Wake had 139,362 students as of the 10th-day of classes for traditional-calendar schools on Tuesday.
Over the next couple of days, school officials will use the enrollment figures to determine how many teachers will be moved to different schools to help reduce class sizes. Schools get funding for teachers based on the number of students they have enrolled.
School officials say they’ve been fairly close to their enrollment projections. Schools officials had projected in February that enrollment would reach 140,012 students by the 20th day of classes. That estimate was lowered to 139,726 students last month.
So far, Wake has grown by 1,656 students over last year’s official enrollment of 137,706 children. School officials say growth has slowed because of the recession and a new state law that says students can’t enter kindergarten unless they turn age 5 by Aug. 31.
Wake is still the largest school district in North Carolina and likely remains the 18th largest in the nation. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, the second-largest district in the state, reported having 133,329 students as of the 10th day and expects to have more than 135,000 children this school year.
Click here to look at overall totals for Wake.
Comments
Just an aside, but your
Sun, 09/13/2009 - 13:34 — jenmanJust an aside, but your child doesn't even have to be reassigned for the reassignments to affect them. Our Elem school is rather large so each year its been a big deal for my sons when they have their best friend from the previous year in their class. With 6-8 classrooms for each grade there's no way that they can know all the kids in their grade. Anyway, I asked two neighbor boys up at the bus stop how they were liking school, which teacher they got, and whether or not they had any of their friends in their class. Both boys responded with "Everybody in my class was at Wildwood last year!". They were so incredibly excited about that and it struck me as really sad. It used to be that the big excitement was when a new kid was in your class.
Our school went through a massive reassignment 2 years ago that wiped out half the PTA and moved tons of kids out of the school to be replaced with other nodes of kids. (This was done purely for the diversity policy, not growth). Then we were a traditional opt-out for one year but those kids had to leave for a different school the next year. I never really thought of all that transition affecting our node's kids that much since we weren't moved. But they lost their friends and each year it was somewhat like being in a new school.
One neighbor of mine has a 6th grader and a Kindergartener. Her oldest went through our base elem school K-5 but her Kindergartener is at Thales this year. Not because she wasn't pleased with the education at our base school but because of the instability. Its really sad that we have to be driven by the what ifs of reassignments.
good points on how he
Sun, 09/13/2009 - 14:28 — user12345good points on how he reassignments of other kids can have affect on your kids ...
"Our school went through a massive reassignment 2 years ago that wiped out half the PTA and moved tons of kids out of the school to be replaced with other nodes of kids. (This was done purely for the diversity policy, not growth)."
So, does your school have a much higher F&R% now than previous years ... I am wondering if all the other nodes were poor kids being bussed in ... I will say that in 1990's there were a lot of reassignments too that drove people to want more stability (e.g. magnet, homeschool, private) so the recent churn is not new for the area ...
Fairly close is easily
Thu, 09/10/2009 - 12:46 — changewcpssFairly close is easily attainable when you receive a *do over* and get to revise your projections. After your inflated projections have served their purpose and have been used to push your destructive agenda, you revise to be closer to reality. Why not call a spade a spade and quit lying?
After revising, WCPSS proceeds to promote the revised projections as their projected numbers; the ignorant general public believes WCPSS' lies and deceit as though they are the truth. Shameful.
October 6 is right around the corner. Time for change.
1600 new students!!!! My
Wed, 09/09/2009 - 20:43 — woodstock1600 new students!!!! My God, man, that means roughly 10 additional students per school in Wake County. Let's reassign 26,000 students and force them into mandatory year-round schools to manage this crazy, out-of-control growth.
The BoE should issue hip-waders.
“My God, man, that means
Thu, 09/10/2009 - 11:10 — user12345“My God, man, that means roughly 10 additional students per school inWake County
Very misleading (intentional or ignorant?) … if every school gets an exact share of all the new students (e.g. 10/each) we would not have a problem and would rarely have to reassign and re-sort kids …. The problem is that all these new kids are not going perfectly into each school in perfect proportions … there may be too many ESs or too many kids in Western Wake that cause local overcrowding …
So, the problem is some where between 1600 students all showing up at a single 800 capacity ES and 1600 students all perfectly taking the last empty desk across all the schools … hopefully, people are not foolish enough to think the latter …
You are relentllessly
Thu, 09/10/2009 - 11:29 — woodstockYou are relentllessly ignorant and close-minded. But, I have to admire your persistance though. LOL (Are you purposely being obtuse? Yeah, that has got to be it. )
I clearly meant on average. Sure, some schools may see an increase of 16 kids and some only 4. But you miss the bigger point, growth is not the what drives the insanity of what we see in Wake County: unnecessary and excessive busing, siblings on different tracks, mandatory year-round schools, etc.
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Hey, you still never answered my question about why you support the current wcpss policies that fail so many students. When do you suppose you will get around to that. I am a patient man, but I at least need a status report on that.
“Hey, you still never
Thu, 09/10/2009 - 12:53 — user12345“Hey, you still never answered my question about why you support the current wcpss policies that fail so many students. When do you suppose you will get around to that. I am a patient man, but I at least need a status report on that. “
You make the common mistake that many here make that people who like Wake and whose kids like their schools are status quo, love WCPSS and don’t want any improvement. I guess that makes it easier to energize the base and define the opposition but it really is counterproductive.
I agree WCPSS has failed in many ways … they are poor planners and logicians … they would never be hired by Wal-Mart to stock all their stores with their forecasting ability …so, “status quo’s” want improvement, stability, etc. but we don’t want disparity … the kind of changes that some when a few wealthy powerful people manipulate the political process to realize their plan for what is best …. what I mean is that we don’t want some schools filled with all the rich kids and others with all the poor kids like other urban areas … we don’t want to hear how some promised special program or forth coming new funding will compensate for sticking all the poor kids in a few school … “been there, heard that before” .. I agree the magnet program seems to have had some mission creep and needs to be redefined … but I don’t think wealthy school should be entitled to a magnet because they pay a lot of taxes (disparity)… who ever gets elected will confront 137k kids and hundreds of schools with limited funding and unfunded state and federal mandates … it won’t be easy for them either ….
Here is an idea, let's stop
Thu, 09/10/2009 - 13:30 — woodstockHere is an idea, let's stop labeling kids poor or rich and attaching the respective sterotypes, put them in community/neighborhood schools, fund them equitably and provide the right resources where they are need; THEN, educate them.
In Wake County we manufacture conflict with our school policies. It is time to get down to the business of education.
You "don't want to hear about special programs...?" That is a very odd point of view as effective solutions may involve doing things differently. You may want to reconsider your statement.
Agree / understand ... my
Thu, 09/10/2009 - 15:41 — user12345Agree / understand ... my point on the special programs is that minorities and disadvantaged are always promise some special program / funding to get rid of them which never seems to materialize once the promisees (sp?) get power … the ALL kids turns local ... to me, a special successful program would turn the tables where wealthy parents are lobbying to get into the program because of say the success in send kids to top colleges.
10 additional students per
Thu, 09/10/2009 - 10:50 — NWRaleighMom10 additional students per school in Wake County. I don't think it would be a problem anywhere else.
My child's class has 8 students new to the school but not new to the area. But lots of last year students left the school. Stop blaming growth!
....
Wed, 09/09/2009 - 20:47 — SideburnsYou can borrow mine from the WEP forum today in Cary.
"School officials say
Wed, 09/09/2009 - 20:17 — g88ky07they’ve been fairly close to their enrollment projections"
Someone correct me here, but aren't they still off by well over TEN THOUSAND since they forced 22 schools to a MYR calendar?
So much for being "fairly close", but then, administration is playing horseshoes with our children's education aren't they!
How Do They Justify The Latest Reassignment
Thu, 09/10/2009 - 08:08 — JanisTangoI keep hearing about growth is driving all the reassignments. I guess this along with last years number prove they did the latest reassignments because of diversity. Yeh yeh..I know they had to open some new schools, but there was no middle school being opened in our area and they moved us to a new middle school! They really jerked around a lot of kids and familes. I've seen first hand the latest reassignment destroy the cohesiveness of a ES and neighborhood! Good work growth and planning. You should all be fired. We need to start over!
I would LOVE to hear Chuckie's response to this. Hui...can you ask him?
Did you just move here? I
Thu, 09/10/2009 - 09:56 — user12345Did you just move here? I have lived here for 27 years and my home has been assigned to dozens of schools in that time as the population swelled and new schools were built and old ones closed and renovated ... in the 90's we were just looking for a seat to put kids in ... so, growth in the last few months has be down ... but over the last decade growth in all the wrong places (where there was not an existing under capacity school) huge which led to the over capacity recently of some schools and the under capacity of others... They tried to address that with MYR but that got derailed as people opted out and made matters worse by overcrowding opt out school often having to travel the long distance often quoted… so, thousands of new kids over the last decade, moving to the wrong places coupled with poor planning and logistics have caused the imbalances not diversity … no growth = little reassignments … don’t be angry at poor kids but turn your anger to greedy developers and incompetent city / county planners …
Reply User12345
Thu, 09/10/2009 - 12:10 — JanisTangoDid you just move here?"
Nope..I have been here 11 years and I agree the growth has gotten out of control. I do believe it's been poor planning on a lot of fronts. This forum is for school issues and that is what I'm addressing here! One issue at a time. I only have one chance to educate my kids so that is my primary concern at this point. WCPSS has done a poor job of responding to growth and they have jerked too many people around. And NO their reassignments are not primarily a result of growth. They are covering up issues in the school system by continually moving children around. Personally I will not vote for another bond to build more schools until they start utilizing the schools they have efficiently. North Raleigh has about 1000 available seats and many of those are in YR schools!
They tried to address that with MYR but that got derailed as people opted out
Heaven forbid, people opted out of MYR when it didn't work for their families. They want to increase capacity only on their terms and not what is best for families. A majority of low-income families opted out because they couldn't support the schedule. Shouldn't they have that right? I know of many people that want to get into YR and can't because they aren't the right social makeup to get in.
don’t be angry at poor kids but turn your anger to greedy developers and incompetent city / county planners …
I'm not angry at the poor kids, but I don't believe this current policy is helping the children in this county that need it the most. Do you? If so, prove it. How's come 1 out of 3 at rish kids don't pass their EOGs?
I understand and agree ...
Thu, 09/10/2009 - 13:07 — user12345I understand and agree ... but answer this ...
I see WCPSS has 67, 468 ES kids.
There are 57,786 open seats in exisitng buildings. So, 10k kids don't have a seat.
Add in 697 temporary trailers brings temporaty capacity to 72,872
So, there there are 5,000 open seats "some where" in the system ... most likely not in a convenient school.
Now if you look at it school by school, the popular schools are 110% to 130% over capacity and the unpopular schools are less than 100%. So, we have a distribution problems and need to find a way to either add more seats at the popular schools or attract more kids to the unpopular schools to fill all the open seats ..
Me, too
Thu, 09/10/2009 - 17:13 — TrailerParkGirlSame experience as JanisTango. WCPSS policies, poorly made decisions and reassignments resulted in overcapacity in some schools.
More to attract people to fill open seats - well, knowing instability and fear of reassignment drove them out what do you suppose would attract them?
"well, knowing instability
Thu, 09/10/2009 - 19:16 — user12345"well, knowing instability and fear of reassignmentdrove them out what do you suppose would attract them? "
Maybe for taking the first available seat ES open, yourfamily get a free pass to any MS / HS they choose? Airlines do it, restaurants do it ... eitheryou force people into an open seat (the M word), build more seats or enticethem to make an inconvenient choice for future gain...
How about minimizing the concerns
Thu, 09/10/2009 - 23:14 — TrailerParkGirlthat drove them away?
How about not having reassignment plans where opening a new school in a growing area of District 8 results in a string of reassignments including a school in a non-growing area of District 9 + another school in (not high growth portion of) District 8 and two schools in low growth District 5?
agree ... common sense ...
Fri, 09/11/2009 - 09:53 — user12345agree ... common sense ... maybe they thought they were doing taxpayer a favor by filling every seat as soon as built but they forgot the human cost ... I am guessing those heady days of growth are behind us now a though ..
Been There Done That
Thu, 09/10/2009 - 20:58 — JanisTangoUser12345...I like the idea of giving a neighborhood or family of a free pass to any MS/HS you want if you go to the first available seat in an ES...oh wait....our neighborhood did that and we were still reassigned with the latest plan.
Many years ago our neighborhood was asked to go to a school that was considered the arm pit of WCPSS. They needed some families to help build this school back up. This ES is not in close proximity to our neighborhood. Our neighborhood agreed at that time and we were promised by our BOE representative an assignment to a MS/HS closer to home! Guess what...when that former BOE member called Patti Head last fall to remind her of that agreement with our neighborhood and what was going on with the latest reassignments, it didn't budge her a bit. So much for that!
Sorry that happened .. I
Thu, 09/10/2009 - 22:19 — user12345Sorry that happened .. I guess legal contracts are the only way to enforce these agreements ... if you made a sacrifice for WCPSS they should recipicate ...
That would require all those on the BOE
Thu, 09/10/2009 - 23:05 — TrailerParkGirlactually having those character traits they teach in ES.
Probably True in Some Parts of the County, But Not All
Thu, 09/10/2009 - 14:14 — JanisTangoThe might be true in some parts of the county, but not all! I can name a handful of schools that I personally have experience with that were doing just fine with enrollment, parental support, happy kids, great teachers and staff. With the last few years of reassignment they have driven families out of these schools. They are deemed 'unpopular' schools now. The truth is most of the families that left was not because of the school but because they were looking for stability for their kids! Should that make a school unpopular because it's under enrolled? Not necessarily!
How Do They Justify The Latest Reassignment
Thu, 09/10/2009 - 08:08 — JanisTangoI keep hearing about growth is driving all the reassignments. I guess this along with last years number prove they did the latest reassignments because of diversity. Yeh yeh..I know they had to open some new schools, but there was no middle school being opened in our area and they moved us to a new middle school! They really jerked around a lot of kids and familes. I've seen first hand the latest reassignment destroy the cohesiveness of a ES and neighborhood! Good work growth and planning. You should all be fired. We need to start over!
I would LOVE to hear Chuckie's response to this. Hui...can you ask him?
As I mentioned in the other
Wed, 09/09/2009 - 23:47 — KeungHui (author)As I mentioned in the other comment, fairly close refers to this year's projection. It's not like last year when they were 2,700 off projection.
I getcha
Thu, 09/10/2009 - 00:41 — g88ky07and my "fairly close" isn't directed at you Mr. Hui, but rather at a system who wasn't remotely close the last few years and now many of our children have been stranded in year round calendars because of it.
Is 10,000 fairly close
Wed, 09/09/2009 - 23:39 — TrailerParkGirlaccording to Trailblazers Math?
Does this include the
Wed, 09/09/2009 - 19:55 — amedinaohDoes this include the updated number of students in year round? I know our year round ten day head count is different than how many are enrolled today. We had more students register since July.
It's based on Day 10 for the
Wed, 09/09/2009 - 20:51 — KeungHui (author)It's based on Day 10 for the year-round schools as well. As for the fairly close projection, we're looking at this year's figures.