![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.raleighpublicrecord.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/supt-tata-official-portrait-240x300.jpg\" "\\"supt-tata-official-portrait\\"")
<\/left><\/p>\nTata emphasized that when considering the budget he will continue to seek to \u201cmitigate the impact on the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n
His proposal cuts 276 months of employment for assistant principals. Rather than eliminate positions, all assistant principals will move to 10-month contracts. Principals will then have the discretion to add non-contract \u201cmonths of employment\u201d to specific positions.<\/p>\n
David Neter, the school\u2019s chief financial officer, called it a “demotion.”<\/p>\n
The board has until May 15 to approve the budget and send it the Wake County Board of Commissioners, but the timing of assistant principal contracts required the board to take action on this item now.<\/p>\n
The board approved the reduction.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel that this is not a good thing to do,\u201d board member Kevin Hills. \u201cBut I also recognize how dire [the financial situation] is now. While opposed, I can support the superintendent\u2019s recommendation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I can speak for all board members when I say that it\u2019s an unpleasant action that we\u2019re taking but necessary,\u201d said Board Chair Ron Margiotta.<\/p>\n
Tata\u2019s budget also provides for an additional 190 \u201cmonths of employment\u201d to five elementary schools that have experienced under-enrollment and are projected to shed even more students next school year. These schools are Aversboro, Baileywick, Hilburn Drive, Jeffreys Grove, and Root.<\/p>\n
Principals can spend the \u201cmonths of employment\u201d as they see fit to staff the school with teachers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat has happened is a significant move away from these schools \u2026 has put some in this position through no fault of their own,\u201d said Tata. \u201cQuite frankly there are a lot of families that want to be at these schools, but they have not been attractive options.\u201d
\n[pullquote]I think I can speak for all board members when I say that it\u2019s an unpleasant action that we\u2019re taking but necessary. ~Board Chair Ron Margiotta.[\/pullquote]<\/p>\n
Tata and some board members cited competition from charter and year-round schools as a major factor in parents bypassing these traditional schools.<\/p>\n
Board member Anne McLaurin disagreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a mass exodus by choice, not because people in the neighborhood are leaving, but because we are moving them,\u201d she said, referring to student reassignment.<\/p>\n
These five schools, along with all of the district\u2019s schools, can apply for state funds from the Global Schools Network<\/a> and the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM)<\/a> program.<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Civil Rights Investigation<\/strong><\/p>\n Many speakers during the non-budget-related comment period criticized the board\u2019s recent response to the Department of Education\u2019s Office of Civil Rights<\/a> investigation, called for by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People<\/a>.<\/p>\n A common theme during the hearing was the document\u2019s misuse of data, especially its conclusion that long bus rides hamper student achievement.<\/p>\n Speaker Matthew Brown was one of several who accused the board of flipping the cause and effect in their data. Because students of lower socioeconomic status are more likely to be underachievers, said Brown, they are also more likely to be assigned to more affluent schools far from their neighborhoods. Busing, then, is part of the solution, not the problem.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like saying \u2018We have found that the data shows that people in the hospital are sicker than those outside; therefore, let\u2019s stop sending them to the hospital. It\u2019s making them sick,\u2019\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n