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Aug. 16-31, 2010, News Archive
8/29/10 The odds against black youth
"Remedies for these problems can at least be imagined. But America's tragic number - tragic because it is difficult to conceive remedial policies - is 70 percent. This is the portion of African-American children born to unmarried women. It may explain what puzzles Nathan Glazer."
8/29/10 The lessons in male graduation rates
"White males didn't do that much better, with graduation rates in Louisiana, South Carolina and Florida ranging from 57 percent to 59 percent. In Cleveland, 27 percent of black males graduated; just 30 percent of white males did. In Detroit, 27 percent of black males graduated, but just 19 percent of white males did."
8/29/10 Fighting the dropout battle
"About 9,600 ninth-graders have just entered Charlotte-Mecklenburg high schools. If trends continue, 2,880 of them will be gone by the time their classmates graduate in 2014."
8/28/10 Wake to rethink activity bus service
"The school board had agreed to eliminate the activity bus service earlier this year to help deal with the tight budget. But with the start of traditional-calendar schools on Wednesday, parents have complained about losing the bus service used by students who take part in sports, clubs or other extracurricular activities."
8/27/10 Wake County board to meet on after-school busing
"Wade Martin, principal at Martin Middle School, said the loss of the service has hit the school's low-income families the most."
8/27/10 Margiotta is firm on diversity policy
"Wake County school board Chairman Ron Margiotta held firm Thursday that the school system will no longer mandate diversity in student assignments even as he lobbied for the support of business leaders who are wary of the changes."
8/27/10 Changing classrooms
"In the same week that most North Carolina public school students are starting a new school year, a major federal grant offers the state a chance for a new school era."
8/27/10 Ron Margiotta on diversity and choice in student assignment
"Jim Beck, chairman of the Chamber's education committee, then said that there is a major portion of the community that values diversity. He asked Margiotta "how can we honor that and honor your values as well?"
8/27/10 Margiotta predicting 2011 election wins in Hill's and McLaurin's districts
"What could shake things up will be the new district boundaries that will be drawn up and used next year. Hill's district will be shrunk while McLaurin's district will have to expand to balance out populations."
8/27/10 Margiotta firm on ending diversity plan
"Wake County Board of Education Chairman Ron Margiotta is defending his push to end a busing program that encourages diversity."
8/26/10 Details abound in bid to aid disadvantaged Wake students, along with some major questions
"In a Thursday committee meeting otherwise dedicated to the nitty-gritty of what's good about Wake County schools and what holds the system back from helping disadvantaged students, there were two moments devoted to broad issues - race and the direction that student assignment is going."
8/26/10 Wake school board chairman will likely step down
"Wake County school board chairman Ron Margiotta said Thursday that he is 95 percent sure he will not run for re-election when his term ends in November 2011."
8/26/10 Margiotta asks business leaders for cooperation on school changes
"Margiottta made his speech at the Summer Leadership Conference of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce. The group made diversity one of its core principles for student assignment, a position rejected by the board majority."
8/26/10 Wouldn't be prudent
"I am eternally grateful that I have no children in the Wake County Public School System. I am less concerned about changes being made than how decisions are made and the implications of that decision-making process."
8/26/10 Ron Margiotta asks business leaders to cooperate with school board
"Margiotta was the opening speaker this morning at the Chamber's Summer Leadership Conference in Greensboro. Margiotta was walking into a tough crowd considering how the Chamber adopted diversity earlier this year as one of its core principals for student assignment."
8/26/10 Moving Wake to the "desired state" for helping economically disadvantaged students
"The first three meetings of the task force have largely consisted of hearing presentations about different things going on in the district. But for today's agenda, the task force will focus on discussing what the "desired state" should be for serving Wake's economically disadvantaged students."
8/26/10 Eliminating after-school activity bus service
"You've got some unhappy families right now dealing with the loss of after-school activity buses that dropped off Wake County students to community centers near their homes."
8/26/10 Local filmmaker Cash Michaels on Obama, Wake schools and race in N.C.
"One problem he sees, Michaels says, is that there's "tremendous pressure" on black leaders in Raleigh to cut a deal with the school board majority so the schools issue can be put to rest. The pressure is coming from the business community, which recognizes the damage being done to Raleigh's "progressive" image."
8/26/10 Failure to plan
"Those who oppose the school board's decision to abandon the district's nationally renowned diversity policy are not hoping to see the board fail. They are motivated by a desire to make sure our students succeed. Education experts say that diversity is necessary for school excellence. Unfortunately, if the board majority fails - meaning Wake County ends up with more schools and more students struggling- it will be because they dismissed the current plan without a plan to replace it."
8/25/10 Gov. Perdue "honored and privileged" to award Rev. Barber
"Perdue, who was at Wiley Elementary School this afternoon, told WTVD she was "honored and privileged to give him the award." The award has been criticized by supporters of the Wake County school board majority."
8/25/10 Tying Wake's school diversity fight with future of economic affirmative action
"Does the end of the Wake County school system's socioeconomic diversity policy mean that economic affirmative action programs are also in doubt?"
8/25/10 Will Economic Affirmative Action Go the Way of Race-Based Programs?
"In the Research Triangle of North Carolina, there's a struggle over school busing that probably signals serious problems for the future of economic affirmative action - the idea that only a few years ago had been the hope of those looking to replace legally questionable programs based on race."
8/25/10 School activity buses halted
"Thousands of families across Wake County could have schedules disrupted beginning this week with the elimination of all after-school activity buses in a cost-cutting move."
8/25/10 Tedesco talks about new school year
"Wake County school board member talks about the new school year, student assignment and budgeting."
8/25/10 Winning 'Race to Top' thrills N.C. educators
"North Carolina's children today are one step closer to being guaranteed the best education possible - something every child deserves," Perdue said in a statement. "This grant will give us the resources to more aggressively implement our plan to ensure that all of our children graduate ready for a career, college or technical training."
8/25/10 School can build better brains
"Students can improve brain function without a moment of additional study - no extra books, computer drills or tutoring sessions."
8/25/10 Diversity policy supporters to hold prayer meetng Monday
"In a press release, the Rev. Nancy Petty, Pullen's senior pastor, announced that the public prayer meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at her church."
8/24/10 Perdue's Career and College: Ready, Set, Go! Funded by Race to the Top Grant
8/24/10 Pro-diversity prayer meeting slated at Pullen Baptist Monday night
"Leaders in the pro-diversity movement who are battling the Wake school board majority to stop resegregation of the county's school system, have called a prayer meeting for Monday, August 30 at 7 p.m. in Pullen Memorial Baptist Church."
8/24/10 N.C. among winners of school reform grant
"North Carolina has been named a winner of up to $400 million in the national "Race to the Top" school reform grant competition. Other winners are Georgia, New York, Ohio, Florida, Maryland, Hawaii, Massachusetts and Rhode Island."
8/24/10 N.C. among 'Race to the Top' grant winners
"The 10 winning Phase 2 applications in alphabetical order are: the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Rhode Island."
8/24/10 N.C. HEAT selling anti-Margiotta buttons
"We at NC H.E.A.T. believe that it is time the people of Wake County make a choice... which path will you choose?"
8/23/10 Arguing Keith Sutton was nearly arrested because of his race?
"Just ask yourself this, if school board Chairman Ron Margiotta or member John Tedesco had positioned themselves between demonstrators and police would they have had their arms yanked behind their backs?," according to the blog post. "I don't think so."
8/23/10 Luebke criticizing Gov. Perdue for honoring Rev. Barber
"If Perdue finds Barber's work so laudatory, you have to wonder why either has said little to nothing about that same policy which has been in place for years in many of the state's other school districts. The selective indignation makes it difficult to take either's comments seriously."
8/23/10Cloud hangs over classes
"Economic times are challenging," said interim Wake Superintendent Donna Hargens. "What we really need to do is look at the things with the biggest impact and protect them."
8/23/10 Barber receives Order of the Long Leaf Pine
"The Order of the Long Leaf Pine, one of the highest honors the governor can bestow on a North Carolina resident, was created in the mid-1960s to recognize a proven record of service or some other special achievement."
8/22/10 Los Angeles unveils costliest school in the nation
"With an eye-popping price tag of $578 million, it will mark the inauguration of the nation's most expensive public school ever."
8/22/10 Rev. William Barber receives high honor
Governor Bev Perdue presented NAACP President Reverend William Barber with a high honor at a banquet in Durham on Saturday evening."
8/22/10 In Wake school zone maps, one goal or another suffers
"Board Chairman Ron Margiotta has said he has no intention of creating high-poverty schools under the new plan, but the demographic breakdowns produced by The N&O show that concentrations of minority and low-income people across the county will make it difficult to keep that from happening."
8/22/10 Blundering partisans
"The inflexible, incompetent, irresponsible ideologues are an embarrassment, creating chaos and a negative reputation for Wake County that will hurt property values, business and quality of life."
8/22/10 Looking at the demographics and boundaries of the sample zone maps
"The Wake County school board will have to weigh the pros and cons of going with a small number of large community assignment zones or a large number of small zones."
8/21/10 Bye, bye, board
"Sorry, but the Wake County school board forced our hand. It will be interesting in a few years to see whether there is a trend to our exodus."
8/21/10 John Tedesco wants Wake to do teacher effectiveness study using EVAAS
"A Wake study could back or weaken arguments that eliminating the diversity policy will cause more good teachers to flee from high-poverty schools."
8/20/10 Concept makes sense for students
"Is it financially and logistically practical that there can be equal facilities in all neighborhoods staffed with equally adept teachers and staff? Adjusting the neighborhood school concept to accommodate logistical reality is the chore facing those charged with the task."
8/20/10 Big problems await answers
"Migration over the past 10 years has lured many people here for jobs, and they often have chosen to live in Wake County because of our nationally recognized school system. Now these same folks want to transform Wake's system to what they were familiar with back home - economically and racially homogenous, proximate schools."
8/20/10 Current choices
"I checked the WCPSS website and selected five random nodes all over the county. Parents in each of those nodes have 25-27 choices of schools for their students to attend from K-12, including calendar choice and magnet options, with transportation provided!"
8/20/10 Bad outcomes
"They seem to be suffering from the delusion that their actions are exempt from real world consequences. Unfortunately, it is our children and our community who are really going to suffer from those consequences. I don't think the majority of their supporters at the polls were voting for that."
8/20/10 Magnet money safety
"Magnet school money is safe for a year, as Wake County recently received an extension on a federal grant that had expired. But the school board's Resolution Expressing Board Commitment to Efforts of Voluntary Desegregation, which slipped by last spring with little comment, is a shaky foundation upon which to rest any hope of future federal magnet funding."
8/20/10 White nationalists following Wake school diversity fight
"The white nationalists have also been monitoring the student assignment fight. American Renaissance, called a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, regularly carries excerpts of news stories about the ongoing situation in Wake."
8/20/10 The Follies: Keeping kids free from education
"If children don't want to go to school, they shouldn't have to. That would require amending the state constitution of course, since the founders the Right always speaks so fondly of mandated that kids get an education."
8/20/10 Ties between educational group, GOP donors hint at political motivations of Wake County School Board
"In the fall of 2009, Republicans won a majority of seats on the Wake County School Board, doing so with the help of the Wake County Republican Party's PAC money. "We spent every nickel last year on the school board races, and we've had to replenish our coffers."
8/20/10 Don't Drop Out of School Innovation
"How much evidence does the government need before trying something new in the troubled realm of public education? Should there be airtight proof that a pioneering program works before we commit federal money to it - or is it sometimes worth investing in promising but unproven innovations?"
8/20/10 Student achievement summit celebrates successes
"More than 250 educators, principals, community members, and teachers gathered on August 20 at Raleigh (NC) Athens Drive High school to hear how 12 Wake County Public Schools (WCPSS) are closing achievement gaps*. The annual summit was planned by WCPSS Raising Achievement and Closing Gaps Task Force."
8/19/10 Consequences
"Members of the Wake County school board majority, who've upended the assignment policy that attempted to factor in economic diversity and thus avoid isolating the poor and resegregation, shouldn't be surprised that an influential accreditation group has decided to drop in for a visit this fall."
8/19/10 Getting a handle on suspensions
"Research shows that suspended students are more likely to drop out of school, to exhibit behavioral problems and to be involved with crime. Social deviance, isolation, poor academic achievement and unemployment are also more likely, making this everyone's problem - taxpayers, employers and the public at large."
?8/19/10 Bob Geary calling Wake the "school board of no"
"Bob Geary is mocking the Wake County school board majority for its slow pace in developing a new student assignment plan."
8/19/10 Noting Margiotta isn't a "native North Carolina name"
"Add this to the list of the natives vs. outsiders argument in the Wake County school diversity fight."
8/19/10 L.A. teacher ratings challenge assumptions about teacher effectiveness
"The newspaper analyzed student records in the Los Angeles Unified School System to perform a value-added analysis of teacher effectiveness. The newspaper's plan to post online a database of the results of 6,000 elementary school teachers has produced an uproar, including a mass boycott from the teacher's union."
8/18/10 GSIW accuses "private school supporters" of making "false statements" about school system
"In a press release today, GSIW says that private school supporters are calling the school system "unpopular" and a "failure." It says these remarks "appears part of an orchestrated plan to discredit and undermine the award-winning Wake County Public School System."
8/18/10 Catching every school board member's whisper
"This is the second time people have focused on remarks Margiotta made over an open microphone that weren't intended for public consumption. An issue was made over his "here come the animals out of the cages" remark at the March 2 board meeting."
8/18/20 The Wake school board: Brought to you by the letters N and O
"With a new school year beginning and the start of an election season upon us in Wake County, it is helpful to review where we are and where we're not after nine months of the new anti-diversity school board majority."
8/18/10 Watch Margiotta's flip flop on high-poverty schools
"What a difference three weeks makes if you are Wake School Board Chair Ron Margiotta. In his prepared remarks before the July 20th school board meeting Margiotta said,..."
8/18/10 Great Schools in Wake group denounces unfounded attack on public schools
"The good folks at GSIW are out with an excellent statement this afternoon that rightfully denounces a local right-wing pundit for his false statements about the Wake County schools."
8/18/10 Under scrutiny, Wake County schools rethink long-term suspensions
"By changing the policy, they hope to keep more kids in school while maintaining a safe campus environment."
8/18/20 CMS launches pay-to-play system for school sports
"CMS is requiring student-athletes in middle and high schools to pay participation fees, beginning this year, in reaction to the school system's budget cuts. Middle school students must pay $50, and there is a $100 fee for high school students."
8/18/10 School credentials team to scrutinize Wake
"The AdvancED review team, scheduled to spend three days in Raleigh in September or October, is charged with determining whether the school board is making decisions based on the best interests of students and the community and whetherthe board is following its own policies, Elgart said.. If the answers don't satisfy the team, Wake's 24 high schools could lose the accreditation that makes it easier for students to get scholarships, loans and college acceptances."
8/18/10 Goal: graduates
"On Aug. 4, State Schools Superintendent June Atkinson announced that North Carolina's high school graduation rates were improving. The four- and five-year graduation rates increased by 2.4 and 1.8 percentage points, respectively, continuing the progress over the past four years."
8/18/10 Wake facing "rare" and "serious" review to keep accreditation
"The review could result in Wake's 24 high schools losing the accreditation that makes it easier for students to get scholarships and loans and be admitted into colleges and military programs."
8/18/10 Rick Martinez says accreditation review team can "declare diversity a diversion
"The AdvancED audit team has a real opportunity when it visits Raleigh," Martinez writes. "It can declare diversity a diversion and call for ground-breaking action on the fundamental problem that plagues Wake County and the American K-12 public school system - the academic failure of African-American and Hispanic males."
8/18/10 CMS talking year-round schools
"Board directs staff to study the idea as a means to relieve school overcrowding."
8/17/10 Accreditation group plans review of changes in Wake schools
"The group sent a letter to Donna Hargens, school system interim superintendent, on July 28 outlining concerns and questions raised in a complaint filed in March."
8/17/10 Accrediting organization to review Wake's abandonment of diversity policy
"The agency that accredits Wake County's high schools is reviewing all of the major policy changes adopted by the new school board majority, including abandoning the socioeconomic diversity policy."
8/17/10 Wake debates how to pay rent on school headquarters
"They've already signed a lease for new Wake County schools headquarters in Cary, but some members of the Wake Board of Commissioners still want to know more about where the money's coming from to pay for it."
8/17/10 Chuck Dulaney on using student assignment to help student achievement
"Dulaney, the first speaker at the Great Schools in Wake Coalition's back-to-schools forum, said that using student assignment to balance schools can provide students the opportunities and support they need to succeed. Along the way, he said the distance that students travel to school is less important than what's at the school they attend."
8/17/10 Accredtiing group to review Wake's change in student assignment policy
"For instance, AdvancED want to know who developed the new community based assignment initiative and what studies and info was used to justify the move from the socioeconomic diversity policy."
8/17/10 Accreditation Agency Reviewing Wake Co. School Board
"Our primary concern is are they governing in the best interest of the students and the community and to not only look at the process they followed but the determination regarding student assignment," Elgart said by phone."
8/16/10 Sub ‘zero'
"The system, and parents or mentors, obviously have to try to turn things around for students whose behavior gets them a long-term suspension. The board's move toward easing "zero tolerance" will give them an opportunity to do so."
8/16/10 School board majority members to attend GOP rally today
"In addition to the school board members, various other Republican elected officials in Wake and GOP candidates running in this fall's elections will be on hand. Gurley is not one of the GOP officials or candidates who is listed as appearing today."
8/16/10 CCCAAC applauds GreatSchools recognition of Wake school system
"The Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children is applauding the recognition that the Wake County school system and the old diversity policy received in GreatSchools' rankings of the top cities for public schools."
8/16/10 John Hood on the "failed" defense of Wake's diversity policy
"He says a big reason is that liberals don't have the data to show that the policy has improved the achievement of Wake's disadvantaged students."
