{"id":5536,"date":"2011-03-02T11:45:15","date_gmt":"2011-03-02T16:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raleighpublicrecord.org\/?p=5536"},"modified":"2011-03-02T21:47:27","modified_gmt":"2011-03-03T02:47:27","slug":"public-shares-mixed-views-on-alves-plan-with-wake-school-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/news\/2011\/03\/02\/public-shares-mixed-views-on-alves-plan-with-wake-school-board\/","title":{"rendered":"Public shares mixed views on Alves Plan with Wake school board"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new proposal for school reassignment received the same public response as all the other plans \u2013 mixed.<\/p>\n

In a public comment session that stretched to double the allotted 30 minutes, Wake County School board members this week listened as more than a dozen speakers took the microphone. Many of their comments addressed the Wake School Choice Plan, or \u201cAlves Plan,\u201d commissioned by the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce and the Wake Education Partnership.<\/p>\n

The plan is a compromise of sorts between the current system of student reassignment based on socio-economic status and the neighborhood schools option favored by the board majority.<\/p>\n

The Wake School Choice Plan is founded on four pillars: stability, choice, proximity and student achievement. The last item came up in the comments of many of the meeting\u2019s speakers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I\u2019m definitely a fan of student achievement, diversity is part of a well-rounded student achievement plan,\u201d said Amelia Lumpkin, a 2009 graduate of the Wake County Public School System.<\/p>\n

Lumpkin referred to board member John Tedesco\u2019s past comment, quoted in The Washington Post<\/a>,\u00a0 “If we had a school that was, like, 80 percent high-poverty, the public would see the challenges, the need to make it successful,” Tedesco said. “Right now, we have diluted the problem, so we can ignore it.”<\/p>\n

Lumpkin called this a \u201cfalse choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWho says we can\u2019t provide services to [low-income] students in a diverse school?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

Walnut Creek<\/strong><\/p>\n

Several of the evening\u2019s speakers expressed disdain for the new Walnut Creek Elementary, which will open next year with 80 percent of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunches.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Walnut Creek Elementary, you have deliberately created a high-poverty school through student assignment,\u201d said Betsy Lovejoy. \u201cThey deserve a good education, but you give them a high-poverty school.\u201d<\/p>\n

William Roston, who moved to Cary in October, relayed the story of his search for a home.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was nerve-wracking,\u201d he said, referring to the uncertainty his family faced buying a house with school options so fluid. \u201cTo have [our school] change on us would have been a disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

A legislative agenda for the board<\/strong><\/p>\n

The board also voted 5-3 to adopt a legislative agenda, amended at the last minute to include a recommendation that the board chair be allowed to vote. Currently the chair only votes in case of a tie.

\"\"<\/a>

Ron Margiotta<\/p><\/div> Breaking from the usual vote along party lines, the board split the vote on the amendment, forcing Chair Ron Margiotta to break the tie in favor of this new power for his position.<\/p>\n

In a work session before the regular meeting, Margiotta defended the amendment, observing that he is elected by district like the other board members.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a responsibility to the people I represent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Board member Kevin Hill countered, \u201cIt is incumbent upon all of us to represent all of Wake County.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have a concern with my district not being represented,\u201d replied Margiotta. \u201cIt\u2019s just being able to send a message.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other items on the 2011 legislative agenda include funding and policy proposals that would maintain the state\u2019s ban on collective bargaining, change teacher employment law to a system of four-year renewable contracts instead of career status, and provide schools the flexibility to lengthen the school year.<\/p>\n

The board must now draw up a draft of one or more bills enacting items on its legislative agenda and find a sponsor in the General Assembly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new proposal for school reassignment received the same public response as all the other plans \u2013 mixed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24030,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,55],"tags":[62,61,60],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5536"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24030"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5536\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}