Mar 11 2008
Letters
Time’s come to change our schools
CARY - As population growth in Wake County slows, it is more apparent than ever that the primary reasons why the Wake County Public School System routinely reassigns thousands of students throughout the county each year to different schools have much less to do with growth than with other interests.Most prominent is the Board of Education’s commitment to maintain diverse student populations throughout the county. Now that growth is a less prominent issue, school officials have been more open that this is a top priority.
By taking low-performing students from a lower-performing school and placing them in a higher-performing school, fewer schools appear to be failing the children.
Some in the business community believe that real estate interests are served if communities throughout the county have schools with similar test scores, as the quality of schools is a primary consideration for families moving into the area. The Wake Education Partnership,a liaison between the business community and the school system, has dedicated considerable resources to create the appearance of a great school system and promote the status quo. Recent comments by the president of the Raleigh Chamber validate that one of the reasons this organization has been so committed to the school board’s initiatives is because of economic policy and other financial benefits.
ONE NOTABLE CHARACTERISTIC OF SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS has been their unwillingness to work with families and average taxpaying citizens to markedly alter plans and make the school system more effective for more students. The Wake CARES lawsuit is a good example of families being stifled by the board’s myopic commitment to a plan that faced broad opposition. It will take the state Supreme Court to decide whether the Wake school system’s plan to force students into year-round schedules is even legal.
All parents, regardless of their socioeconomic status, should have the same right to a reasonable say in their children’s calendar and to have their children attend school in proximity to their homes.
With massive numbers of students being bused around the county in the name of diversity, there has been a call to measure the educational effect on the individual students who are being moved to distant schools. Most reasonable people would think this reasonable.
We force multiple calendars and/or schools on individual families, subject children to hourlong bus rides, reassign some children to as many as four schools in five years and see sick children in the school office who cannot go home because their parents cannot afford to pick them up.
We are spending tens of millions of dollars and disrupting thousands of children and families. The primary purpose for the schools should be to educate all of the students. Surprisingly to some, not surprisingly to others, the school board has refused to do this individual-student analysis, although declining test scores, lowered standards, poor graduation rates and the constant reassignments suggest anecdotally that this program is not working.
DIVERSITY IN ALL OF ITS FORMS SHOULD BE EMBRACED — however, dedicating tens of millions of dollars each year to bus children all over the county to different schools in the absence of studying its effects is a separate issue, one that everyone should question. We are failing many of the children of Wake County and placing the greatest burden on those least equipped to handle it.
Recently, at a Wake County Mayors Association meeting, all 11 mayors in attendance acknowledged that the school system is “broken.” We are fortunate to have some mayors who truly stand strong on behalf of the residents, while others who support the status quo at all costs for a variety of reasons are proposing that our representation on the school board be reduced and that elections for the Wake County commissioners be switched to “off” election years. We encourage the mayors to work together toward a better solution to the issues facing all of their citizens.
Improving our school system will take a lot of community involvement — which means that a lot of individuals will have to take some action. I believe that at some point there will be a critical mass of voters in Wake County who believe that the school system has lost focus on the priorities that will best serve all of our communities and individual students, and we will make those changes. I believe that time is coming soon. I urge readers to get informed and involved and make their voices heard.
Point of View:
Published: Mar 25, 2008 12:30 AM
Modified: Mar 25, 2008 06:32 AM
Voting rights, politics and the at-large debate
CARY - At-large elections for school board members are now a galvanizing issue in Wake County among citizens, and even more so among legislators. Every day, more citizens are recognizing that changing the school board’s electoral process is a necessary step in improving accountability and responsiveness. This movement is not about parents’ being “angry” over a particular school reassignment or conversion (although many are); it is about legions of parents who have been disenfranchised by an electoral process that denies them the voice they deserve in the educational fate of their children.
The groundswell of support for at-large school board elections will continue to grow as parents look beyond individual school issues and seek solutions to the systemic problems in our school system. This is about education without representation.
The education of our children is among the highest responsibilities granted to any government body in Wake County, yet residents are given less of a voice in school board elections than in those for county commissioners or in any other Wake County municipality. This makes no sense. Thousands of parents have their children assigned outside of their own school districts and thus effectively have no vote at all.
Disappointingly, critics of at-large elections have continued to cite nebulous, nonspecific “concerns” regarding the Voting Rights Act, but they have not bothered to direct the General Assembly legal staff to prepare a definitive report on the question. Perhaps the answer would show that at-large elections don’t infringe on the Voting Rights Act — after all, our county commissioners are elected at-large. Perhaps some people don’t want to hear that answer.
State Rep. Deborah Ross questioned why the status quo, which “complies with the law,” should be challenged. The fact is, Ross’ constituents elected her for that exact purpose — to challenge unfair laws and introduce new legislation based on citizen input, not on personal or party agendas.
Fortunately, we have other counties that we can look to for leadership and legislation. Out of 100 county school systems in North Carolina, 72 already have at-large school board elections that allow residents to vote for a majority of their board seats. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel, but we do need to grant the same sort of voting rights to Wake County residents that the majority of other voters in North Carolina already have.
Vague concerns have been raised about at-large elections allowing special-interest groups to exert greater control over the school board. Any existing board policy can be characterized as “special interest,” as can any opposing viewpoint. Although some people speculate that campaign donations could increase special-interest influence, the reality is that today’s diluted voting process allows special interests to flourish unchecked.
Nonpartisan support for at-large school board elections exists across Wake County. A majority of municipal governments are placing this issue on their 2008 legislative agendas, meaning that those municipalities are lobbying the legislature to change Wake County’s school board elections to at-large.
Sadly, this appears to be a totally partisan issue for Wake County state senators and representatives, and the Democratic members have buried Republican-sponsored bills in committee. The six Democratic members have succeeded in denying more than 900,000 Wake County residents the right to fair representation in school board elections. Party politics have gotten in the way of government of, for and by the people.
Why are residents not being heard? Why are Wake County residents being denied the same voting rights most North Carolinians already have?
The answer is that this is simply partisan politics at its ugliest, and our children are caught in the cross-fire.
(Joe Ciulla is an unaffiliated voter and founder of takeourschoolsback.org.)
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WAKE CARES THANKS YOU 2007
Thank you to everyone who has put so much of their time, energy and heart into trying to protect OUR SCHOOL SYSTEM which is one of our community’s most valuable assets! Very few things are as important to families as educating and raising our children and we only get one chance to do it right.No matter what happens in this hearing, we can all be proud that we are advocating for a ‘World Class’ school system for all students and accountability from our elected officials! It is never right for some to get singled out for the good of the rest (especially when it is children).This has never been about the school board converting these schools because it provides these students with a better education! Our current situation is a direct result of poor planning and poor decision making by some of our elected officials and paid professionals. True ‘World Class Education’ would be a system that offers unique opportunities and choices that meet the needs of a variety of students who have strengths or needs in different areas and it would be offered to all students, not just some.I am still ever hopeful that whatever happens, the WCPSS will follow the lead of the county commissioners, change their path, do what is right and work toward providing a plan which is in the best interest of all of the students and the community!We feel the attorneys have done an amazing job!Here’s to a great and fair outcome!No matter what happens, we have made some great gains throughout this process especially considering the power and voice held by the WCPSS.WakeCARES will continue working to preserve, improve and bring more accountability to this school system that is so important to our community and the future of all of the children of Wake County.I also am thankful to have the opportunity to get to know and work with so many great people!K. Brennan