School Board member John Tedesco’s presentation of a new vision for student assignment in Wake County provides an impressive insight to the future of our school system and our communities. We commend Mr. Tedesco in recognizing the significant role of parents as part of a student assignment process and the need for collaborative efforts from all stakeholders. As presented, this vision incorporates parental choice, stability in assignment and efficient capacity utilization into a community model that values the vital role of our school system in our county.

For years, citizens of Wake County have dealt with a reassignment policy that neglected many influential factors in a child’s education. Previous assignment priorities resulted in a lack of stability, much parental discontent, forced calendars and very limited choice opportunities. Ironically, members of previous Boards of Education have scheduled a press briefing for today claiming they know how best to serve our children. These are the very people who supported a failing policy for decades, which has resulted in a continual decline in all academic measurements, consistently mediocre schools and created a culture of low expectations and loss of opportunities for many students across all demographics and economic spectrums. This very assignment program that was designed to benefit economically disadvantaged children has resulted in a 54.2% graduation rate in the economically disadvantaged demographic. Support of this policy has allowed the unique needs of Wake County students, families and communities to be hidden and ignored. Instead of focusing on the guise of “healthy schools” and a one-size-fits-all approach as these previous Board members have, WakeCARES supports a student assignment model that promotes factors that address and positively influence individual student achievement and success.

WakeCARES eagerly looks forward to the process of designing and implementing a plan specific to the needs of Wake County.

Dr. Del Burns announced his resignation as Superintendent of the Wake County Public School System. In his 30 years with the WCPSS, Dr. Burns has shown a strong commitment to education and we wish him well in his future endeavors.

Any efforts for reform and improvement within the WCPSS require leaders who are willing to continually ask what can be done to make our schools a better place. They must challenge the established paradigms and be willing to reframe their vision as necessary to provide quality and stability to those served. A new paradigm will only emerge when there are changes in expectations and a willingness to evaluate and make adjustments to shape education policies accordingly.

It is our hope that the Board of Education will act aggressively and quickly to recruit a Superintendent whose values and vision are congruent with the vision of the current BoE. Their primary focus should be on improving education for all students, effective and efficient use of schools and resources, commitment to transparency and accountability and quality choice in education. He or she should have strong strategic planning skills and feel comfortable with the involvement of parents, teachers and community members in shaping a vision for the District’s future direction. Since it appears the vision and philosophies are so different between Dr. Burns and the new school board, everyone’s best interest is served by his resignation. The new Superintendent should be open to new ideas and encourage staff to take risks with research-based initiatives that engage students in learning and maintain high academic expectations for all students as they work together toward common goals.

The strong support for the WCPSS by Wake County citizens and the highly competent, dedicated, hard-working teachers and support staff committed to the success of all students are reflected in the satisfaction within the schools. The following is a list of on-going issues and concerns that are commonly expressed which have not been resolved by Dr. Burns and need to be considered and addressed by the Board of Education and the new Superintendent.

• Development of a community school model with reasonable calendar choice and effective utilization of facilities
• Renewed commitment to improve achievement and reduce the achievement gap between subgroups of students
• The declining test scores among all student groups
• SAS EVAAS Report
• Ongoing waste in land acquisition and development
• Provision of training to assist staff in meeting the special needs of a diverse student population
• Retention of small class sizes particularly in elementary schools
• Lack of rigorous curriculum and course offerings in many schools
• Development of teacher incentive programs to attract and retain high quality teachers
• Support of music programs, the arts and sports
• Special education program with the focus on the inclusion of students in regular classrooms
• Empowered Principals who are dedicated, accessible and innovative leaders in providing programs that reflect the needs of their individual school populations
• Partnership with local colleges and businesses as invaluable assets more widely developed and offered
• Concern over the future ability to maintain excellent academic programs and student performance, given the District’s strained financial resources, and  ever-growing low-income and ESL student populations
• The exodus of a record number of high-performing upper/middle class students to alternatives to the WCPSS
• Failure to cut the personnel costs of a “top heavy” central office
• Evaluation of funding and programs of the various schools
• The changing school culture in which gang activity, fights between students, a pervasive lack of respect by students toward authority are perceived as the norm
• The need to provide more relevant programs for the non-college bound students
• High dropout rate among minority and low income students
• Concern that students from minority group populations are disproportionately disciplined, suspended and/or expelled
• The need to gain the trust of parents and the community through communication and dialogue
• Lack of transparency in district decision-making
• Show of disrespect toward those who question administrative proposals
• The importance of technology in the classroom
• Ability of administration to deal collaboratively with the BoE
• Recruitment of minority staff
• Development of positive working relationships with state and local officials, business and community groups
• When confronted with controversial issues, the lack of willingness to respond to the views of those affected

Congratulations on your victory and thank you for your willingness to serve on the WCPSS Board of Education. We look to each of you to set policies that fulfill the promise of a high-quality education for ALL children, regardless of race or class or language ability. Educating all of our children to high standards is, however, a collective responsibility that requires support and engagement from parents, neighbors, business owners, community leaders, administrators, teachers and students. WakeCARES encourages all of these groups to partner to support and respect the ideas and decisions of the newly elected board members in their efforts to improve on those initiatives that are working within the WCPSS as well as their efforts to bring innovative solutions to those things which are not. We look forward to a culture that connects the community to the public school system and gives all families an opportunity to be a part of the decisions and the process, provides stability, increases expectations and opportunities for all students, and offers greater accountability and transparency.

Chris, Deborah, Debra and John, you have promised positive change and you have sparked the hope and enthusiasm of those who have supported you.

The following is taken from the summary of a SAS EVAAS report to WCPSS on June 29. This information was withheld until Friday, October 2. This validates our concern that while making the schools in the system look “Healthy”, current policies are failing many students.

Because the WCPSS E&R (Evaluation & Research) analyses include two adjustments for students’ socio-economic status, these key systematic differences are hidden in the results of the E&R analysis. The WCPSS E&R analyses ‘expects’ students who are poor to score lower at the end of the year than more affluent students, even when individual students from a lower ses(socio-economic status)group start the school year at the very same achievement as more advantaged students, it ‘forgives’ the school serving the poorer students because of the demographic makeup of the school, thereby removing any opportunity that the students results will signal educators that something is amiss. Thus, it is most difficult to identify ad correct the situations that contribute to the student inequity.

…Policy makers should be alerted to these important differences, not have them hidden.

To read the reports in their entirety visit http://blogs.newsobserver.com/wakeed/sas-and-wakes-achievement-gap

In a 4-3 split the NC Supreme Court ruled that school boards have the statutory authority to assign students to year round calendar schools without parental consent. Had the Wake County School Board been responsive to the concerns of the many citizens negatively impacted by their decisions and responded to those elected officials acting on behalf of taxpayers in Wake County in a meaningful way all of this would have been avoided. 

We are saddened by the impact this will have on the citizens of Wake County; not only those seeking traditional seats, but those seeking year round seats and those currently enrolled in the year round program as well. Parental input in student assignment has been further limited. 

While we were not successful in getting the “pot of gold” at the end of the rainbow, we were able to expose the true colors of the WCPSS and the administration.

As growth has slowed dramatically, it has become abundantly clear that the conversions were implemented largely to further the diversity policy at all costs without any studies to validate this program. 

As a result, the WCPSS school board has consistently shown a willingness to sacrifice families and compromise education despite the lack of evidence to support an academic benefit or to justify the fiscal expenditure.

The failure of the legislature to clearly define their intent at the time of the calendar law resulted in our loss at the NC Supreme Court. Please continue to contact your state legislators and other elected officials to make your voice heard.

The NC Board of Education clearly understood the intent of this calendar law when they wrote Policy EEO-V-000, requiring LEA’s to request waivers for all YR schools after the 2003-04 school year.

Wake Schools are NOT in compliance with this policy.

The massive implementation of the mandatory year round calendar to select parts of the county, the unsubstantiated scare tactics and threats, the lack of responsiveness with citizens and the many elected officials who have consistently expressed concern, the declining test scores, and the massive reassignments are just a few examples of the issues which indicate the need for major reform within the WCPSS.    

In October, there will be four open seats on the Wake County Board of Education. We must elect candidates who possess the strong leadership skills necessary to fulfill the promise of a quality public education for every student, show responsiveness to families, implement programs to increase academic achievement and measure the results. These candidates must also research and carefully consider the impact of their decisions on communities and property values.

Please keep informed and involved by checking the websites and signing up for email lists of WakeCARES, Save our Summers, WCSA.

WakeCARES would like to thank all of our supporters in our efforts to advocate for choice, a quality education, fiscal responsibility and accountability within Wake County Schools.