Voice for Equity in Wake Education

Magnet Winners

2011-12-20T16:23:00.000-05:00

Once again we are in magnet selection season. The new selection criteria are not well publicized, but it still isn't a true lottery. After siblings and feeder pattern magnet students are placed, priority goes to applicants who live in 'high performing nodes'. You can look up your node's performance rating here.

What exactly does this mean? I decided to map the high performing nodes to see who gets first choice of magnet seats. It confirmed what I'd suspected--that large swaths of the county will be virtually shut out of the magnet 'lottery'.

Am I the only one who finds this disturbing? Disgusting, even? Superintendent Tata recently explained this priority, as reported by Keung Hui on the Wake Ed blog:

"The magnet program is designed to prevent the creation of high-poverty schools, at least for the Group 1 magnets," Tata said. "If you connect economic disadvantage or economic advantage with achievement and performance as the research shows, what you want to do is get higher-achieving students into the magnets schools and then as you displace students that have traditionally lower performance, you want to give them priority as I just talked about in some of the higher-performing schools. What we don't want to find ourselves in is a situation where we have the magnet program yet what we do is we invite more poverty into the magnet schools. That would seem to be a little bit counterproductive."

Does anybody really think that WCPSS staff is worried about a sudden rush of low performing or low income kids applying for magnets? Or is the fear the same as it has always been: that high performers/middle to upper income kids from low performing/high poverty schools will leave for magnets? Looks like if you live in Eastern Wake or Garner and have your sights set on a magnet, you'd better move.

“The magnet program is designed to prevent the creation of high-poverty schools, at least for the Group 1 magnets," Tata said. "If you connect economic disadvantage or economic advantage with achievement and performance as the research shows, what you want to do is get higher-achieving students into the magnet schools and then as you displace students that have traditionally lower performance, you want to give them priority as I just talked about in some of the higher-performing schools. What we don’t want to find ourselves in is a situation where we have the magnet program yet what we do is we invite more poverty into the magnet schools. That would seem to be a little bit counterproductive.” 1323026393 Magnet application period opening amid changes and questions The News and Observer Copyright 2011 The News and Observer . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Read more here: http://blogs.newsobserver.com/wakeed/magnet-application-period-opening-amid-changes-and-questions#storylink=cpy

“The magnet program is designed to prevent the creation of high-poverty schools, at least for the Group 1 magnets," Tata said. "If you connect economic disadvantage or economic advantage with achievement and performance as the research shows, what you want to do is get higher-achieving students into the magnet schools and then as you displace students that have traditionally lower performance, you want to give them priority as I just talked about in some of the higher-performing schools. What we don’t want to find ourselves in is a situation where we have the magnet program yet what we do is we invite more poverty into the magnet schools. That would seem to be a little bit counterproductive.”

Read more here: http://blogs.newsobserver.com/wakeed/magnet-application-period-opening-amid-changes-and-questions#storylink=cpy

“The magnet program is designed to prevent the creation of high-poverty schools, at least for the Group 1 magnets," Tata said. "If you connect economic disadvantage or economic advantage with achievement and performance as the research shows, what you want to do is get higher-achieving students into the magnet schools and then as you displace students that have traditionally lower performance, you want to give them priority as I just talked about in some of the higher-performing schools. What we don’t want to find ourselves in is a situation where we have the magnet program yet what we do is we invite more poverty into the magnet schools. That would seem to be a little bit counterproductive.”

Read more here: http://blogs.newsobserver.com/wakeed/magnet-application-period-opening-amid-changes-and-questions#storylink=cpy

Manipulating Capacity to Fill Unpopular Schools

2011-10-19T18:07:00.000-04:00

Why would the Long Range capacity at Durant Road Elementary be changed from 935 to 772? Maybe because a brand new school is opening across the street from DRES next year. Actually the school (E-20) is opening in the modular campus next year, which is located on Spring Forest Road about a block east of East Millbrook Middle School. Its permanent location across the street from Durant Road Elementary won't be open for a few years. Somebody has to fill that school and what better way than to have less capacity at Durant Road Elementary?

I am having an a-ha moment as I type this. Another nearby elementary school also had some strange things happening with its capacity. Wildwood Forest's capacity is 793 in the 2010-11 Facility Utilization Report, 644 in the assignment plan and has a current student population of 863. Interesting.

In the new controlled choice plan, filling new schools is all done by 'choice'. Nobody is reassigned to that new school and the new schools will open with only grades K-3. They keep emphasizing that nobody is assigned to a school--that we all choose the school we want our kids to go to. But if there isn't any capacity or there is reduced capacity, how much of a choice is there?

In the Student Assignment document document, they list the capacity for each grade at each school. You can find the 2011-12 student membership numbers for each school broken down by grade here.

Referring to those documents, you can see that for both Wildwood Forest and Durant Road Elementary schools, there are more students per grade than will be allowed under the new capacity figures in the assignment plan. They aren't going to kick any students out of those schools, but when newcomers enter the system, there won't be any seats for them at those schools and they will be sent somewhere else. Somewhere like E-20 or perhaps an under enrolled school that nobody wants to go to.

It will be very easy for WCPSS to manipulate the capacity numbers at schools in order to funnel kids where they ultimately want them to go. One of the selling points of this plan is supposed to be that staff will be able to tell very early on which schools are "under chosen" and then do something to help those schools attract families. First, we don't need a choice plan to tell us which schools are unpopular and will be under chosen. We've known for years and we've done nothing about them before. Second, it won't matter if a school is "under chosen"--if it's on your list you could end up there. Somebody has to go there and with the ability to manipulate capacity numbers at surrounding schools it will be easy to fill all of the schools.

I know that I am being very skeptical here, maybe even a bit paranoid, but after spending more than 6 years following WCPSS issues, I've earned my skepticism.

Capacity in the Controlled Choice Plan

2011-10-19T16:22:00.000-04:00

Looking over the capacity figures that were part of the Student Assignment Plan document presented to the board 2 weeks ago, I noticed some inconsistencies. Last year, WCPSS came out with the 2010-11 Facility Utilization Report that listed the capacity for each school.

Capacity is looked at in two ways: Long Range School Campus Capacity (LRSCC) and Annual School Campus Capacity (ASCC). LRSCC is the School Building Capacity plus the optimum number of temporary classrooms. In other words, the capacity of the brick and mortar building plus the optimum number of trailers for that campus. Now it could be argued that trailers are not ideal at all, but WCPSS has come up with a way to determine the optimum number for each campus. You can find this info on page 6 of the Facility Utilization Report that I referenced above.

ASCC is the actual capacity of the school as we are using it today, which can include more than the optimum number of trailers. In fact, most of our schools have more than the optimum number of trailers and some have less. ASCC also includes adjustments for programs such as Pre-K and self-contained classrooms. That part gets a little confusing and is really fairly minor in the grand scheme of things.

So what does this all mean in the Controlled Choice Plan? The plan says that it uses LRSCC for the capacity numbers but the numbers they are using in the plan don't always match up to the 2010-11 Report. I've asked WCPSS why this is but I haven't heard back from them yet. Many of the school capacities only differ by less than 50 students but some differences are perplexing. What is really concerning, however, is that many of our schools are well over the LRSCC yet we are now going to fill schools according to that lower number.

An extreme example is Durant Road Elementary. The LRSCC in the 2010-11 Report is 935, in the Assignment Plan it is listed as 772, and the actual student population this year is 1030. Those are some huge differences. The Kindergarten capacity in the assignment plan is listed as 126 but there are 202 Kindergarteners at Durant Road this year. That's 76 students who would have to go somewhere else in the new plan. Where would they go?

This leads me to my first of two big questions regarding capacity in this assignment plan. Will staff manipulate capacity numbers at certain schools in order to steer students where they want them to go? Since this is getting a bit long, I'll answer this question in the next post.

Little Known Details of the Controlled Choice Plan

2011-10-18T10:52:00.000-04:00

Going through the Controlled Choice plan, I found some interesting details that aren't widely known.

Your choices are determined by your node. The choices themselves are determined by the distance from the center of your node. But the proximity of your choices is determined by your specific address. People within a node can have proximity priority for different schools.
Transfer requests can still be made, but only to a school not on your magnet or base school choice lists. So if all of your neighbors got into School A and your child is the only one going to School B, you cannot apply for a transfer to School A. If School A was your first choice, you will be placed on the waiting list but you cannot apply for a transfer.
You can no longer turn down a year round school because of the track. Track allocations are made after school assignments are given. If you don't like your track and the school is unable to change it, the only recourse you have is to apply for a transfer. But remember--you can't apply for a transfer to a school on your original choice list and you won't have transportation if you get a transfer.

Blue or Green: False Choice

2011-10-15T20:29:00.000-04:00

How many people actually looked at the other 7 plans that the Student Assignment Task Force came up with? I'm guessing not very many. The task force 'developed' 9 plans and then presented the two front runners to the public for comment. I found it very convenient that the two plans were: 1) pretty much the same thing we have now and 2) a slightly modified version of the Alves plan. What were the other ideas and could they really find nothing better than these 2?

I looked at the other seven proposals and all I could do was shake my head. My favorite was the Teal Plan, which was basically a big flip of the bird to neighborhood school supporters. The Teal Plan called for every student to attend the absolute closest school, no matter how overcrowded or under enrolled some schools ended up. The most asinine part of this plan was that magnets and year round schools were filled only with proximate students. Nobody could apply to these schools. We would still fund magnet programs but nobody would be able to apply to them. We would still have year round schools, but nobody could apply. Nor could the students assigned to the year round schools apply to a traditional option.

I still shake my head when I think about this 'plan'. The recurring question in my mind is "We paid for the task force to come up with THIS?!?" Truly, this is the best that this task force could come up with? And then they presented the blue and green plans to us as the two most feasible options? It sure seems to me that they had the Alves plan in mind all along and needed a way to shove it down our throats under the guise of having done due diligence.

Priority Round Manipulations in the Choice Plan

2011-09-30T12:18:00.001-04:00

We jumped a huge hurdle last year when the board eliminated socio-economic discrimination from the magnet selection process. Now it appears that it is creeping back in, albeit in a different form.

WCPSS has posted the latest assignment plan presentation on their assignment website: "http://assignment.wcpss.net/next/board-work-session-presentation--09-20-2011.pdf" It includes the following priority rounds:

Priority 1: Incoming siblings of current WCPSS students

Priority 2: Students who live within 1.5 miles of their first-choice school

Priority 3: Students whose nearest school is more than 1.5 miles from their home and who select that school as their first-choice school

The first 3 priorities are the same as they've always been and besides the fact that you're still not guaranteed a spot in rounds 2 and 3, there's really nothing to complain about here. Well, I take that back. One factor not addressed here is feeder patterns for middle and high school selection. This question was asked at the Millbrook High info meeting and they said that feeder pattern comes before siblings. So for middle and high schools, the first priority goes to students following the feeder pattern, then they move on to siblings. Since the feeder patterns are designed to fill the middle and high schools naturally, how many seats will actually be available for those who want to leave their feeder pattern or for newcomers to the system?

Priority 4: Group 2 Proximity and Group 3 magnet students rising into 6th or 9th grade that have attended a Group 2 or Group 3 magnet elementary school whose first choice is the magnet middle or high school for their magnet program pathway

First, a reminder of what Group 2 and Group 3 elementary magnets are. Group 2 are: Brooks, Combs, Conn, Douglas, Joyner, Underwood, & Wiley. Group 3 magnets are: Farmington Woods, Smith, Wendell & Zebulon. Group 2 magnets are located in middle to upper income areas and are to be filled with 40-45% Magnet students/55-60% Proximity. They say that Group 3 magnets are located in the further reaches of the county and are there as 'equity magnets'. Wendell and Zebulon were indeed opened as equity magnets, but I don't think Farmington Woods was and Smith definitely wasn't. Group 3 magnets are to be filled with 10-20% magnet/80-90% proximity students.

Second, the magnet lottery is separate from the 'regular' lottery so I wouldn't think that too many of the Group 3 elementary magnet students would have the magnet middle and high schools on their 'choice lists'.

Third, I find it interesting that Group 2 Proximity students get priority for the middle and high magnets but the Group 3 Proximity students don't. Why is that? Will there be an explanation? Is there a way for Group 3 Proximity students to get a 'magnet' seat so they can automatically follow the feeder pattern?

Priority 5: Students residing in a node designated as “low-performing” whose first-choice school is a regional school choice (R1 or R2)

It appears that instead of calling them 'achievement' or 'high performing' schools, WCPSS is now calling them 'regional school choices'. They have divided the county into 4 regions, starting from central Raleigh/Inside the Beltline. The 'achievement' school choices are within your region.

They are obviously trying to balance for achievement, but I wonder if this will backfire on them. A few years ago, Chuck Dulaney and the previous board came up with an idea for attracting more low income families to Year Round schools. They changed the selection criteria for year round so that if you lived in a high poverty node and were assigned to a high poverty school, you had priority for a year round school. It backfired and middle class families in those nodes who had previously been denied YR were finally accepted.

I am not against giving families an 'achievement' choice, just pointing out that WCPSS may not have thought this through very well if their goal is balancing the schools by 'achievement'.

Priority 6: Students residing in a node designated as “high-performing” whose first-choice school is a magnet school and/or is located in a low-performing area

This is where the sneaky manipulation really comes in. First, since the magnet lottery is separate, are we talking about nodes having magnet schools on their 'choice lists'? Which nodes have which magnets on their lists? Are these all proximate nodes or are they farther away? I ask because as I've illustrated in a previous post, there are nodes north of I-540 that had Brentwood and Millbrook magnet elementaries on their choice lists when there were more proximate schools not on their lists.

Second, this could play a part in filling the Group 2 magnet proximity seats. If there aren't enough students in the middle to upper income areas surrounding those magnet schools to fill the 55-60% proximity seats, then they have to start drawing from students who have those schools on their 'choice list'. Each student whose closest school is a Group 1 magnet (those located in low income areas) has the following choice list: closest Group 1 magnet, next closest Group 1 magnet, proximate Group 2 magnet, 3 Regional Choices, proximate traditional non-magnet and proximate year round non-magnet.

I think that most of those families will pick their closest and second closest Group 1 magnet as their first 2 choices. There are not enough proximity seats at those magnets to fit all of the students who will choose them, so they will be moved on down to their 3rd choice. My guess is that the 3rd choice will be the proximate Group 2 magnet or the proximate tradtional non-magnet, whichever is closer. Since there aren't many proximate non-magnets in those areas, I would think the proximate Group 2 would be chosen as 3rd. This might create a problem if 'too many' of the kids from the low achieving areas were given seats at those schools. By placing a priority on students applying from high achieving nodes, they ensure that won't be a problem. It would be interesting to see who has each magnet on their regular choice list. I've requested maps showing this for each school, but was told they don't exist.

Third, and most important, we are introducing a new form of discrimination into the selection process. They finally got rid of SES as a factor but they are now substituting 'academic performance'. So if you are in a "high performing" node you deserve the magnet extras but if you're unfortunate enough to live in a "low performing" node you don't.

Priority 7: Students whose nearest school is severely overcrowded and select a school that is not overcrowded as their first choice

How does a school get severely overcrowded in a controlled choice plan? One of the main selling points of this plan is that they set the capacity of the school and fill the school to that capacity level through the lottery. Once that school is at capacity, students are sent to one of their other choices. The only way I can really see this coming into play is in the first couple of years if a student who is currently at an overcrowded school applies for a less crowded school on the choice list. We all supposedly get to stay at our current schools if we want to so some schools will remain overcrowded. But for any newcomers to the system it shouldn't be a factor at all.

Who Likes the Choice Plan?

2011-09-22T13:41:00.000-04:00

I attended a candidate question and answer session at Baileywick Park last night, which was truly wonderful. My favorite part of campaigning is talking with people about the issues. Not just telling them my viewpoints, but hearing theirs and having conversations. This has been true for me during all my years of advocacy on various school issues. I always come away with something positive from these conversations: an argument I had never thought of, a different interpretation of an argument, and always something to think about. So last night was wonderful because we had conversations. It got a little heated at times, but it was respectful and productive and I walked away with all kinds of thoughts spinning in my head.

The greatest conversations for me were about the Choice Plan. I rarely meet anybody who likes the choice plan and the ones who do say it's because "I get to pick which school I want". When we start talking about the lack of guarantees, however, they aren't so enthusiastic. But last night I heard from some parents who really like the choice model and for a good reason: nobody gets kicked out of their current school.

The parents I met have high schoolers and older children who went through the system. They've lived in Raleigh for many years--before developments like Falls River, Riverside, Bedford and Wakefield existed. As additional schools were built to handle the new growth, these families got reassigned from their 'neighborhood schools' to make room for newcomers. Not fair, in their eyes, and I completely understand their point of view. They want to stay in the school community they've been a part of for years.

I keep thinking about communities moving forward under this plan. I worry about the new family who moves into a neighborhood where most of the kids go to a school that isn't even on the new 'choice list' (this is the case for my node) or is so full that rising kindergarteners and other new students get bumped to a farther away school. What happens to our sense of community then? Or to the support that our communities at large give to our schools?

Complicating the situation is the fact that we've never had 'normal' reassignments. When a new school opened up it wasn't just the logical neighborhoods that were moved to fill the school--'diversity' was always taken into account, which often ended up creating a domino effect moving more students than truly necessary. Would parents have been as upset if the moves were logical? Would a family-friendly grandfathering policy have made a difference?

Whatever the new plan ends up looking like, we need to make sure our decisions are based on how things should be and not based on a reaction to the nonsensical moves of the past. There are still a lot of questions to be answered and many that haven't been asked yet. We all need to continue to talk about the assignment plan and ask questions. I was encouraged last night at Baileywick Park and I hope people continue to engage each other in conversation. It's the only way we'll ever get where we need to be.

A Few More Maps

2011-09-20T21:54:00.000-04:00

I've decided to go ahead and post some of the other maps I did for addresses in District 3.

View 2308 Lemuel Dr in a larger map

View 7409 Bolero Way in a larger map

This last map is a little different. The green schools are elementary, blue are middle and red are high schools.

View 4600 Pooh Corner Dr in a larger map

Why Transparency is Key

2011-09-19T14:15:00.006-04:00

In my letter asking the board to stop work on the blue plan, I stressed that transparency was essential for any assignment plan to be successful. After the turmoil of the past decade(s) not knowing when and why our neighborhood might be targeted for reassignment, we need an assignment policy that makes sense and is open to scrutiny. When Wake Education Partnership first unveiled their "Alves Plan", upon which our new assignment model is based, one of my first thoughts was that it was too easy to manipulate. Without maps to see who has which schools to choose from, it's impossible to know what is happening.

The elementary choices that my node has are the 5 closest schools. That's what we've been told--that our choices will pretty much be those in closest proximity to us with the addition of an achievement school that might be further away. I decided to look up some other nodes in District 3 to see if that was the case and unfortunately it isn't. I found nodes in North Raleigh that have Reedy Creek, Dillard Drive and Weatherstone as some of their choices. How does that make any sense?

The choices often varied a lot for people who lived fairly close to each other. I found 2 nodes that were a perfect example of this and mapped them in google. The green and blue push pins represent an address and the matching colored teardrops represent the elementary schools those addresses each have to pick from. The two red teardrops are schools that each address has in common: Wildwood Forest and Durant Elementary.

View Farmlea Cir & Riverside in a larger map

Why are the options so different for these two nodes that are directly across the road from each other? This illustrates to me that it will be so easy for WCPSS to manipulate your choices in this plan to steer you where they want you to go. No longer will we be able to see entire nodes getting moved and question it--it will all be done under cover and we will never know about it.

** Edited to add: These school choices are so ridiculous that Wake Forest Elementary barely even shows up on the map. It's green and is way up at the top.

The Blue Plan Debacle

2011-09-17T18:54:00.003-04:00

Following is the letter I sent the Wake County School Board asking them to stop working on the blue plan and get more feedback from parents:

To the Members of the Wake County Board of Education:

On behalf of the parents and taxpayers of Wake County, I request that you immediately stop pursuing the “Choice-Based Plan” (formerly known as the Blue Plan) and begin looking for an alternative model that meets the true needs and desires of Wake Schools families. From the beginning, you’ve forced the public into a false choice between the "Blue Plan" and “Green Plan”, ignoring common sense approaches. Thursday night’s information session made it clear to me that this plan will not be ready for implementation in a few months as planned. After the never ending controversy and upheaval we experienced with previous assignment policy, it should be clear to you that any new assignment plan must have transparency to be successful. Under this controlled choice model, parents may not get their first, second or even third choice in this plan and they will never know why. We need an assignment plan that addresses the core principles that voters have asked for, including base assignments to schools which are reasonably close to home, magnet and calendar choice options for those that seek alternatives to their base school, diversion of transportation spending back into the classroom, and simplicity in how the plan is administered.

Consider the following:

The public has insufficient information to evaluate these options. How many students live within 1.5 miles of each school? How many have each school as their closest school? Where are the maps illustrating these numbers?

The Blue Plan is overly complex and is lacking in the transparency in assignment decisions that voters demanded in the 2009 elections.

You asked parents if choice was important and they responded with a resounding ‘yes’, but you failed to ask the critical questions: Do parents really want to choose from 5 base schools? Or do they want a choice of calendar and magnet programs? You must answer these crucial questions before proceeding any further. Rather than asking parents what they want, it seems the question was designed to fit the plan that staff already had in mind.

Feeder patterns are disruptive in many areas.

The proposed assignment model may result in bus transportation to numerous non-magnet ‘base’ schools being provided to students living on the same street. We simply cannot afford to spend money on school buses instead of teachers in this challenging economic environment.

The model’s use of “achievement schools” is perilously close to repeating the mistakes made by previous school boards: attempting to use an assignment plan to address an educational issue – something Wake County voters resoundingly rejected in 2009.

In Cambridge, MA, which uses a similar controlled choice model, only 83% of families received their 1st, 2nd, or 3rd choice for the school year 2009-10. What factors contributed to this and could that be repeated here in Wake County?

Transportation costs have still not been calculated for the plan and one Student Assignment Task Force member expressed concern that those costs will ‘blow up the plan’.

Magnet programs and how they fit in the assignment model have not been adequately discussed and neither have our new ‘themed’ schools. We cannot develop a lasting student assignment plan without an objective review of those schools and their roles in the system.

Once again, the needs of parents and students have been forgotten, and your “Blue Plan” only takes us further from a path to a sensible assignment model. Please don’t waste any more time and resources toward developing this flawed model. The results of the Blue Plan "test drive" made it clear that the factors most valued by parents were proximity and calendar choice. We only have one chance to get this right. For the time being, let’s focus on fixing any onerous school assignments remaining from the previous assignment policy and let’s have a discussion about magnet programs and themed schools. Staff should be able to quickly develop a sensible assignment model which reflects the desires of Wake County parents and taxpayers in a transparent and user-friendly manner.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Mansfield
Wake County taxpayer, parent of 2 WCPSS students, and long time advocate for equity in Wake Schools

Speaking Out About the Blue Plan

2011-07-31T18:13:00.003-04:00

I spoke at the July 12 BOE meeting to share some thoughts about the Blue Plan. You can hear my comments here at the 29:30 mark.

What are your thoughts? Are there too many choices? Are your choices different enough to matter? Do you just want to go to closest school or do you have a reason for wanting a different school? I'd love to hear your thoughts. You can comment here on the blog or email me privately at voiceforequity@gmail.com.

Rick & Donna Martinez: Rick & Donna 07/28/11

2011-07-28T14:33:00.000-04:00

Rick & Donna Martinez: Rick & Donna 07/28/11: "School Board candidate Jennifer Mansfield comes in-studio to tell her plans for Wake Co. Schools. MP3 File"

Blue Plan--What's Missing?

2011-06-20T14:16:00.005-04:00

Before the BOE votes on which of the two plans to pursue, they really need to take some time to think about what information is missing from these plans. There are several pieces of information that I would like to see released and questions answered so we can better understand how the plan will affect each of us.

Proximity & Capacity

How many students live within 1.5 miles of each school?
Maps showing each school's 1.5 mile assignment area.
How many students have each school as their 'closest' school?
Maps showing each school's 'closest school' assignment area.
How many seats are available in each school? How is that capacity determined? Will capacity be manipulated to ensure achievement balance?
How many 'achievement choice' seats are being set aside in each school?
Maps for each achievement school showing which low performing nodes have that school as an achievement option.
Maps for each school showing which nodes have that school as one of their base options.
Which schools have enough capacity (after the achievement seats are set aside) to accommodate all the children living within 1.5 miles? Which can accommodate all children who have each school as their closest? How many seats are left over at each school after accommodating all 'closest' and 'achievement' students?

Magnets

What is the percentage of magnets seats set aside for magnet application students? Will it be the same percentage for each magnet school? If not, how will the percentage be determined for each magnet? Currently, magnets range from about 7% to 73% magnet application students.
How will the magnets located in higher wealth areas be handled? We currently have several magnets that have their low income students bused in from outside the surrounding base nodes. Those are also the magnets that have experienced overcrowding and lowered the number of magnet acceptances to deal with that crowding.
How will magnet seats be doled out? Will it be a true lottery? The green plan mentions using achievement as the criteria but there is no mention of any criteria at all in the blue plan. (Unless I am missing something--I looked and looked. If I'm wrong, somebody please point it out to me!)
"In addition, a set percentage of non-magnet school seats will be reserved to accommodate calendar and achievement choices for students living in close proximity to magnet schools". What exactly does this mean? Are there seats set aside in each of the non-magnet choices on their list? What percentage?
Is there enough room for all students who live near magnet schools to get a traditional calendar? Is there enough room in their proximate school options for all who want to stay close to home? Washington Terrace students (node 76), for example, are given the following elementary school choices (in proximity order): Hunter, Powell, Olds, Green, Dillard & Weatherstone. Hunter and Powell are both magnets with a limited amount of seats available to area students and Olds is one of our smallest elementary schools. How many students living in node 76 can be placed in those 3 schools? Green is Year Round, which has proven to be unpopular with lower income families. That leaves Dillard and Weatherstone as their remaining 2 traditional options; Dillard is about 6 miles away and Weatherstone is 16 miles away. I fear that low income children will still be bused far away for 'balance' whether they want to be or not.

Calendar

What will be done to ensure calendar choice for people who only have one traditional or year round choice in their list of schools? If the only school with the calendar you desire is not your closest school, what are the chances you will get in?
Will track continuity be guaranteed for elementary and middle school? The plan states ". . . track preferences will not be guaranteed other than the assurance that families with more than one student in a year-round school will be guaranteed track continuity within the family." Does that mean more than one student in a particular year round school or more than one student on the year round calendar? I would assume that it would be the latter but I have learned over the years that you can't assume anything.

Achievement

Will we have access to achievement scores for all schools, with the data for each component of the calculation? Is it possible that an achievement school can be failing its low achieving students?
Will feeder patterns be logical or will they be developed with achievement balance in mind? For instance, will a high performing, sought after elementary feed into a lower performing under enrolled middle school to increase achievement? Will a low performing elementary school feed into a high achieving middle school for balance?
If parents do not participate in the choice process, where will they be sent? The plan states "Families who decline to make selections will be assigned to a school by the school system based on available seats consistent with the overall intentions of the plan". Will they be assigned to one of the base schools on their list or could they be placed anywhere the system wants to send them for achievement balance? If the latter is the case, then there isn't much incentive for WCPSS to promote parent participation.

It's Official!

2011-05-21T12:53:00.003-04:00

I am very excited to announce that I have decided to run for School Board in District 3! If you are interested in helping me in my campaign, please contact me at: jennifer@mansfieldforwakeschools.com or 696.7247. As many of you know, monetary donations are important, but volunteers have just as much, if not more, impact in an election. Any level of support is greatly appreciated. I'd also love to hear your input on the issues that face District 3 and WCPSS as a whole.

Jennifer Mansfield Will Run For Wake
County School Board District 3

Jennifer Mansfield will file with the Wake County Board of Elections to run for the District 3 Wake County School Board seat in the October 11th, 2011 election.

A founding member of the Wake Schools Community Alliance, Mansfield began her involvement in Wake County educational issues by exposing the shortcomings and limitations of previous board assignment policies, leading to the launch of her blog, www.voiceforequity.com. She is known across Wake County for her willingness to help parents understand and navigate the magnet application process, and for her depth of knowledge in matters of assignment and academic achievement. A regular contributor at school board meetings and community forums, Jennifer has earned a reputation as a pragmatic bridge-builder, willing to consider facts and opinions from all sides of an issue.

Families and schools in District 3 are each faced with unique challenges:

The pains families feel in calendar continuity and stability of assignments
The pressures associated with high population growth
The frustrations and negative impacts of schools enrolled both under and over capacity

“Every day, I hear from my neighbors and fellow residents of District 3 that our voices are unheard and our concerns are not represented. I intend to change that and bring a passionate advocacy to the school board on behalf of our students, their families, and taxpayers across District 3 and the wider county”, states Mansfield.

While Wake County has made some good progress toward community schools and calendar choice over the past two years, too often our school board has let partisan politics get in the way of doing what’s best for our children. This year’s election gives the voters of District 3 a chance to tell the school board that we are tired of the politics and political maneuvering, and that we want leaders who are beholden to the students and to the voters, not to party politics. Jennifer is an Independent voter and a dedicated supporter of community-based schools and academic excellence. Mansfield notes, “Wake County voters have grown tired of school board members bickering, of issues with high school accreditation, and of the politicization of our school system. For me, politics are--and should forever be--irrelevant in school board proceedings. We need to focus on our core mission: providing excellent educational opportunities and building a track-record of increased student achievement. I’ll bring a students-first approach to the school board, and become the voice of the many Wake County parents who want education, not politics in our schools.”

Jennifer Mansfield’s priorities for Wake County schools include:

Improving calendar choice and calendar continuity
Establishing a strong baseline of academic opportunity and rigor in each and every school.
Responsible stewardship of school funding, with the willingness to ask for what’s needed to fund a world-class school system.
Finding and implementing programs that improve academic performance for our struggling students.
Maintaining strong magnet schools with a renewed focus on ensuring all students an equal opportunity to benefit from the programs
Ensuring that each school is led by an effective Principal.

A parent of two students in Wake County Public Schools, Jennifer has volunteered at her children’s schools in many different capacities. She considers her involvement as a coach and coordinator with the “Odyssey of the Mind” programs at Joyner and Wildwood Forest Elementary Schools as her most rewarding contributions to date. In addition, Jennifer continues to be active in Wake Schools Community Alliance, which is a grass roots, non-partisan organization of parents and stakeholders across Wake County committed to community-based schools that make academics a top priority.

Jennifer Mansfield will be reaching out to Democrats, Republicans and Independents across District 3 and the rest of Wake County, to ask for their support in the October 11th School Board election. If you have any questions or would like to get on board with Mansfield’s campaign, please contact her directly using the above email address or telephone number.

Magnet Lottery 2011

2011-02-08T23:09:00.004-05:00

So what are your chances for getting into a magnet school next year? If WCPSS uses the same criteria as last year, they will be as follows:

Rounds 1 and 2: Your base school must have a current crowding factor at least 95% of the adjusted building capacity. Round 1 is for applicants who submitted an application for the same program last year.

Adams YR
Apex
Aversboro
Baileywick
Baucom
Brassfield YR
Brentwood magnet
Briarcliff
Brooks magnet
Cary
Cedar Fork
Combs magnet
Davis Drive
Dillard Drive
Douglas magnet
Durant Road YR
Farmington Woods magnet
Forest Pines
Forestville Road
Fuller magnet
Green Hope
Heritage YR
Hodge Road YR
Holly Springs YR
Hunter magnet
Jeffreys Grove
Jones Dairy YR
Joyner magnet
Kingswood
Lockhart YR
Lynn Road
Millbrook magnet
Mills Park
North Forest Pines YR
North Ridge
Northwoods
Oak Grove YR
Olds
Partnership magnet
Poe magnet
Powell magnet
Root
Stough
Swift Creek
Underwood magnet
Wake Forest
Washington magnet
Wiley magnet
Yates Mill

Carnage magnet
Centennial magnet
Davis Drive
Dillard Drive
Fuquay-Varina
Heritage YR
Leesville Road
Ligon magnet
Martin magnet
Wake Forest-Rolesville
Wakefield

Athens Drive
Broughton
Cary
East Wake School of Arts, Education & Global Studies
Enloe magnet
Garner magnet
Green Hope
Holly Springs
Leesville Road
Millbrook magnet
Panther Creek
Sanderson
Wake Forest-Rolesville

Round 3: Base school must have a current crowding factor of 90% or greater.

Brier Creek YR
Carpenter YR
Conn magnet
Fuquay-Varina
Lacy
Leesville Road
Morrisville YR
Pleasant Union YR
Rolesville
Sycamore Creek YR
Turner Creek YR
Vance YR
Vandora Springs
Wildwood Forest

Apex MS
East Millbrook magnet
Reedy Creek

Apex HS
East Wake School of Engineering Systems
East Wake School of Health Science
Fuquay-Varina

Round 4: Base school must have a current crowding factor of 85% or greater.

Bugg magnet
Fox Road
Holly Ridge
Laurel Park YR
Lead Mine
Middle Creek YR
Olive Chapel YR
Timber Drive YR
West Lake YR
Wilburn YR

Durant Road YR
Lufkin Road YR
Moore Square magnet
West Lake YR
West Millbrook

Knightdale HS
Middle Creek
SE Raleigh magnet

Last 10% Round: 10% of magnet seats are reserved for students applying from schools with less a crowding factor less than 85%

Alston Ridge 42.7% YR
Ballentine 81.3% YR
Banks Road 61.6% YR
Barwell Road 79.5% YR
Carver 71.7%
Creech Road 74.3%
East Garner 76.5% YR
Green 72.8% YR
Harris Creek 71.4% YR
Herbert Akins 71.1% YR
Highcroft Drive 71.9% YR
Hilburn 68.3%
Holly Grove 78.1% YR
Knightdale 80.2%
Lake Myra 52.5% YR
Lincoln Heights 58.6%
Penny Road 83.7%
Rand Road 67.9% YR
Reedy Creek 68.1%
River Bend 61% YR
Salem 83.7% YR
Sanford Creek 83.7% YR
Smith 79.9% magnet
Wakefield 76.9% YR
Wakelon 79.6%
Weatherstone 72%
Wendell 79% magnet
Willow Springs 81.9% YR
York 72%
Zebulon 79.9% magnet

Carroll 79.7%
Daniels 80.9%
East Cary 63.2% YR
East Garner 84.2% magnet
East Wake 71.7% YR
Holly Grove 58.3% YR
Holly Ridge 79.3%
Mills Park 84%
North Garner 81.6% YR
Salem 84% YR
Wendell 80.8%
West Cary 60%
Zebulon 57.9% magnet

East Wake School of Integrated Technology 74.8%
Heritage 48.9%
Wakefield 82.9%

A Partial Victory

2011-02-08T22:39:00.002-05:00

As you may know, WCPSS changed the magnet lottery last year to remove the F&R status of your node and your assigned school. This was a great step towards making the magnet lottery a fair process for all students, but it is still not a true lottery. Your base school's crowding percentage is what determines whether or not you get into a magnet school now. While I do understand the reasoning behind this, we need to give all of our students an equal chance to take advantage of these amazing opportunities.

In addition to wanting an equal shot for each student, I'm concerned that the capacity numbers being used to determine your fate are not accurate. I spoke at the last board meeting and gave 3 examples of schools whose numbers were a bit misleading.

Daniels Middle School is listed by WCPSS as being at 81% of capacity, which would place Daniels in the last 10% round. But at a recent work session, that capacity was called into question. It seems that while Daniels has extra classroom capacity, they do not have cafeteria capacity to handle that many students.

Wakefield High School is listed at 83% of capacity, but much of that extra space is unused trailers that are going to be moved. I don't think that a date has been set for moving them, but it was pretty clear at that same work session that they have no intention of using those trailers anytime soon.

Wakefield Elementary School was one of the 22 schools converted to the year round calendar and has been under capacity ever since. It is currently at 77% capacity and the BOE has declined to convert it back to traditional, citing the need to save that capacity for future growth. In the meantime, those students are penalized in the magnet application process.

See for the facilities utilization report that lists the capacity and student population figures for each school.

Please send an email to the board members asking for a true lottery. All of our students deserve an equal chance to take advantage of the wonderful opportunities that magnet schools provide.

Elementary School Magnet Lottery 2010-11

2010-02-02T12:32:00.004-05:00

As you may know, some board members like John Tedesco are looking to change the magnet criteria this year to make it more equitable. Others are resistant to any changes at all or want to wait for at least a year before any are made. IF the criteria do not change, this is what your chances will be for getting into an elementary school magnet for next year. A full 1/3 of the elementary schools are in the 'last 10%' round.

Rounds One & Two-23 Schools
****Must live in a node 33% or less F&R, base school must be 33% or less F&R, and crowding factor must be greater than 95%. Round 1 is for those who meet all the criteria and applied for the same program last year but were denied. Round 2 is the same except for the 'applied last year' criteria.

Apex Elementary
Brassfield
Brooks (magnet)
Carpenter
Cedar Fork
Combs (magnet)
Davis Drive
Durant Road
Forest Pines
Fuller (magnet)
Jones Dairy
Lacy
Laurel Park
Leesville Road
Morrisville
North Forest Pines
Oak Grove
Olds
Partnership (magnet)
Pleasant Union
Underwood (magnet)
Vance
Wiley (magnet)

Round 3-15 Schools
**No node criteria, but base school must be 33% or less F&R and at least 85% crowded.

Cary
Farmington Woods (magnet)
Fuquay-Varina
Green Hope
Heritage
Holly Ridge
Holly Springs
Joyner (magnet)
Northwoods
Olive Chapel
Penny Road
Salem
Swift Creek
Turner Creek
Weatherstone

Round 4-30 Schools
**Base school must be less than 40% F&R and be at least 60% crowded.

Adams
Baileywick
Ballentine
Banks Road
Baucom
Briarcliff
Brier Creek
Douglas (magnet)
Harris Creek
Herbert Akins Road
Highcroft
Holly Grove
Hunter (magnet)
Jeffreys Grove
Lincoln Heights
Middle Creek
Mills Park
Rand Road
Reedy Creek
Rolesville
Root
Sanford Creek
Sycamore Creek
Wake Forest
Wakefield
Washington (magnet)
West Lake
Wildwood Forest
Willow Springs
Yates Mill

Lottery for the remaining 10% of seats-34 Schools

Aversboro-54.9% F&R
Barwell-62.2% F&R
Brentwood-77.9% F&R new magnet for 2009-10
Bugg-54.7% F&R magnet
Carver-54.7% F&R
Conn-41.7% F&R magnet
Creech Road-66.6% F&R
Dillard Drive--43.4% F&R
East Garner-61.3% F&R
Forestville Road-55.1% F&R
Fox Road-64.5% F&R
Green--49.8 F&R
Hilburn Drive-44.7% F&R
Hodge Road-65.2% F&R
Kingswood-44.2% F&R
Knightdale-58.9% F&R
Lake Myra--47.7% F&R
Lead Mine-40.6% F&R
Lockhart-52.5% F&R
Lynn Road-50.5% F&R
Millbrook-60.7% F&R magnet
North Ridge--40.9%
Poe-48.1% F&R magnet
Powell-53.9% F&R magnet
River Bend-57.1% F&R
Smith-66.7% F&R new magnet for 2009-10
Stough-44.9% F&R
Timber Drive-47.4% F&R
Vandora Springs-44.7% F&R
Wakelon-66.0% F&R
Wendell-52.9% F&R magnet
Wilburn-59.3% F&R
York-44.9% F&R
Zebulon-59.6% F&R magnet

Fear Mongering on Election Eve

2009-10-05T19:36:00.004-04:00

It has come to my attention that an email containing falsehoods is circulating this evening. Written by Diana Bader and Roxie Cash, the email claims that if the 4 candidates supported by WSCA get elected, it will mean the disappearance of magnet schools. This is FALSE. None of our candidates have ever said that they would get rid of magnet schools. This rumor has appeared before and when asked directly if he would get rid of magnet schools in low income areas, Chris Malone responded "No. Why would we get rid of a successful program?" Other candidates have expressed interest in expanding magnet opportunities and ending the magnet acceptance policy that discriminates against low income children and any child assigned to a school over 40% F&R.

Supporters of the status-quo are willing to say anything they have to to maintain control of our school system. WSCA and the candidates we support, John Tedesco, Chris Malone, Debra Goldman and Deborah Prickett do not advocate for the removal of magnets nor do we advocate throwing everything out and starting from scratch. These candidates will do what current and former Board of Education members have been unwilling to do: honestly assess what is working and what is not working in WCPSS and make recommendations for improvement.

I urge you all to see through the lies and half-truths being spread and vote for positive change tomorrow!

Vote Oct. 6 for Tedesco, Prickett, Goldman & Malone for School Board!

2009-10-03T13:20:00.006-04:00

Election day is drawing near and we have the opportunity to make positive changes to the Wake County School Board. Four seats are up for election this year and there is a clear choice for each of those seats. If you are unsure if you live in one of the districts up for election, you can find out at www.sboe.state.nc.us. As a member of the Wake Schools Community Alliance, I am proud to endorse the following candidates:

District 1 (Wake Forest, Rolesville, Knightdale, Zebulon & Wendell): Chris Malone
Chris Malone is the only candidate in this 3 person race who has a real grasp of the issues. Malone supports community based schools but recognizes that they aren't a magic bullet to fix all of our system's problems. He wants to implement new approaches to reachstruggling students because merely busing them around hasn't worked. He supports expanding magnet opportunities and believes that the current discriminatory magnet selection process is wrong. He also believes that year round schools should be voluntary.

Malone's opponents are Debbie Vair and Rita Rakestraw. Although Vair agrees with Malone on many issues, her entrance into this race seems to be motivated mostly by her oppposition to the proposed high school on Forestville Road. Rakestraw doesn't seem to understand the issues of her district at all. She believes that there are no mandatory year round schools--that everybody has a traditional and a year round option and they go to the one they want. She is a supporter of the current diversity policy even though it has actually harmed Eastern Wake county. Eastern Wake has a high percentage of low income students yet WCPSS has stated many times that there's little they can do to lower the poverty percentages at Eastern Wake schools. The two solutions suggested by WCPSS so far have been to 1)wait for I-540 to bring higher income residential development to the area and 2)further reduce the number of magnet seats available to children in the area. Rakestraw is heavily supported by central Raleigh politicians and business leaders who are concerned with the health of central Raleigh schools and care little about Eastern Wake. Its easy to brag about the health of Wake County's 'urban' Raleigh schools if you keep the red-haired stepchild out of view. Rakestraw's support of the current diversity policy will further harm her district and will keep Eastern Wake 'left behind'.

District 2 (Garner, Fuquay-Varina): John Tedesco
John Tedesco is a dynamic man with fantastic ideas who can also bring those ideas to fruition. John grew up in poverty and changed schools frequently so he has a real understanding of what our lower income students need in order to achieve. He also works in a leadership role with the Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization and mentors at risk youth. John supports the community schools model which is advocated by Education Secretary Arne Duncan. Most importantly, John believes that low income students CAN achieve and that their families can be engaged.

Tedesco's opponents are Horace Tart, Carlene Lucas, and Cathy Truitt. Tart, the incumbent, is not troubled by the long distances traveled by many of our low income students. He believes that distance is not a factor in parental participation for low income families. They just won't participate no matter how close they are to a school so it doesn't matter how far we bus their children. This elitist attitude is also shared by Chuck Dulaney, director of Growth Managment for WCPSS. Instead of looking for ways to actually engage low income families and improve academic achievement, he's satisfied with just busing their kids around and wiping his hands clean of them. Low expectations for low income children are the norm for WCPSS and Tart will do nothing to change that. Lucas's controlled choice model is really just more of the same that we have now. Parents can apply for the school they want but acceptance is still based on low income percentages. When I first heard Truitt speak, I thought that if Tedesco wasn't in the race she'd be my pick. Since then, however, she has engaged in attack ads on her opponents that make me question what her primary motivation for seeking this office is.

District 7 (Northwest Raleigh and Morrisville): Deborah Prickett
Deborah Prickett is a Raleigh native and former teacher and school counselor who supports community based schools as a way to provide stability and increased parental involvement. Prickett supports voluntary year round, which is a big issue in this district which includes the Leesville schools. She is also in favor of getting the school board out of the land buying business so they can concentrate on actual education issues.

Prickett's opponent, Karen Simon is backed by the status quo and it shows. Much of what she says is just parroting what WCPSS's PR department says about itself. We're one of the top school systems so let's keep doing what we're doing, blah blah blah. Simon supports mandatory year round assignments and claims that they are necessary because of growth. Considering that Leesville ES is located right between 2 very underenrolled year round schools (Brier Creek & Sycamore Creek) and near 2 underenrolled traditional schools (York & Hilburn), I think she should rethink her answer. Simon would also make no changes to the magnet system as it currently exists. I guess that giving kids who live in the right neighborhoods and attend the right schools better access to the best WCPSS has to offer is ok with her.

District 9 (Cary): Debra Goldman
Debra Goldman understands that students need stable assignments in community schools in order to succeed. Like the other candidates I endorse, she favors placing resources where they are needed rather than just busing children around. Goldman also favors voluntary participation in year round schools and believes that WCPSS is too top heavy.

Goldman's opponent, Lois Nixon is clueless when she states that mandatory year round schools have saved the taxpayers $350 million dollars so far. Year round schools don't save any money unless they are at capacity and most of our newly built and converted yr schools aren't anywhere near capacity. She is even more clueless when she states as she did in one forum, that the children in her neighborhood have 27 different schools they get to choose from. She obviously doesn't understand how the magnet selection process works. Her neighborhood is assigned to Reedy Creek middle school so they actually have the least likely chance of getting into a magnet middle school. Nixon also touts the use of our schools as an 'economic tool' and how we don't want to "kill the goose that laid the golden egg". This is particularly disturbing to me and is a trend of all 4 candidates who are supported by the status quo.

Business leaders are very much behind the diversity policy not because it actually helps disdvantaged kids (it doesn't) but because it is good for business. It gives them bragging rights to say that all of the schools in the 'urban' core are good, but they ignore the fact that we still have those not so good schools. Since they are not in central Raleigh, however, it doesn't matter. They are invisible to companies looking to do business here. When the status quo candidates refer to the schools as economic tools it shows us that their number one priority isn't student achievement, it is about appearances. We all deserve better than that.

2009-10 Magnet Criteria--Elementary Schools

2009-07-11T12:43:00.005-04:00

I posted your chances of getting into a magnet earlier in the year, but I was using last year's selection criteria. The Growth Management and the BOE tweaked the criteria a bit this year and it does actually make some people's chances of getting in a bit better. I'm not sure why they raised the max F&R for the 1st 3 rounds to 33% (system average) from the previous 27% (5 percentage points below system average). Chuck Dulaney did say that the minimum crowding percentage was lowered from 100% to 95% because growth has slowed. A big change was the removal of the 20% max of students performing at Level 1 or 2. Changes in the EOGs last year caused test scores to be lower across the board and it would have sharply reduced the odds for getting into a magnet.

Rounds One & Two-27 Schools
****Must live in a node 33% or less F&R, base school must be 33% or less F&R, and crowding factor must be greater than 95%. Round 1 is for those who meet all the criteria and applied for the same program last year but were denied. Round 2 is the same except for the 'applied last year' criteria.

Apex Elementary
Brassfield
Brooks (magnet)
Cary Elementary
Cedar Fork
Combs (magnet)
Davis Drive
Forest Pines
Fuquay-Varina
Holly Grove
Holly Ridge
Hunter (magnet)
Jones Dairy
Lacy
North Forest Pines
Northwoods
Oak Grove
Olds
Partnership (magnet)
Penny Road
Root
Swift Creek
Turner Creek
Underwood (magnet)
Weatherstone
West Lake
Wiley magnet

Round 3-12 Schools
**No node criteria, but base school must be 33% or less F&R and at least 85% crowded.

Ballentine
Briarcliff
Carpenter
Heritage
Leesville Road
Lincoln Heights
Middle Creek
Morrisville
Olive Chapel
Pleasant Union (94.8%--could be rounded up to 95 which would place it in Round One/Two)
Vance
Willow Springs

Round 4-29 Schools
**Base school must be less than 40% F&R and be at least 60% crowded.

Adams
Baileywick
Baucom
Brier Creek
Dillard Drive
Douglas (magnet)
Durant Road
Farmington Woods (magnet)
Fuller (magnet)
Green
Green Hope
Harris Creek
Highcroft
Holly Springs
Jeffreys Grove
Joyner (magnet)
Laurel Park
Mills Park
North Ridge
Rand Road
Rolesville
Salem
Sanford Creek
Sycamore Creek
Wake Forest
Wakefield
Washington (magnet)
Wildwood Forest
Yates Mill

Lottery for the remaining 10% of seats-31 Schools

Aversboro-52.1% F&R
Barwell-58.8% F&R
Brentwood-69.8% F&R new magnet for 2009-10
Bugg-49.2% F&R magnet
Carver-57.7% F&R
Conn-42.8% F&R magnet
Creech Road-64.3% F&R
East Garner-58.9% F&R
Forestville Road-43% F&R
Fox Road-60.5% F&R
Hilburn Drive-42% F&R
Hodge Road-59.9% F&R
Kingswood-40.1% F&R
Knightdale-55.7% F&R
Lead Mine-43.5% F&R
Lockhart-44.7% F&R
Lynn Road-46.7% F&R
Millbrook-55.6% F&R magnet
Poe-45.2% F&R magnet
Powell-52.3% F&R magnet
Reedy Creek-41% F&R
River Bend-56.2% F&R
Smith-68.1% F&R new magnet for 2009-10
Stough-46.4% F&R
Timber Drive-40.3% F&R
Vandora Springs-46.7% F&R
Wakelon-66.7% F&R
Wendell-49.6% F&R magnet
Wilburn-57.8% F&R
York-47.3% F&R
Zebulon-57.2% F&R magnet

What Are Segregated Schools?

2009-02-26T14:14:00.009-05:00

I asked this question in my last post. What exactly are 'segregated' schools? As I mentioned in my previous post, Wake County today looks much different from Wake County 30 years ago. We have a growing Hispanic, Asian, and multi-racial population. It is not enough to talk about segregation in terms of the black population. I did a little poking around the internet to find a 'modern' definition of segregated schools and found that the term 'racially identifiable' is most often used. I could not find any NC definitions of either term but I did find a few.

A 1999 Minnesota state rule labels a school segregated, or racially identifiable, if the minority enrollment is more than 20 percentage points above the district minority enrollment. The Civil Rights Project defines segregated schools as those where the percentage of minority students deviates by more than 15% from the district wide percentage. In Chicago, schools are considered integrated if the white population is between 15-75%. A school is out of compliance if 70% or more of the students are white, and a racially identifiable school is one which is 85% or more non-white. (Of course, 'racially identifiable' is interesting because it sets everything up as two races: white and non-white, but that's an whole other discussion.)

I always get frustrated when people claim that the diversity policy keeps WCPSS from having schools over 40% F&R. Yes, that's the goal and it sounds terrific. Except nobody ever mentions the fact that 30% of our elementary and middle schools are over 40%. I think that most people aren't even aware of this--they just repeat the policy as fact. I've been thinking about this argument that without the diversity policy, we would go back to segregated schools. I wondered how many segregated schools we currently have and if we do have any, why is it never brought up?

I used Civil Rights Project's guidelines to determine which schools were segregated or racially identifiable. I thought that a 15% deviation seemed too strict, so I used Minnesota's '20% rule' but also added the schools that would qualify under the CRP guidelines. White students make up 51.8% of WCPSS's total student population.

Re-segreation and the Diversity Polilcy

2009-02-26T12:47:00.005-05:00

If we stop busing for diversity or move towards neighborhood schools, we will re-segregate our schools. That is a common argument from those who favor WCPSS's diversity policy. On one hand, I do understand where those people are coming from. If we did move to strictly neighborhood schools (which I don't think most people are proposing), we would see largely minority schools in certain areas of town and largely white ones in others. On the other hand, I have a few problems with this argument.

First, it isn't truly segregation, or at least not the legal segregation of the past. Segregation was the deliberate and forced separation of blacks from whites. Are we living under segregation now because blacks and white don't live together for the most part? Its no secret that the 'projects' in downtown Raleigh are largely minority and that the suburban areas of far North Raleigh are largely white. Does that mean we are segregated? Is it segregation when high school students sit together by race in the school cafeteria? Or is it just human nature to want to be around those who look like you? It's definitely a topic worth discussing, but to use the term 're-segregation' is inflammatory. For the most part it serves only to invoke imagines of a racist past and to scare the general public.

Second, if it is illegal to consider race when making school assignments then how does the re-segregation argument fit in? Its widely known and admitted even by WCPSS's supporters that Wake County is unique. Assigning students by socio-economic status instead of race works here because most of Wake county's poor are minorities. But what is the true purpose of the diversity policy? It seems that avoiding 'segregated' schools is the real intent because that is one of the first arguments that gets made against changing the diversity policy.

Third, what are segregrated schools? Back in the days of segregation, Raleigh and much of the south were pretty much black and white. Now we have significant Hispanic and Asian populations. So what does segregation mean? Is it a school that is largely black? Or one that is largely minority with very few white students? Further complicating this question is the fairly large economic differences between Wake County's minority populations. Cary is probably the most diverse community in Wake when it comes to race, but these minority families aren't poor for the most part. Many are highly educated and employed in high tech industries. Does WCPSS value that type of diversity, or is it only about black and white or rich and poor?

I think that its time for WCPSS and Wake County as a whole to have real discussions on race, diversity, and what the goals of the diversity policy truly are. Demographics have changed significantly in Wake County yet we still seem to be operating with a 1950s or 1970s mindset. Of course we must respect and be mindful of the past but we will never get anywhere if we don't start looking towards the future.

Middle and High School Magnet Odds

2009-02-18T19:30:00.003-05:00

Middle and high school magnet applications get a little more confusing. They are accepted according to the same priorities and criteria that elementary magnet students are except for one. As with elementary magnet applicants, siblings of current magnet students at that school/program are given first priority. A second priority is added for middle and high school applicants--students moving on from one magnet school to another. I have heard that the priority is for magnet students moving on to a magnet in the same program. For example, if a magnet student at an IB elem school applies for an IB middle school. But I am unsure of other instances.

what about base students at a magnet elementary school who aren't assigned to a magnet middle school? Do they have priority in getting accepted to a magnet middle school to continue the program? What about magnet elementary or middle school students who want to move on to a middle or high school magnet that offers a different program? For example, an IB elementary student applying for a GT middle school? Would they get priority over a student who went to a non-magnet elementary school? I'm waiting for clarification on these questions but until then we can still look at what round your base middle school qualifies for. As I said, the criteria for each round are the same for middle and high schools as they are for elementary schools.

To refresh your memory, the criteria states that the F&R% of a node & school should be at least 5% less than the county average. The county average for middle schools is 29.5 so I used 25%. For high schools, the average is 21.6%, so I used 17%.

Rounds One and Two
**Must live in a node 25%(17%) or less F&R, base school must be 25%(17%) or less F&R, crowding factor must be greater than 100%, and 2 year avg of Level I or II performance must be 20% or less. Round 1 is for those who meet all the criteria and applied for the same program last year but were denied. Round 2 is the same except for the 'applied last year' criteria.
Davis Drive Middle
Heritage Middle
Leesville Middle
Martin Middle--magnet
Wakefield Middle
West Cary Middle

Apex High
Leesville High
Panther Creek High

Round Three
**Must live in a node with 25%(17%) or less F&R, base school must be 25%(17%) or less F&R crowding factor must be greater than 85%, and 2 year avg of Level I or II performance must be 20% or less.
Apex Middle
Lufkin Road Middle
Salem Middle
West Lake Middle

Green Hope High
Holly Springs High

Round Four
**No requirement for F&R of your node, base school F&R must be less than 40%, crowding factor must be at least 85%, and 2 year avg of Level I or II performance must be 20% or less.
Centennial Middle--magnet
Ligon Middle--magnet

Athens Drive High
Broughton High--demag'ed
East Wake School of Engineering Systems
East Wake School of Health Science
Enloe High--magnet
Fuquay-Varina High
Garner High--magnet
Knightdale High
Millbrook High
Sanderson High
Wakefield High

Lottery for the Remaining 10% of Seats
**Comments after each school indicate why it wasn't considered in the first 4 rounds. For schools who missed the other rounds solely because of Level I/II performance, I put which round they would otherwise qualify for in bold.

Carnage Middle--magnet (45% F&R, 25.4% Level I/II)
Carroll Middle (43.8% F&R, 27.5% Level I/II)
Daniels Middle--demag'ed this year (21.4% Level I/II) Round 3
Dillard Drive Middle (40.1% F&R, 20.8% Level I/II)
Durant Road Middle (71.3% crowding, 20.9% Level I/II)
East Cary Middle(42.7% crowding)
East Garner Middle--magnet(50.4% F&R, 33.8% Level I/II)
East Millbrook Middle--magnet (43.8% F&R, 30.4% Level I/II)
East Wake Middle (77.6% crowding, 49.6% F&R, 29% Level I/II)
Fuquay-Varina Middle (23.6% Level I/II) Round 4
Holly Ridge Middle (22.2% Level I/II) Round 3
Moore Square Middle--magnet (79.8% crowding, 32.1% Level I/II)
North Garner Middle (30.8% Level I/II) Round 4
Reedy Creek Middle(40.9% F&R, 23.9% Level I/II)
Wake Forest-Rolesville Middle(25.5% Level I/II) Round 4
Wendell Middle(51.3% F&R, 33.8% Level I/II)
West Millbrook Middle(79.1% crowding, 41.7% F&R, 29% Level I/II)
Zebulon Middle--magnet (49.1% F&R, 32.3% Level I/II)

Cary High (78.1% crowding)
East Wake School of Arts, Education & Global Studies (44% F&R)
East Wake School of Integrated Technology (82.9% crowding, 44.2% F&R)
Middle Creek High (81.5% crowding)
SE Raleigh High--magnet (78.4% crowding)
Wake Forest-Rolesville High (76.3% crowding)

What's Your Chance, 2009?

2009-02-18T15:50:00.004-05:00

It's magnet application time again so I thought I'd update my 'what are your chances' list. The News & Observer has reported that there will be no major changes to the selection criteria that they used last year. One potential problem is the criteria that a school's Level I or II performance on the EOGs for the past two years must be 20% or less. This wasn't an issue last year because the only elementary school that had more than 20% of its students getting a Level I or II was Brentwood. Since Brentwood was over 40% F&R, students assigned to Brentwood didn't qualify for anything but the last 10% of seats anyway. So I never even mentioned that criteria last year.

However, you may remember that EOG reading scores fell last year because of changes to the test. As you will see from the lists below, this would have significant impact on applicants from several schools. I sent an email to the Board asking if they will stick with this criteria or not. When I hear from them or when the criteria are officially decided upon, I will change the following list if I need to.

One of the criteria for acceptance into a magnet is the F&R% of your node. If you live in a node that is more than 27% F&R, you are not eligible for selection until Round 4. Without knowing the F&R% of your particular node, we can still see which base schools give you the best chance of being accepted to a magnet. According to WCPSS, 31.6% of all elementary students participate in the Free & Reduced Lunch Program. I rounded that up to 32% then considered 27% to be 5% points below the average. After siblings are placed, the earliest you can be accepted into an elementary magnet based on your current base school is:

Rounds One and Two--8 Schools
**Must live in a node 27% or less F&R, base school must be 27% or less F&R, crowding factor must be greater than 100%, and 2 year avg of Level I or II performance must be 20% or less. Round 1 is for those who meet all the criteria and applied for the same program last year but were denied. Round 2 is the same except for the 'applied last year' criteria.

Cedar Fork
Davis Drive
Forest Pines
Lacy
Oak Grove
Turner Creek
West Lake
Wiley (magnet)

Round Three--12 Schools
**Must live in a node with 27% or less F&R, base school must be 27% or less F&R crowding factor must be greater than 85%, and 2 year avg of Level I or II performance must be 20% or less.

Ballentine
Brassfield
Brooks (magnet)
Carpenter
Heritage
Holly Grove
Jones Dairy
Leesville Road
Morrisville
Olive Chapel
Pleasant Union
Willow Springs

Round Four--14 Schools
**No requirement for F&R of your node, base school F&R must be less than 40%, crowding factor must be at least 85%, and 2 year avg of Level I or II performance must be 20% or less.
Apex
Dillard Drive
Farmington Woods (magnet)
Fuller (magnet)
Hunter (magnet)
Joyner (magnet)
North Ridge
Northwoods
Olds
Penny Road
Root
Wake Forest
Washington
Weatherstone

Lottery for the Remaining 10% of Seats--65 Schools
**Comments after each school indicate why it wasn't considered in the first 4 rounds. For schools who missed the other rounds solely because of Level I/II performance, I put which round they would otherwise qualify for in bold.

Adams (76.7% crowding)
Aversboro (52.1% F&R, 28.5% Level I/II)
Baileywick (20.8% Level I/II) Round 4
Barwell (58.8% F&R, 37.2% Level I/II)
Baucom (61% crowding)
Brentwood (82.3% crowding, 69.8% F&R, 42.2% Level I/II)
Briarcliff (22.3% Level I/II) Round 4
Brier Creek (74.7% crowding)
Bugg (49.2% F&R, 26.8% Level I/II)
Carver (78.1% crowding, 57.7% F&R, 25.8% Level I/II)
Cary (20.9% Level I/II) Round 4
Combs--magnet (21% Level I/II) Round 4
Conn--magnet (42.8% F&R, 27.4% Level I/II)
Creech Road (64.3% F&R, 32.6% Level I/II)
Douglas--magnet (24.4% Level I/II) Round 4
Durant (29.6% Level I/II) Round 4
East Garner (70.2% crowding, 58.9% F&R, 49.3% Level I/II)
Forestville Road (43% F&R, 25.9% Level I/II)
Fox Road (60.5% F&R, 28.3% Level I/II)
Fuquay-Varina (23.9% Level I/II) Round 4
Green (71.4% crowding, 26.1% Level I/II)
Green Hope (74.2% crowding)
Harris Creek (82.2% crowding, 27% Level I/II)
Highcroft Drive (64.9% crowding)
Hilburn Drive (79.7% crowding, 42% F&R)
Hodge Road (59.9% F&R, 35% Level I/II)
Holly Ridge (21.1% Level I/II) Round 1
Holly Springs (76.2% crowding)
Jeffrey's Grove (23.8% Level I/II) Round 4
Kingswood (40.1% F&R, 23.9% Level I/II)
Knightdale (77.6% crowding, 55.7% F&R, 29.3% Level I/II)
Laurel Park (78.4% crowding)
Lead Mine (43.5% F&R)
Lincoln Heights (23.1% Level I/II) Round 4
Lockhart (69.9% crowding, 44.7% F&R, 22% Level I/II)
Lynn Road (46.7% F&R)
Middle Creek (21.1% Level I/II) Round 3
Millbrook--magnet (55.6% F&R, 28% Level I/II)
Mills Park (75.9% crowding)
North Forest Pines (27.2% Level I/II) Round 3
Partnership--magnet (23.5% Level I/II) Round 1
Poe--magnet (45.2% F&R, 30.1% Level I/II)
Powell--magnet (52.3% F&R, 24.8% Level I/II)
Rand Road (82.1% crowding)
Reedy Creek (41% F&R, 22% Level I/II)
River Bend (56.2% F&R, 31.8% Level I/II)
Rolesville (22% Level I/II) Round 4
Salem (82.9% crowding)
Sanford Creek (68% crowding, 37.7% Level I/II)
Smith (74% crowding, 68.1% F&R, 36.6% Level I/II)
Stough (46.4% F&R, 27.3% Level I/II)
Swift Creek (25.1% Level I/II) Round 4
Sycamore Creek (75.2% crowding)
Timber Drive (40.3% F&R, 23.9% Level I/II)
Underwood--magnet (23.3% Level I/II) Round 1
Vance (23.3 % Level I/II) Round 3
Vandora Springs (46.7% F&R)
Wakefield (78% crowding, 22.7% Level I/II)
Wakelon (66.7% F&R, 37.5% Level I/II)
Wendell (49.6% F&R, 27.4% Level I/II)
Wilburn (64.5% crowding, 57.8% F&R, 32.2% Level I/II)
Wildwood Forest (23.7% Level I/II) Round 4
Yates Mill (21.3% Level I/II) Round 4
York (74% crowding, 47.3% F&R, 24.3% Level I/II)
Zebulon (72.5% crowding, 57.2% F&R, 23.9% Level I/II)

The Correct Decision

2008-10-09T10:06:00.003-04:00

Most of you have probably heard by now that in their work session on Tuesday, the BOE voted to de-magnetize Daniels Middle School. Of course, most of you know that I believe this was the correct decision. It was not an easy decision for the board, but it was absolutely the right one.

I attended the work session on Tuesday because of my obvious interest in the magnet discussion, but I encourage all of you to attend a work session at least once if you can. The public is allowed to quietly observe and I took advantage of this for first time on Tuesday. This will come as no surprise to those who know me, but I had a very hard time with the 'quietly observe' part. :-) I even slipped a note to Beverley Clark during one of the discussions (more on that in another post).

I took copious notes of the entire session and will post those at a later time, but I will give a brief synopsis of the Daniels discussion.

Most of the discussion centered around whether or not Daniels would be a 'healthy' school if it wasn't a magnet. Could a reasonable base population be drawn into the school while maintaining a healthy F&R%? The general consensus was yes. With only a 14% magnet student population and a 30% F&R, its pretty much a base school already.

Lori Millberg brought up the fact that we have 3 IB elementary, 3 IB middle and 2 IB high schools. Considering that 3 elementary schools can fill 1 middle school, she and others questioned the number of IB schools we have and their balance.

There was an inordinate amount of hemming and hawing about what to do. Beverley Clark mentioned her reluctance to move out large portions of Daniels' base only to replace them with magnet students who would not change the school's profile (F&R%). She commented more than once along the lines of 'if a school can have a reasonable base drawn then it shouldn't be a magnet'. Yet she (and everybody else for that matter) was unwilling to make a motion to de-magnetize Daniels. After about 20 minutes of this back and forth, Millberg finally told Beverley to just make the motion already, to which Clark replied "I was waiting for somebody else to make it". Watching everybody dance around the subject was one of those times when it was hard for me to stay quiet, and when Lori Millberg made her comment I said a resounding "YES!" in agreement :-)

The motion was seconded and then passed with only Kevin Hill, Eleanor Goattee and Anne McLaurin voting no. I don't recall hearing any argument from any of them as to why Daniels should be spared. The only argument I heard came from David Ansbacher, the Director of Magnet Programs. He brought up the fact that Daniels went through this very situation before. It was a magnet school in the 1980s (I think) due to declining enrollment and rising F&R. Once the school was in a situation similar to the one its in now, they demagnetized it. Over the course of about 6 years, the population dwindled and the F&R rose again so they made it an IB magnet.

He expressed concern that the same thing will happen and in another 6 years they will be having the discussion to re-magnetize Daniels. Ansbacher also mentioned the fact that the Daniels base has private options available nearby, such as Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Timothy's and that many of those families can 'take advantage of'. Additionally, Daniels base parents could apply to charter schools such as Magellan and Endeavor as well.

Ansbacher's comments reinforced an idea that I have suspected but had never heard directly expressed by a staff member before. Basically when he said that some of the families can 'take advantage of' the private school options in the area, it means that some of those families have the financial means to go private. WCPSS cannot afford to have 'wealthier' families leave schools like Daniels because it will be harder to fill those empty seats with other non-F&R families.

Many families in Apex, North Raleigh and Cary have left WCPSS for private, charter and even homeschools, but we are a dime a dozen. If we leave the system, there are plenty of others who can take our place in our overcrowded schools. While I understand the concern about Daniels and other schools in less crowded areas, there is something fundamentally wrong with this way of thinking.

Lots of parents around the county are not happy with the level of academics and opportunties available to their children. But if this particular population deems that the standard level isn't good enough for their children, we are going to give them more than everybody else? That seems to be counter to the WCPSS belief that everybody deserves a good education and that where you can afford to live shouldn't dictate the quality of your schools.

If you get a chance, write to your Board of Education member to let them know that de-magnetizing Daniels was the correct decision. Difficult, yes, but correct.

Just For Fun--Davis Drive Real Estate Sales

2008-10-06T12:03:00.007-04:00

Most of us probably think of Davis Drive families as fairly wealthy and many of us think they are elitists who don't think their school should be 'burdened' by high needs children. I have even heard a staff member from WCPSS say in response to a comment about DDE's high achievement, "Well, there's a reason why Davis Drive is a School of Excellence". The dedicated teachers and parents? No, this staff member was referring to Davis Drive's low F&R percentage. At 9.8% (2007-08 school year), it is one of the lowest in the county. And since non-economically disadvantaged students pass the EOGs at a rate significantly higher than economically disadvantaged students, it follows that Davis Drive's overall test scores will be higher. But does this necessarily mean that Davis Drive deserves the image that it has?

First of all, although Davis Drive's F&R is well below the county average of 31.6%, the school's percentage of ESL and LEP (Limited English Proficiency) students are slightly above the county average. And while Davis Drive has a much smaller percentage of black students than the WCPSS average for elementary schools, the percentage of asian students is much greater. So while the racial makeup of the school is probably not what WCPSS would like to see, it is nonetheless a racially diverse school.

Second, does the fact that a school has a very low F&R mean that the rest of the population is high income or wealthy? When Davis Drive parents protested reassignment last year, we saw footage of beautiful homes and manicured lawns. I'm sure that many of us made assumptions about how much those houses cost and the types of families who live in them. But were we correct?

I was meeting with a group of Davis Drive parents last month when I mentioned that I was thinking about researching home prices in some of the ITB magnet base nodes. I wanted to show that many of those reaping the benefits of magnets weren't in low income neighborhoods . One of the women had already done that research for one of the neighborhoods assigned to Davis Drive for the opposite reason--to show that Davis Drive wasn't composed of elite, expensive subdivisions like the image suggests. So I thank her for giving me the idea for my research and for the google documents spreadsheet setup. :-)

While the homes in these Davis Drive nodes are not inexpensive by any means, they are also not as expensive as some people might think. And especially not as expensive as homes in western ITB as noted in my previous posts on Underwood, Joyner & Martin. I've included all of DDE's nodes except for the 2 low income nodes that are bused in.

One other stat that I noted to myself: Of the 87 homes that sold in the Davis Drive nodes in the last year, only 14 of them were more than the lowest median price for the Joyner and Underwood base nodes. Underwood's node 92 had a median Single Family Home sales price of $386K.

Why Should I Care and What Can I Do?

2008-09-24T12:08:00.006-04:00

Some of you may be wondering what the big deal is. Maybe you aren't interested in magnet programs for your children or maybe you think its all a bunch of fluff that detracts from basic academics. So why should you care? Because your non-magnet base school is limited in what it can offer to your child. No 'regular' elementary schools can offer band or orchestra. They cannot offer a foreign language as anything more than a once a week special. Your middle school children can only take 1 elective each semester. Non-magnet base schools are prohibited from offering anything more than the basics because then the magnet schools won't be so appealing. Not enough of 'you' will apply to the magnet schools to help them achieve their goals.

I think most of us have learned to accept this even if we don't like it because we are led to believe that all magnets are located in crime-ridden, high-poverty neighborhoods. We're led to believe that we are giving low income kids opportunities that they might not otherwise have like exposure to the arts and violin lessons. But as I've illustrated, some of the magnets are not located in high-poverty areas. So not only are our children denied opportunities at their base schools, we are subsidizing those opportunities for children living in homes that most of us could never afford. And we are paying for them to get those opportunities at their neighborhood school where they can walk or ride the bus with their neighborhood friends.

That is why you should care.

So what can you do? Write to the BOE to let them know that it is not acceptable to have magnet schools serving middle to upper income base nodes. Magnets should be located in high poverty areas or at the very least, only serve high poverty base areas.

">

Magnet Review Time redux

2008-09-24T11:26:00.006-04:00

Now is the time to act. The BOE is conducting their magnet review to determine which schools, if any, are not fulfilling the goals of the magnet program. Remember, the goals are to:
1) Reduce high concentrations of poverty and support diverse populations
We are generally led to believe that magnets are located in such high poverty areas that they must use special programs to entice non-F&R students to attend. Therefore, magnet schools should be located in high poverty areas and have F&R base populations. I would further propose that elementary magnets should be at or near the 40% F&R threshhold set by the BOE for healthy schools and that middle and high magnets be at or near the county average. Magnets receive extra funds to provide their programs and magnet families are generally involved and motivated to see their children succeed. A magnet with 40% F&R has an advantage over a non-magnet with the same 40% F&R.
2) Maximize use of school facilities
The idea behind this is that some of these older schools are in neighborhoods that have aged out. There aren't enough kids in the surrounding areas to fill the school so a magnet program must be in place to attract other students.
3) Provide expanded educational opportunities
I interpret this to mean expanded opportunities to all students in WCPSS.

So which schools aren't living up to these goals and why?

Elementary Schools

Underwood
As illustrated in a previous post, Underwood is not located in a low income area. Instead, it draws its low income students from downtown. The two base nodes directly next to Underwood have no F&R students and the median single family home price is around $400,000.

Underwood is overcrowded so 2 low income nodes were removed in last year's reassignment plan. In that same plan Growth Management noted that at 29%, Underwood's F&R is "slightly lower than desirable for a magnet school. However, staff did not identify a change in base area to recommend at this time". Perhaps they should have removed the higher income nodes near the school and let the low income nodes stay. And by the way, the 2 low income nodes were moved to Green Hope Elementary--18 miles away.

Joyner
Again, refer to the previous post on Underwood and Joyner. Joyner has 4 base nodes with median home prices ranging from a low of $390,000 to a high $760,000. While this school does have some low income areas assigned to it, I question why it is a magnet school.

Solution? De-magnetize Joyner and assign the non-F&R base nodes from Underwood to Joyner. There is legitimate concern that if both Underwood and Joyner were de-magnetized, there wouldn't be enough students in that area to fill the 2 schools while keeping them both under 40%. Since Underwood only has the 2 non-F&R base nodes it would be easier to move them over to Joyner.

Wiley
Although I haven't done all the research on Wiley's nodes like I did for the other schools, a quick look at zillow.com shows very similar home prices, so I think this school is worth mentioning. Wiley has an F&R of only 28% and like Underwood, Growth Managment recognizes that it is too low for a magnet. But like Underwood, they were unable to recommend a change to the base area. May I suggest that if Growth Management can't come up with a way to raise Wiley's F&R, then perhaps it should no longer be a magnet? Wiley could draw new base nodes from Lacy, which is overcrowded and already shares an assignment boundary with Wiley.

Middle Schools

Daniels Daniels has an 80% base population yet only has an F&R of 30%. Clearly, Daniels is not located in a high-poverty area, especially when compared to E Millbrook MS, which is 74% base and 44% F&R. Some of the most expensive and elite areas of central Raleigh are assigned to Daniels. See my previous entry on Joyner and Underwood nodes for an example--those nodes are all assigned to Daniels.

While your child has to choose between taking Band and Spanish or between Spanish and Art, students at Daniels get 2 elective periods each day. Daniels runs on a tri-mester schedule so students can take up to 6 different electives each school year, which helps with fitting in the Keyboarding course that middle school students must take.

Martin Martin has a 36% base and only 23% F&R, well below the WCPSS middle school average of 29%. Additionally, Martin pulls in low income nodes from downtown/SE Raleigh, a sign that it isn't located in a high-poverty area. You can see the price ranges for homes in Martin's base nodes in my previous post.

Martin is a gifted & talented magnet and offers an incredibly wide array of electives, including four different foreign languages. Martin students have 3 elective periods each day and electives are either year long, semester long, or quarter long giving students the opportunity to take up to 12 electives each year.

Solution?
De-magnetize Daniels and transfer the non-F&R base population from Martin to Daniels. Nodes that have both lower-income apartment complexes and homes selling for an average $500,000 should be split to allow the lower income children to stay at Martin. I would also increase Martin's low income base to bring it closer to 30% F&R.

High Schools

Well, there's only one high school to address, and that's Broughton. I cannot figure out why Broughton was made a magnet in the first place since it has always been the base school for the most expensive and elite areas of Raleigh. With a 67% base and a 21% F&R it doesn't appear to be a magnet candidate. I have heard rumblings for a few years now that Broughton is up on the magnet chopping block. One solution I have heard is to move the IB program to Millbrook High, which has been hurting in recent years. At 29% F&R, its not struggling as much as East Wake, Garner or Knightdale High but it is located down the street from East Millbrook Middle which has an IB program. So it would be a logical choice.

Additionally, Broughton has a very supportive alumni foundation that raised almost $500,000 in 2007. Given our limited funds, there are high schools that need a magnet program more than Broughton.

That's it for this post, although I could go on--and I will in the next entry. :-)

Martin Middle School

2008-09-24T10:49:00.006-04:00

In my last post I addressed the higher income base nodes for Joyner and Underwood Magnet Elementary Schools. Now I'll tackle Martin Middle School, a gifted and talented magnet. Students at Martin get to take 4 electives each semester while students at non-magnet middle schools get to take 1 per semester. Martin offers an amazing array of electives including four different foreign languages, modern dance, civil war history, mythology, and printmaking. You can view the electives catalog here. Martin is comprised of a 36% base population and has an F&R of 22.8%, which is lower than the WCPSS middle school average. Several low income nodes are bused in from downtown/SE Raleigh but the majority of the base assignment area is located in neighborhoods surrounding the school. You can see a base assignment map here

The following table shows all of the base nodes that are in the surrounding area. Again, this table is abbreviated and the full data can be seen at Martin

Magnet Review Time

2008-09-09T15:57:00.006-04:00

Holy cow its been a long time since I last updated! I've still been plugging away doing my research and speaking with lots of other frustrated parents around the county. Aside from the upcoming reassignment plan, the big news is the magnet review. As many of you may have read, the BOE has given preliminary approval for 2 new magnet schools--Brentwood and Smith. Both schools were approaching 70% F&R last year so it's about time that they do something for them.

So while that is good news, the BOE still has to do their review of current magnet programs to decide which aren't living up to the goals of the magnet program. Something that bothered me during our magnet years was the number of non-F&R families who are given magnet schools as their base. Also troubling is the low F&R at some of the magnet schools. So I put together a chart showing the base percentage at each magnet as well as the F&R.

Some caveats: these figures are for the 2007-08 school year and I am missing the figures for some magnet schools. Also, Douglas and Brooks had some base nodes moved out to make room for magnet applicants. So their numbers should be different this year. The other magnets should remain about the same.

Most troubling to me is Daniels Middle School with a base population of 80% and an F&R of only 30.3%. Compare that to East Millbrook or East Garner and I've got to seriously question why Daniels is still a magnet school. The same could be said for Broughton as well.

At-Large Elections

2008-03-28T12:47:00.008-04:00

I'm sure you've all heard the talk of moving towards at-large elections. I support this move for two main reasons, accountability and equity. Currently our BOE members are only accountable to their own constituents for their decisions, even though their decisions impact all residents in the county. Further complicating matters is that while somebody may live in one district, their children may attend school in another district (sometimes even more than one other district) due to either base assignment or magnet attendance. Who truly represents the interests of those families?

While accountability is an issue in this matter, equity is by far the most important one. Because the district boundaries are drawn only every ten years with the census, Wake County's tremendous growth causes those districts to become extremely unbalanced before the next redistricting. According to information I found on the WCPSS website, "To comply with one-person, one-vote, no district should be more than five percent above or below the population of the ideal-size district." At that time, it was reported in the June 1, 2001 edition of 'School Connections' that "The board used data from the 2000 Census and advice from its legal staff to draw districts equal in population. The nine districts had to include between 66,723 and 73,249 voters to meet legal requirements."

I do not have access to population figures for each of our BOE districts, but we all have access to the voter registration figures for each district as well as the school and student numbers for each district. While it is not the same as having population numbers, we can still look at those figures to get an idea of how unbalanced the districts are.

First, the voter registration numbers:

If we use the same criteria that WCPSS used in 2001, the ideal district would have about 58,493 voters in it. Adding the 5% variance above or below that ideal number, then each district should have between 55,568 and 61,418 voters. We currently only have 1 district that falls within those criteria.

Now for a repeat of the student population numbers by district:

You can see that we have very unbalanced districts and I think its safe to say that this is due to the tremendous growth in the 'suburban' areas of the county. Even after the district boundaries are redrawn with the next census(2010-11), this same imbalance will occur by the time we redraw the boundaries again in 2020-11. The growth may occur in different areas of the county, but the imbalance will be there and citizens will not be properly represented. We can avoid this heavy imbalance by moving towards district seats that are voted on by all citizens. This will ensure that no areas of the county carry more pull than they should and more importantly, that some areas of the county are not underrepresented.

This is a bi-partisan issue that will ensure fairness for ALL citizens, whether they be Republican or Democrat, urban or rural, or live in 'old' Raleigh, North Raleigh, Apex, Zebulon, or Cary. Please write your NC Senate and House Reps, your mayor, city council members, and BOE rep in support of at-large elections.

Equal Representation Revisted

2008-03-11T13:25:00.005-04:00

A while back I posted the numbers of students in each BOE district. The imbalance was startling. I ran the numbers for 2007-08 and not much has changed. 'County' districts are underrepresented while Cary and Raleigh 'city' districts are overrepresented again.

What Did MYR Conversions Do To Your Chances?

2008-02-28T21:00:00.005-05:00

I was struck by a few of the converted schools that were so underenrolled that they didn't qualify for any of the rounds in the magnet lottery. Since they had F&R low enough to qualify, I wondered how the conversions affected their chances.

This year's criteria were very similar to last year's. The only differences were Round One going to the 4 demagnetized schools and the capacity figure of 85% used in later rounds. Last year's capacity figure was 90% for the later rounds. Following is a table that shows the earliest round that each converted elementary was eligible for last year as well as this year. I adjusted this year's rounds by removing the special consideration for the demagnetized schools. So Rounds 2-5 became Rounds 1-4 this year to make the comparison more in line. As you will see, not all of the schools were affected but Baucom, Green Hope, Middle Creek and Wakefield were the most negatively affected by the conversions.

45 out of 96?!?

2008-02-28T15:45:00.003-05:00

Students from 45 out of the 96 elementary schools get to compete for the last 10% of magnet seats. Interesting and frankly, a bit shocking and sad.

Only 25 base school applicants have to compete for the first FOUR rounds of magnet selection. Even sadder.

So What Are Your Chances?

2008-02-28T13:56:00.003-05:00

I posted the criteria for getting selected for a magnet program in the last post. But what does that mean for you?

Even without knowing the F&R% of your particular node, we can still see which base schools give you the best chance of being accepted to a magnet. According to WCPSS, 31.6% of all elementary students participate in the Free & Reduced Lunch Program. I rounded that up to 32% then considered 27% to be 5% points below the average. After siblings are placed, the earliest you can be accepted into an elementary magnet based on your current base school is:

Round One--4 Schools
Base or Magnet students at Root, Olds, Forestville,and Lincoln Heights.

Rounds Two and Three--15 Schools
**Must live in a node 27% or less F&R, base school must be 27% or less F&R, and crowding factor must be greater than 100%
Baileywick
Brassfield
Cedar Fork
Davis Drive
Forest Pines
Hunter (magnet, not sure they have any base nodes under 27% F&R)
Lacy
Oak Grove
Partnership (magnet, not sure they have any base nodes under 27% F&R)
Pleasant Union
Turner Creek
Wake Forest
Weatherstone
West Lake
Wiley (magnet at 27.7%--not sure how WCPSS would treat this)

Round Four--6 Schools
**Must live in a node with 27% or less F&R, base school must be 27% or less F&R, and crowding factor must be greater than 85%
Ballentine
Brier Creek
Highcroft
Jones Dairy
Morrisville
Salem

Round Five--26 Schools
**No requirement for F&R of your node, base school crowding factor must be at least 85%, and no more than 40% F&R
Adams
Apex
Brooks (magnet)
Combs (magnet)
Dillard Drive
Douglas (magnet)
Durant Road
Farmington Woods
Fuller (magnet)
Fuquay-Varina
Green
Harris Creek
Hilburn Drive
Holly Ridge
Jeffrey's Grove
Joyner (magnet)
North Ridge
Northwoods
Penny Road
Rolesville
Swift Creek
Timber Drive
Underwood (magnet)
Washington (magnet)
Wildwood Forest
Yates Mill

Lottery for the Remaining 10% of Seats--45 Schools
**Comments after each school indicate why it wasn't considered in the first 5 rounds.
Aversboro (53.3% F&R)
Baucom (82.3% crowding, but only 12.1% F&R)
Barwell Road (57.9% F&R)
Brentwood (65.8% F&R, 24.3% Level 1 or 2)
Briarcliff (40.9% F&R, but 112.5% crowding)
Bugg (magnet, 44.4% F&R, but 129.4% crowding)
Carpenter (73.2% crowding, but only 14.7% F&R)
Carver (61.8% F&R, 71.6% crowding)
Cary (40.9% F&R, but 120.6% crowding)
Conn (magnet, 44.8% F&R, but 117.4% crowding)
Creech Road (62.4% F&R, but 109.8 crowding)
East Garner (59% F&R, 52.4% crowding)
Fox Road (52.9% F&R)
Green Hope (82.9% crowding, but only 5.9% F&R)
Hodge Road (58.6% F&R)
Holly Springs (78.7% crowding, but only 17.3% F&R)
Heritage (79.1% crowding, but only 24.4% F&R)
Holly Grove (82.3% crowding, but only 16.9% F&R)
Kingswood (41.4% F&R, but 120.8 crowding)
Knightdale (62% F&R, 83% crowding)
Leesville Road (76.7% crowding, but only 12% F&R)
Leadmine (41.7% F&R, but 101.1% crowding)
Lockhart (45.8% F&R, 75.7% crowding)
Lynn Road (41.7 % F&R, 74.3% crowding)
Middle Creek (77.4% crowding, but only 20.5% F&R)
Millbrook (magnet, 55.5% F&R, but 107.6% crowding)
North Forest Pines (66% crowding, but only 21.6% F&R)
Olive Chapel (81.7% crowding, but only 4.9% F&R)
Poe (47.2% F&R, but 111.7% crowding)
Powell (57.7% F&R, but 115.1% crowding)
Rand Road (82.7% crowding, but only 25.6% F&R)
Reedy Creek (83.6% crowding)
River Bend (57.5% F&R)
Sanford Creek (64.9% crowding)
Smith (70.8% F&R, but 106.8% crowding)
Stough (46.4% F&R)
Vance (75.5% crowding, but only 20.4% F&R)
Vandora Springs (52.2% F&R)
Wakefield (82.4% crowding, but only 25.6% F&R)
Wakelon (78.9% crowding, 63.5% F&R)
Wendell (46.8% F&R, but 105.6 crowding)
Wilburn (79.4% crowding, 53.5% F&R)
Willow Springs (82.8% crowding)
York (49.2% F&R, but 103.7% crowding)
Zebulon (equity magnet, 75.2% crowding, 56.6% F&R)

Magnet Selection Criteria

2008-02-28T13:45:00.002-05:00

I've mentioned here before that the magnet 'lottery' isn't a true lottery. It's weighted--certain nodes of students have a better chance of getting into a magnet than others do. WCPSS has released the selection criteria for this year.

SELECTION CRITERIA – ELEMENTARY MAGNET
Siblings of present magnet students identified on the intent form

After assigning the students who meet the criteria above, the school will determine the number of vacancies available.

90% of these vacancies will be filled from valid applications in the following order:

ROUND ONE (For 2008-09 only)
· M or B from 413, 476, 524, or 548 This translates to magnet or base from Forestville, Root, Olds and Lincoln Heights. Those are 4 of the schools that were demagnetized this year. In the case of Forestville, it was supposed to get a magnet program but then the board decided against it AFTER families had applied for the program. Note that Wake Forest Elementary isn't included on this list because it was an equity magnet, meaning that it was entirely base, no applications. I don't have a problem with them not getting priority for magnet programs, but why do the base populations at the other 4 schools get priority?

ROUND TWO
· Live in a node where the SES percentage for elementary aged children is at least 5% below the county average AND
· Assigned to a base school where the SES for elementary aged children is at least 5% below the county average AND
· Assigned to a base school where the 2-year average of level 1 and 2 percentage students tested is 20% or less AND
· Assigned to a base school that has a current crowding factor above 100% of the adjusted building capacity AND
· Submitted a valid application for the same program the previous year

ROUND THREE
· Same as Round Two with deletion of previous year’s application

ROUND FOUR
· Same as Round Three with the revision of the crowding factor to be above 85% of the adjusted building capacity.

ROUND FIVE
· Assigned to a base school that has a crowding factor above 85% of the adjusted building capacity AND
· Assigned to a base school where the SES for elementary aged children is less than 40% AND
· Assigned to a base school where the 2-year average of level 1 and 2 percentage students tested is 20% or less.

Ten percent (10%) of vacancies identified above will be filled randomly from all remaining valid applications.

SELECTION CRITERIA – SECONDARY MAGNET
The selection process for secondary schools is the same as elementary with the addition of the second priority which states that students currently attending a magnet school and have magnet status have a priority to attend a magnet school in the next grade configuration: middle school or high school.

How Does F&R % Affect EOG Passing Rates? Updated

2008-02-01T14:22:00.000-05:00

As I was updating my spreadsheets with EOG passing rates from the 2006-07 NC Report Cards, I noticed that I made a mistake the first time I posted these figures. I used the F&R percentages from 2006-07 but the EOG passing rates from 2005-06. So I redid the tables with the F&R and EOG rates from the same years. Not much changed--the results still show that the Non-Economically Disadvantaged (NED) children's EOG scores went down as F&R went up while the Economically Disadvantaged (ED) children's scores didn't seem to follow any pattern.

Reassignment Countdown

2007-12-07T12:05:00.000-05:00

Like many of you, I am anxiously awaiting the release of the reassignment plan. Unlike many of you, this is the first year that I've had to worry about it affecting my children directly. This is our first year at our base school, having been at a magnet the previous 4 years. So here I am with that same feeling of dread that so many of you across the county are feeling right now. Except now I have the added guilt of having taken my children out of their protected status and throwing them into this mess.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the desire for stability and what lengths parents will go to achieve it. Private schools, charter schools, homeschooling, and the magnet schools. A good friend of mine said something last year that really struck me. I asked if she had seen that some nodes near her had been reassigned to a year round school and her response was "Well, that's why we were smart enough to go to a magnet school".

I have two big problems with this statement. First, what about all the people who applied for magnet schools but were denied? We were LUCKY enough to get into the magnet system. What about people who would like to go to a magnet but can't make it work with their family's schedule? After school care is a different issue when you don't live or work anywhere near the school. A few magnet schools have regular 'neighborhood' buses, but most offer express buses or no bus at all and that makes it more difficult to arrange child care.

Second, my only reason for applying to a magnet school was because I wanted the special program (in my case, daily Spanish instruction) that only a magnet could provide. After hearing my friend's comment, I started to pay more attention to people when they talked about the magnet they were in and why they chose to attend a magnet. Many people attend a magnet mainly to escape reassignment or to escape their assigned base school for whatever reason. The special programs are secondary to them and that frustrates me.

I don't fault them for seeking a better situation for their children, but I am frustrated that at least some of them got chosen in the 'lottery' instead of somebody who really wanted the magnet programs. Programs that WCPSS is not willing to fund for everybody. If WCPSS is going to hold special academic programs hostage in the magnet schools then families who actually want those programs should be able to get them. Of course there is no answer to this because nobody is going to admit at application time that they are just there for the stability and not the program. But it still makes me angry that withholding academic programs is used as a weapon against families in Wake County.

Only 4.5 more hours until the assignment plan is released. Some of us will be cautiously relieved and some of us will be angry and frustrated. I know that whichever side I fall on I'll be hoping for the best for all of you. Good luck everybody.

Updated F&R Numbers

2007-12-06T12:06:00.000-05:00

I've been MIA for a while and hopefully that will change starting with this post. Now that the F&R figures are out for the current year, I'm updating my list of schools that are over 50% F&R. The table below shows the schools currently over 50% along with their F&R% from last year. All schools are elementary unless there is an MS after the name.

The Magnet "Lottery"

2007-08-22T17:04:00.000-04:00

I was talking to an acquaintance a few weeks ago about school issues and something really surprised me. She had no idea that the magnet lottery wasn't a 'true' lottery. She thought that everybody had an equal chance of getting in--that they just drew the names out of one big "pot". This woman is highly educated and very involved in her childrens' lives and she didn't know this. It made me wonder how many other people don't know this simple truth about our system. I suspect that its a lot.

How do they choose the 'winners' of the magnet lottery if they don't just draw their names out of a hat? First, any siblings are given preference, as are students moving from a magnet elementary or middle to a magnet middle or high school. Those two criteria make sense and although it can make it harder for newcomers or students transfering from a non-magnet to get in, it is understandable. Diversity is the next and most significant criteria in choosing who gets the coveted magnet and voluntary year round seats. Higher income students coming from low poverty schools have a much better chance of getting a seat than higher income students coming from high poverty schools. Under our system, higher income students (and their families) are far too valuable to high poverty schools to let them out. If the low poverty school is overcrowded, then that's an even bigger advantage for the higher income student.

The converse is true as well. If a lower income student wants to leave a low poverty school to attend a magnet, his chances are pretty low. Not only do they need him to 'diversify' the low poverty school, but chances are that the magnet he's applying to has enough of his kind already. (Unless its a western ITB magnet, but that's a different issue altogether and one that's been addressed somewhat by the demagnetization of Root and Olds). Actually, low income students get treated the worst under this system.

Low poverty schools need low income students to diversify their student populations and it doesn't matter how they get there. If they already live in a base area near a low poverty school, they have a lower chance of being granted admission to a magnet and if they live elsewhere they can be bused into a low poverty school from as far as 15 miles away. If they live near a magnet school like Hunter or Ligon they are likely bused out to make room for the suburban/higher income students. If they do remain at the magnet school, they are often segregated from the higher income children by virtue of the special programs that are offered. The final 10% of magnet seats are drawn as a true lottery and I have talked to one BOE member who mentioned being surprised that a higher income student was let out of a high poverty school until s/he realized that the student got into the magnet under the '10% rule'.

As awful as the above instances are, the most distressing thing to me is that nowhere is the welfare or academic achievement of individual students taken into account. Diversity in our school system is a good thing, but when it is taken to the extreme it becomes a liability. When we think of our students solely as F&R numbers and not as children with individual academic, family, and social needs it is a travesty.

Now What?

2007-08-14T11:44:00.000-04:00

Well now that the BOE voted to demagnetize Root, Olds, Lincoln Heights, and Wake Forest Elementaries what's the next step? Obviously they will be looking at other schools at which to place the magnet programs, but how will they decide which schools? Beverley Clark has suggested Fox Road as a school to consider and it indeed has had a rocky history. Its doesn't have one of the highest F&R percentages in the county, but it has had trouble retaining its higher income base families. In the most recent reassignment plan, several nodes from North Raleigh were moved in to Fox Road, partly to lower the F&R percentage there. Many of those families objected to the move and it will be interesting to see how many will actually attend the school. In addition, I think that Fox Road is fairly underenrolled at the moment (I am operating without my laptop right now, which has all of my spreadsheets and documents on it).

It seems like a logical place to put a magnet program. Offer special academic opportunties and not only will the middle class base families will attend but more middle class families will enter through the magnet process. It's a win-win situation, right? It appears so, but it gets me thinking of other, unintended consequences. What does it say to the lower income families at the school? That the school is good enough for them but its only good enough for the middle class families if there are 'extras' available? That they don't deserve extra programs unless its to attract middle class students?

Perhaps all magnets should only have a low income base and then the rest of the seats can be filled by magnet applicants. That way, we won't have some groups of middle or upper class parents who get the magnet programs for 'free' while somebody who lives directly across the street from them but is in a different assignment node has to apply and hope that they get in. Of course it also begs the question "Why does anybody deserve the programs for 'free' while the rest of us must sacrifice"?

Removing the magnet programs from the 4 above mentioned schools was the right thing to do and it is a good first step. I'm not sure what the next step should be but I am hopeful that the decision process will open up the door for some honest discussion about fair access to magnet programs for all students in the county.

Magnet Status

2007-07-27T15:33:00.000-04:00

As you may know, the school board decided back in May to eliminate the magnet programs at 4 elementary schools: Root, Lincoln Heights, Olds and Wake Forest. A final vote was scheduled to take place at the June 5th board meeting, but upset parents persuaded the BOE to delay the vote. What for? Magnet programs have been under review for a while now and with good reason. The magnet office did a study (although it has some flaws in my opinion), presented that information to the BOE, then the decision was made. In typical wishy washy fashion, the BOE let themselves be influenced by parent groups. The same thing happened with the original mandatory year round plan--we went from everybody converting to some form of year round to 30 schools to the final 22, all in an effort to placate some parents.

So why am I for the 'demagnetization' of these schools? Because they no longer meet the criteria for magnet schools--they are neither underenrolled nor in high poverty areas. Root has an F&R rate of 27.1%, Olds is 23%, and Wake Forest is 14.3%--well under the overall Wake County F&R rate of 32%. Admittedly, I do not know enough about Lincoln Heights and its base area to make a judgment, but I do know enough about the other three. Wake Forest Elementary is an Equity Magnet, meaning that nobody can apply to attend. It is only comprised of a base population that is 14.3% F&R, which is the 12th lowest F&R rate for Wake elementary schools. WFE students enjoy electives such as dance, foreign language, and orchestra in their own neighborhood school--no long bus rides downtown like the rest of us.

Root and Olds are true magnets, but they have large neighborhood base areas and actually bus low income children into their schools from downtown. So not only do they have low F&R rates, but many of the F&R children don't even live in the area around the school. This would be the equivalent of putting a magnet program in at Wakefield Elementary. You can take a look at their base attendance maps here:
Root Attendance Map

Olds Attendance Map

There has been some talk of Olds and Wake Forest finding their own funding so they can keep some of the magnet programs at their schools. Sounds reasonable, right? But what about the other schools that would like to offer extras to their students but are prohibited from doing so? Will the BOE and WCPSS allow any school to offer band, orchestra, or other extras if they come up with the money themselves? No, because then not enough families from those schools will apply to magnets and they want those higher income 'suburban' families to attend magnets. Although I can sympathize with the base families at Root, Olds and Wake Forest, if WCPSS allows them to keep their programs then all schools should be allowed to offer special programs.

Decision Time

2007-07-20T18:15:00.000-04:00

Are we in a capacity crisis in our schools? WCPSS and the BOE say yes, but their actions say no. Sure, they converted 22 schools to the year round calendar, but even before Judge Manning's ruling they denied applicants to voluntary year round if it didn't suit their diversity goals. After Manning's ruling, when families could opt out of year round and WCPSS found many of their year round schools underenrolled, they still refused to allow students into the year round seats.

My husband and I applied for year round for our two elementary age sons. After being initally rejected, we pursued it all the way through the appeals process. We offered to attend any track at any of the four year round schools located within five miles of our home. We were denied those schools but were offered one 11 miles away, which we turned down. After the latest figures were released showing two of our choices at less than 80% capacity we made some additional phone calls asking them to please reconsider our applicantion, but they still turned us down. I asked Growth Management why and the answer was "We're leaving those seats open for new growth".

Only 13% of applicants were accepted this year at our year round option, Durant Road Elementary, which is severely overcrowded. Even though Durant has been overcrowded and hard to get into for several years now, the BOE voted to assign a new higher income node there for next year. Why would they do this when that means there are even fewer seats available to applicants? I asked Growth Management when they were going to offer families in my area a true year round option. The answer? If we do that, then too many higher income families will apply and the F&R numbers will increase at surrounding schools.

WCPSS and the BOE caused upheaval and lost the trust of some families with the year round conversions, but now they are blatantly squandering this new resource that they've fought so hard for. They continue to whine and blame Judge Manning's decision for the underenrolled year round schools and overcrowded traditional schools, but they only have themselves to blame. Its decision time, WCPSS. Which is the most pressing issue, finding seats for all of our students or trying to balance the F&R rates? It seems you can't do both.

Some Interesting Reading

2007-07-18T20:00:00.000-04:00

I found this article online today and thought it was a fairly balanced look at our school issues even though its a bit dated. Its not too long and its quite readable. Enjoy!

Wake County Schools: A Question of Balance

Equal Representation?

2007-07-18T16:33:00.001-04:00

We all know that the WCPSS is split into 9 districts, with each electing a member of the Board of Education. Most of us assume that those districts are fairly drawn and that we are adequately represented. However, the districts are only redrawn after each major US Census--every 10 years. So with all of the 'explosive growth' we've experienced in Wake County since 2000, I wonder how well these districts are representing us now.

I haven't quite figured out exactly how they decide where to draw the district lines, but I did find some comments on the WCPSS website about how the lines are redrawn. From here

ATTORNEY BRIEFS BOARD ON REDISTRICTING
Attorney Michael Crowell talked to the Board of Education at its Monday (March 19) meeting about redistricting the Board of Education seats. Crowell told the Board after each federal census, election districts must be redrawn to meet the standard of one person, one vote. Crowell said that means the districts must not differ in population by more than ten percent. Crowell noted that there is no secret that population growth over the last ten years has shifted to the county's west. He said computer software will help advise on changes that need to be made. He offered a series of guidelines for use in redistricting based on the 1990 redistricting.
· To comply with one-person, one-vote, no district should be more than five percent above or below the population of the ideal-size district.
· Districts should not split precincts.
· Each district should retain their present configuration to the extent feasible.
· Districts should be reasonably compact.
· Outside Raleigh and Cary, incorporated municipalities should not be split.
· The area of concentrated African-American population centered in Southeast Raleigh should not be divided unnecessarily.
· To avoid questions about adequate representation, new boundaries should not be drawn to take incumbents out of their districts.
· In analyzing district population balance, political party registration should not be taken into account.
· Areas that expect the greatest population growth should have districts with the lowest population, and areas that expect lower growth should have districts with the greatest population.
Board chairman Bill Fletcher said the public would be offered the opportunity to comment on the guidelines in the public hearing at the April 2 board meeting.

I also found a brief follow up on how the districts were adjusted. From here

BOARD APPROVES REDISTRICTING
A new redistricting plan for Wake school board seats was approved by the Board of Education at its Tuesday night meeting (May 29). The board used data from the 2000 Census and advice from its legal staff to draw districts equal in population. The nine districts had to include between 66,723 and 73,249 voters to meet legal requirements. Growth in the past decade has occurred in western and Southwest Wake, and those two districts shrunk. Central and Southeast Raleigh had the least growth. Those districts grew. Fuquay-Varina and Willow Springs moved from District 8 in Southwest Wake to District 2, which now primarily consists of Garner. Some precincts in South Raleigh shifted from District 2 to District 4.

I was not able to find current population numbers for each district, but I did take a look at how many students are in each district. While its not an accurate look at district representation, I found it interesting nonetheless. If nothing else, I think it gives us an additional criteria to consider when redrawing the district lines in 2010: number of students in each district should be more equal. Eleanor Goattee represents less than half as many students as some of her colleagues, but her vote carries the same weight.

Another Look

2007-07-17T13:20:00.000-04:00

The data in my last post seemed to show that Economically Disadvantaged (ED) elementary students aren't affected as strongly by rising F&R rates as Non-ED elementary students are. Actually, it didn't seem to indicate that F&R rates made much difference at all on the passing rates of ED students, which honestly surprised me. I decided to look at the same information in another way to see if it yielded different results.

Remember that the Wake County average for elementary students passing both the reading and math EOGs are 45.9% for ED students and 83.9 for NED. The passing rates for elementary ED students ran from a low of 19.7% at Poe to a high of 76.9% at Cedar Fork. For elementary NED students, they ranged from a low of 50% at Brentwood to a high of >95% at Washington, Apex and Dillard Drive.

Again, I am not a statistician and I'm not intending to prove or disprove anything. I do not know what the answers are nor how I would change the diversity policy. What I do know is that I am not willing to simply shuffle children around to make F&R numbers look good and call it a success. Academic achievement of all children should be the number one goal of WCPSS and we need to seriously question whether or not this particular policy is raising achievement.

Does the Diversity Policy Make a Difference?

2007-07-12T17:03:00.000-04:00

Surrounding lower income children with higher income children is supposed to help them achieve. It makes perfect sense, really. Children from higher income families often have higher expectations placed on them by parents and teachers alike. Being surrounded by children who have more expected of them will rub off on the low income/low achieving children. Those from bad home environments can see a different way of life that may inspire them to work towards a higher goal. I have always believed this theory because it makes logical sense to me and because I really want it to be true. I want to believe that something so relatively simple can make a positive difference in these childrens' lives.

As I mentioned in my first blog entry, the distance that some of the low income children are bused has been a concern of mine. After spending four years sending my children to a magnet school that is 11 miles from our home, my husband and I made the very difficult decision to leave. The distance, and more importantly, the amount of time we spend taking our children to and from school has gotten to be too much to bear. We have no bus service offered to us, although for the past 2 years we have been 'illegally' using an express bus stop that is about 7.5 miles away from home. Using that stop brought our commute time down from almost 2 hours a day to about 1 hour and 40 minutes a day.

I realize that the low income nodes assigned far from home are given bus service to and from school, but what about parent/teacher conferences, volunteering, attending special programs or even picking up a sick child from school? Most of us take these things for granted but when you attend school that far from home it becomes a real issue. When you don't have a car and/or work a job with inflexible hours it is more than an inconvenience, it is a burden. When the assignment plans are announced each year, the public is given the opportunity to make comments online. Anybody can request to see those comments, which I did this past year. One comment in particular really put things in perspective for me. A single mother who was also a student at NCSU requested that her child not be assigned to the proppsed school, which was fairly far away. She stated that if her child missed the bus or needed to be picked up for some reason, she could not afford the cab fare to get to the school. Like I said, most of us take it for granted that we can get to our childrens' school if we need to. What about those who can't? Does WCPSS take this into consideration when they assign children so far from home?

WCPSS and some groups claim that busing these children to higher income schools is for their benefit, but I've yet to see any proof of this. Wake does not track the performance of these children before and after they are moved so all we have to go on is the good hearted belief that this will work. So I decided to do a little research on my own to see what I could come up with. I do not have information to track the performance of students who are bused a long way vs those that aren't, but we can look at the theory that lower income children perform better in higher income environments.

I freely admit that I am not a statistician, nor am I a professional researcher. I relied upon data from WCPSS and the NC School Report Cards. Performance on the End Of Grade tests (EOGs) is really the only reliable statistic that I had available to me, and I looked at the rates at which both Economically Disadvantaged (ED) and Non Economically Disadvantaged(NED)students passed both the reading and math EOGs. I have only looked at the scores for elementary age students so far, and only at grades 3-5 since EOGs are not given to K-2 students. 5 new elementary schools opened for the 2006-07 school year and therefore did not have scores available.

The state average for Economically Disadvantaged students passing
BOTH the math and reading EOGs is 45.1%. Wake County average is 45.9% with individual schools ranging from 19.7% to 76.9%

The state average for Non Economically Disadvantaged students passing both tests is 75.4%. Wake's average is 83.9%, with individual schools ranging from 50% to more than 95%.

Exceeding the Limit.

2007-07-11T17:25:00.000-04:00

We all know that WCPSS's diversity policy calls for no schools to have more than 40% of their students receiving free and reduced lunch. Most people know that we have some schools that exceed that upper limit. What most people do not know is how far out of compliance some of the schools are or where they are located. These figures are not publicized by WCPSS and it is never reported by the local or national media. Wake County receives accolades for its diversity policy but it is never held up to any scrutiny.

In the 2006-07 school year WCPSS had 16 elementary schools with more than 50% F&R.

Vandora Springs	51.8%
Powell	52.6	Gifted/Talented Magnet
Fox Road	53.8
Zebulon	54.8	Gifted/Talented Equity Magnet*
Aversboro	56.4
River Bend	56.9
Knightdale	58.1
Millbrook	58.3	International Baccalaureate Magnet
Barwell Road	59.3
Wilburn	60.9
Creech Road	61.8
Hodge Road	64.0
Carver	64.9
Brentwood	66.7
Smith	69.4
Wakelon	71.4

*Equity magnets do not allow applications. Equity magnets were put in place to keep middle class families from fleeing those schools.

Note that these are the figures for this past school year, before Judge Manning's ruling. His ruling may make it harder for the school system to distribute F&R students evenly, but they weren't doing so well at it in the first place. I will update with the figures for the 2007-08 school year when they are released.

My Voice

2007-07-11T16:09:00.000-04:00

I’m about as liberal as they come. Not Chapel Hill liberal, mind you, but liberal none the less. When we moved to Raleigh in 1998 I was surprised and delighted to learn that Wake County Public Schools had a diversity policy in place. I was proud to live in a community that wanted to prevent inner city schools full of low income, mostly minority students that nobody wanted to teach at or send their children to. Coming from Illinois, I had witnessed this very thing in the Chicago area and it wasn’t pretty. I was concerned about the distance that some of the low income children were bused but I felt that the payoff was worth it.

I always rode a bus to school, so I don’t wax nostalgic for neighborhood schools within walking distance. I know it is not feasible in the quickly growing, sprawling areas of Wake County, but I do think it makes sense for students to attend a school within a reasonable distance of their homes. They should not be traveling 10 miles from home and passing by 4 or 5 other schools to get to their own. Not only is it wasteful in terms of busing, but local schools foster community in a way that distant schools cannot. I also think that special academic opportunities should be available to everybody in Wake County, not just a select few.

I had always believed, as do most people I know, that schools in central and southeast Raleigh would be in dire straits if it weren’t for diversity busing and magnet programs. That poverty in the county was concentrated in central and southeast Raleigh and offering magnet programs was the only way to ensure those schools’ health. I also believed that the rest of the county was fairly well off in comparison and attending magnets in order to get special programs was a necessary and fair sacrifice for us to make. After a few years of driving my children 11 miles each way to and from a magnet school in a neighborhood that I cannot afford to buy a house in, I really started to question the school system’s policies. Who is benefitting from them and who is being hurt? I began looking up facts for myself instead of relying on what WCPSS and the media were reporting. I’ve decided to share what I’ve found with others so we can all be more informed about what is really happening in our school system and to ensure that we all receive equal access to a quality education.