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.