HS, if there is any way despite any considerable inconvenience, finding alternatives (driving, carpools, after school activities and the activity buses (?)) can alleviate the considerable aggravation there. And your student finding where they fit in, after overcoming all the mayhem and uncertainty and eye-popping experiences, to hold their own without their parent is a very important achievement in and of itself.