Wake County Republican Party Chairwoman Susan Bryant is citing a testimonial in support of neighborhood schools to motivate her members heading into the school board runoff election.
In the latest issue of the Elephant Express today, Bryant says she's sharing a letter she received from a fellow Wake County Republican. The letter writers talks about loving walking to his neighborhood schools as a child.
Now years later, he writes that "my wife and I quickly learned that they would never have the same great experience we had." He complains about reassignment, the possibility of being "bused somewhere across town to an area we would never know."
"On the news, we watched Kevin Hill vote against the new plan, and our right to choose our neighborhood school and that angered us," according to the letter writer. "Even the two Democrats not running for office this time voted for the plan. We cannot let this stand. We will be supporting Heather Losurdo for District 3. Please hear us.”
Comments
Academic instrument of education, nothing else
Sat, 10/29/2011 - 22:16 — RLMcElroyWhen an instrument of public service is used in a manner and function for which it was not intended the citizens, in general, are ill-served but, specifically, the intended recipients of the services are harmed. They are not receiving the benefit of the service for which the public taxes were allocated. I have reviewed with initial interest and then alarm the published pronouncement of the dangers associated with the “folly” of eliminating the “socioeconomic diversity policy” of the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) and, as reported by the Huffington Post, “…upholding segregation, elitism and even racism” (The Huff Post Internet Newspaper, 2011). These outcries force a reconsideration of initial intent and fundamental objective of the WCPSS.
The foundational starting point of this brief overview starts with the 1979 establishment of the U.S. Department of Education (ED), created by the Department of Education Organization Act, Public Law 96-88. The ED was established to put greater emphasis on and improve the U.S. school system performance as measured by outcomes: the academic strength of the American student. Of course, the WCPSS has evolved in adherence to ED philosophies, polices, and practices. However, these improvements have not been achieved.
From an initial budget of $14B in 1980, the ED has a budget of nearly $70B now. One might expect that a 400% increase in spending over the last 30 years to have resulted in a comparable level of system performance improvement: our students are performing better. However, the statistics do not bear this out. The College Board (2011) reports that the U.S. student SAT scores have not appreciably changed in this time frame (actually following in reading from a 1980 score of 502 to 497 this year). North Carolina students similarly fell, to 493. Mathematic scores only marginally improved across America, increasing from 492 to 515 in this period. Again, NC followed, but only increasing to 508.
The National Center for Educational Statistics (Aud, 2010) paints a similarly dismal picture of student improvement. They report that 17-year-olds reading scores have stayed essentially unchanged since 1971 to 2008 (285 and 286, respectively). Math scores for this group of students in the same time period only changed from 304 to 306. They admit that “the average scores for 17-year-olds… was not significantly different from the score in 1971.” We find the same performance statistics for our NC students.
The Alliance for Excellent Education (2008) provides a bleak summary. They report the U.S. academic achievement in the world stands at:
15th in reading literacy,
21st in scientific literacy,
24th in problem solving, and
25th in mathematics literacy
They suggest that “… the modern workplace has radically changed, and the demands on those making the transition from the classroom to the workplace continues to rise.” Unfortunately, our school system as an academic instrument of education has failed. Our students may be less prepared to enter the workforce than they were in 1971.
This performance picture as backdrop places in stark relief the outcry of changes to our school system. To paraphrase Albert Einstein, “insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results.” It seems logical that the school system has to change. However, the repeated outcry for, at best, not changing and, at worst, maintaining the status quo seems to be illogical.
As initially stated, the public discourse seems centered on the “folly” of eliminating the “socioeconomic diversity policy” and “…accusing the local school board of upholding segregation, elitism and even racism.” Have we confused the intent of and function for the school system? Do we expect it to be a social instrument of racial integration. The WCPSS Superintendent Tata is right to state that “… progress and diversity are two separate issues” (The Huff Post Internet Newspaper, 2011) and that his focus is on the former.
The WCPSS statistics suggests that since their 2009 change in leadership that they have witnessed in increase in four-year graduation rates (by 2.6% in the last two years) (see, WCPSS Evaluation & Research Department, 2011). This is very significant given the “law of thirds” crisis that exist in the United States where only one-third of high school students actually graduate (Smith, 2010). Other near-term achievements in discipline proficiency improvements include reading and math. They have done this while balancing the budget (that previously had a $110 million shortfall) without cutting a teacher or teacher assistants, and saving $200,000 on fuel cost.
While the U.S. Department of Education is spending more to get the same or lesser results, it is refreshing to see the WCPSS spending LESS and getting MORE. Good job!
References
Aud, S., Hussar, W., Planty, M., Snyder, T., Bianco, K., Fox, M., Frohlich, L., Kemp, J., Drake, L. . (2010). The Condition of Education 2010 (NCES 2010-028). Washington, D.C.: National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.
Smith, P. (2010). Harnessing America's Wasted Talent: A New Ecology of Learning. San Francisco Jossey-Bass.
The Alliance for Excellent Education. (2008). International Comparisons of Academic Achievement. Retrieved from all4ed.org/files/IntlComp_FactSheet.pdf
The College Board. (2011). Mean SAT Scores of College-Bound Seniors, 1972-2011. New York: CollegeBoard.org.
The Huff Post Internet Newspaper (Producer). (2011, October 16, 2011). Wake County School Board In North Carolina Eliminates Integration Busing In Face Of Budget Cuts [News Report] Retrieved from huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/12/wake-county-school-board-_n_808329.html
WCPSS Evaluation & Research Department. (2011). Student Achievement in WCPSS, 2010-2011. Raleigh, NC: Wake Country Public School Board.
Votes
Fri, 10/28/2011 - 12:13 — jgegbgmgI'm pretty sure that the couple of Democrats who voted for the plan had no intention for Losurdo to use them in her campaign - I'm SURE their support will be with Kevin - Next thing I expect to see is for Ms. Losurdo to say their vote for the plan was a vote for her - Just how wrong can Bryant & Losurdo be?
She's back....
Fri, 10/28/2011 - 07:19 — bpuli9999After taking a couple off weeks of trying to deal with the truth of what happened with the elections, Susan Bryant is finally back with her lies....that was a fairly quick recovery.
Welcome back, Susan!
Kevin Hill/Reverand Barber Video
Fri, 10/28/2011 - 00:17 — jjgabe30Someone sent me this link today. I got a giggle out of it. This is a video of Rev. Barber, Kevin Hill, Yvonne Brennan, Keith Sutton, and Jim Martin having a Halloween Bash. http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/BUVIVaaZRLwCVGEP
Ms. Bryant again demonstrates she is lacking in facts
Thu, 10/27/2011 - 22:16 — WhalerCaneFirst, Heather was against the plan before she was for it. Kevin did exactly what she said she would do. Said he supports the concepts, but the plan is not ready for implementation. We still do not know what schools are available to parents.
Second, it is not a 'neighborhood schools' plan and will not stop 'forced bussing' despite her and the Losurdo campaign's efforts to hit buzzwords. Superintendent Tata himself stressed the importance of balancing schools by 'student achievement' to prevent the expense of fixing broken schools.
A real 'neighborhood schools' plan would likely be well over $2 billion in school construction costs alone, but I'm pretty sure Ms. Bryant and the Elephant Express would not be on board for paying for that.
You have a semantics
Sat, 10/29/2011 - 00:57 — jeffrey1You have a semantics problem. Your definition of "forced busing" and "neighborhood" schools is not in line with those of us who have fought for assignment reform. I suspect you know that, but you can't help redefining those terms in your zeal to re-elect Hill.
You keep talking about a "real" neighborhood schools plan, as if we want all 145,000 students to be able to walk to the closest school, which is only a few blocks down the sidewalk-lined street. And you're right, that's not what we have (and no amount of money will get us there). But it's also not what we want, either.
The demand has been, and will always be, for proximate schools with stability. When your forced (one and only option) bus ride takes you pass 23 other schools on the way to your assigned school, or when you are attending your 3rd elementary school in 5 years, this new plan looks a hell of a lot closer to a neighborhood schools plan than anything we have ever seen or experienced here in Wake. So forgive us if, according to you, we incorrectly call it a neighborhood schools plan. It's just that we're so damn happy to be rid of the old plan.
But they're on board on
Fri, 10/28/2011 - 20:39 — ruthlissBut they're on board on SPENDING/WASTING around $150,000 of taxpayer dollars.
Seems like a good opportunity
Thu, 10/27/2011 - 21:29 — logosisdeadfor Bryant's "letter writer" to get out of the house and see the rest of the town ... "bused somewhere across town to an area we would never know."
Those sivery looking things are called CD's, payphones are really hard to find now and maps are called GPS systems. There are also countries outside ours.
Does Mrs. Bryant think people are really this dumb?
When I was a child,
Thu, 10/27/2011 - 21:24 — truthBtoldI walked to school, the sun always shined and the birds always sang. Gasoline and taxes were cheap, there was no crime and Mom was always there with her apron, high heels and flowered dress to give us snacks after school and welcome Father home and give him is pipe and and a warm meal.
Ahhhh.....I hope JT, Susan and Mrs. Losurdo can help us all regain that sense of wonderment again.