 |  |  |
Feb. 16-31, 2011, News Archive
2/28/11 Rage Simmering Among American Teachers
"Education historian Diane Ravitch says the teachers on the front lines of labor rallies in Wisconsin reflect growing anger among educators nationwide. Teachers are sick and tired, she says, of being blamed for the ills of America's public schools."
2/28/11 Tata to take the NC HEAT on Thursday
"Call it Round 2: When Wake Schools Superintendent Tony Tata debuted in Raleigh at the Wake County Taxpayers Association meeting in January, protesting NC HEAT members were there to greet him, as seen above. Since Tata was spending time with the conservative and anti-diversity taxpayers group, they asked him, how about meeting with the members of our progressive, pro-diversity HEAT organization? (HEAT stands for Heroes Emerging Among Teens.)"
2/28/11 Wake principals criticize board in feedback to Tata
"Wake County principals sounded off on the "strained" relationship between the school board and school system staff in an informal feedback session with new Superintendent Tony Tata last month."
2/28/11 Parents plead for parity among Raleigh schools
"Since losing 70 percent of its student population - and the entire PTA board - to another school three years ago, Hilburn has seen a steady decline in resources and test scores. Parents and staff are getting desperate and are appealing to the school district for help."
2/28/11 Wake school board's debate stings principals
"The tone for the current board majority is disrespectful to school staff members." one principal wrote. "... Political agendas prevail at the expense of students. What was once a flagship system is now a national joke."
2/28/11 School task force meeting this week on new student assignment plan
"Superintendent Tony Tata said he'll convene this week the task force of school staff he's formed to develop the new assignment plan. He's still sticking with his goal of having a plan to present to the school board by late spring."
2/27/11 Seeking Integration, Whatever the Path
"In most places that would have been it. Not here. This is a well-educated labor force (50 percent of employees are college graduates) that works in the high-tech Research Triangle and is predisposed to finding new ways to solve complex problems."
2/27/11 New York Times compares Wake County school board meetings to Cartoon Network
"What do Wake County school board meetings and the Cartoon Network have in common?"
2/25/11 SOUTHEAST RALEIGH'S NEWEST SCHOOL: THE HIGH POVERTY GAMBLE
"Ten years ago, when Wake Schools Supt. Bill McNeal was faced with a handful of what he called "unhealthy" system schools that exceeded the forty-percent threshold in free-and-reduced-lunch (F&R) student population, his plan was simple."
2/25/11 Tillman OK with no free-lunch kids in charters
"In other words, Tillman and his colleagues are not troubled at all by tax dollars setting up schools that are available only to parents who can afford them. Poor families can stay in the traditional public schools. These charters are for the elites."?
?2/25/11 NAACP chief to talk on school resegregation
"Officials from the National Education Association are headed to Charlotte this week, and they want to talk about school resegregation, a dynamic they see as one of the most troubling trends on the American education scene."
2/27/11 Diversity and Enloe's divide
"Even granting that Enloe can and should do more for them, if Wake ends up with schools where poverty is what most students have in common, those students are almost certain to be the worse for it. The resource fairy? Laid off."
2/27/11 Public schools at risk
"All children have the right to an equal education. The state of North Carolina has a moral and a constitutional obligation to do better than this."
2/27/11 Rigor at Enloe
"As one effort to attract more non-Asian and non-white students to upper level classes, colleagues and I have taught classes such as Pre-honors for students who want a more rigorous curriculum but who may also need extra support to make the transition."
2/27/11 Educating together
"The Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce and the Wake Education Partnership are to be commended for bringing forth a comprehensive, unbiased student assignment plan for the Wake County schools."
2/26/11 Tata strides, smiling, into a den of Democrats
"On Thursday, it was the Northern Wake Democrats group, not necessarily the easiest audience for someone who has publicly praised Sarah Palin and was picked by a GOP-majority board. Tata called the evening at Nantucket Grill "a good-spirited debate" and answered questions about how diversity would be handled under the new plan."
2/26/11 Wake school board unites in setting high goals
"Board members agreed to adopt as a core belief that "all children, regardless of socioeconomic environment, can be high-achieving students." The board also agreed on another core belief that "academic achievement gaps will be eliminated by aggressively challenging students at all achievement levels."
2/26/11 Closed schools for rent: Inquire at CMS
"Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools next week will open bidding to organizations wanting to lease any of nine school buildings it plans to close for the 2011-12 school year."
2/25/11 Wake school board considers vision, goals at daylong retreat
"After less than a month on the job, Wake County's new school superintendent is already on the defensive against recent national critics, including a recent comment from former President Bill Clinton that the school board should not have ended the school district's longstanding policy of busing students for diversity."
2/25/11 Wake schools to address low expectations for poor students
"Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata told school board members today that they need to address the problem of some teachers having low academic expectations for students who come from poor families."
2/25/11 Tata wants accord on school board
"Tony Tata, himself once the subject of intense debate among Wake County school board members, will try to unite the fractious body during the next two days."
2/25/11 Legal debate turns on access to Wake school board
"Attorneys for the Wake County school system and supporters of the old socioeconomic diversity policy debated Thursday before the N.C. Court of Appeals about how much should be done to accommodate people who want to attend public meetings."
2/25/11 Enloe: All that and more
"Enloe High School, warts and all, represents all that is wonderful and fascinating about the Triangle and is, indeed, a microcosm of our community."
2/25/11 Talking about consensus during the school board retreat
"Wake County school board members might still sing Kumbaya after all during the two-day retreat today and Saturday with Superintendent Tony Tata."
2/24/11 New York Times looking at Wake School Choice Plan
"Look soon for a New York Times article on the Wake School Choice Plan and how that could impact the diversity fight in Wake County schools."
2/24/11 Wake schools catch Bill Clinton's critical eye
"Clinton chose the opening of an exhibit in his presidential library in Little Rock, Ark. on one of the nation's most dramatic school integration events to criticize Wake County's change in direction on keeping schools' populations balanced by students' socioeconomic backgrounds."
2/24/11 Luddy Leads Way In School Privatization
"Raleigh businessman Bob Luddy is an education entreprenuer who envisions a chain of affordable private schools. Legislation making its way through the General Assembly may make that vision easier to achieve."
2/24/11 Senate OKs bill to lift charter school cap
"A bill eliminating North Carolina's long-standing cap of 100 charter schools received tentative approval Wednesday in the state Senate, although it failed to gain broad bipartisan support after amendments Democrats said were designed to help at-risk children were defeated."
2/24/11 Point of order
"Manning, a Republican, has been charged with seeing that children from such districts are given the opportunity to which they're entitled, and he has taken it seriously in one ruling after another ordering the state to live up to its obligations. One senses the judge fears that the state might weaken that commitment unless the reins are tight."
2/23/11 Superintendent: Accreditation advice will be useful
"The Wake schools superintendent and members of the Board of Education gathered for a committee meeting Wednesday, their first opportunity to compare notes since a round of interviews with accrediting agency AdvancED last week."
2/23/11 Quick recap of today's policy committee meeting
"Staff will research whether the board should adopt a policy that would subject board members to all district policies. Board members are considered the employers so they're not subject to the policies that staff must follow."
2/23/11 More charter schools should trigger more and better oversight
"As one of their first acts, the new legislative majority plans to eliminate the current charter school cap which limits the state to no more than 100 charter schools. This is almost certainly a serious mistake given what is, at best, a mixed performance for North Carolina charters and the general lack of evidence that any of their successes have actually percolated into the traditional public schools."
2/23/11 N.C. official tells CMS not to back off budget cuts yet
"It's too early for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to back away from drastic cost-cutting plans, despite improvements in the state budget outlook, a state education official said Tuesday."
2/23/11 Charter school bill returning to NC Senate floor
"A rewrite of North Carolina's charter school law that's headed for a floor vote in the legislature incorporates a Republican promise during the campaign - ending the current 100-school cap."
2/23/11 Judge sets up showdown over school tests
"A Wake County judge has warned state lawmakers that dropping some mandatory end-of-course tests would violate the rights of public school students."
2/23/11 Smart Start briefing avoids balanced debate
"About a dozen state House representatives from both parties heard a brief presentation on Smart Start on Tuesday - all of it from the conservative Civitas Institute."
2/23/11 Sticking with the same design for the new school board room
"Some of you guys may have had a chuckle over Saturday's Triangle Politics item about Wake County school board member Chris Malone lobbying for an extra exit in the new school board room in Cary."
2/22/11 Debate Over Busing in Wake County Shows Signs of Cooling
"More than a year after dismantling a student-assignment policy based on socioeconomic diversity and setting off a wave of reaction that drew national attention, the Wake County, N.C., school board took a step last week that may turn down the temperature of the intense debate."
2/22/11 Education Week focusing on Wake school diversity fight
"Education Week is checking in on the Wake County school diversity fight as part of its weekly focus on a school district."
2/22/11 15 Wake schools get national honor
"Fifteen magnet schools in the Wake County Public School System were honored Tuesday as Schools of Excellence and Schools of Distinction by the Magnet Schools of America."
2/22/11 Wake to sell bonds to aid schools
"The school system would spend most of its allotment on the construction of Rolesville High School, according to Nicole Kreiser, Wake's debt and capital director. Construction is expected to cost about $70.76 million. About $63.6 million of the total would come from the bond sale."
2/22/11 NAACP warning that Wake school diversity fight is a national harbinger
"NAACP leaders Benjamin Todd Jealous and the Rev. William Barber are using a national stage to accuse the Wake County school board of trying to resegregate the schools and roll the clock back to the Jim Crow era."
2/21/11 Tony Tata interviewed on NPR Weekend Edition Sunday
"During the interview, Tata defended the school board's elimination of the diversity policy while saying that the school system won't resegregate."
2/21/11 Meeting planned for charter school
"About a dozen parents question how the current principal and assistant principal were hired for Cabarrus County's only charter school and how board of director meetings are run and documented under North Carolina's open records law."
2/21/11 Improving student achievement gets personal
"Is there a lesson for we reformers eager to see schools change? I think so. Although we are most often the agitators and pressure builders, relentlessly focusing light on how the system needs to change, we should never lose sight of the fact that in this business, the capital is very human. And you don't motivate people by relentlessly grinding them down."
2/21/11 Why America's teachers are enraged
"Like other conservative Republican governors, including Chris Christie of New Jersey, John Kasich of Ohio, Mitch Daniels of Indiana and Rick Scott of Florida, the Wisconsin governor wants to sap the power of public employee unions, especially the teachers' union, since public education is the single biggest expenditure for every state."
2/21/11 Court to hear Wake schools' appeal
"The N.C. Court of Appeals on Thursday will hear arguments about the outcome of a lawsuit that accuses the Wake County school board of violating the state's open meetings law during its efforts to eliminate the use of diversity in student assignments."
2/21/11 Open Meetings lawsuit going back to court Thursday
"Could the Wake County school board still be slapped with a preliminary injunction accusing it of violating the state's Open Meetings Law?"
2/21/11 Monday numbers
"41--number of the current charter schools where student enrollment is at least 80 percent white ("Republicans want more charter schools; Democrats worry they're segregated," The Independent Weekly, February 16, 2011, N.C. Department of Public Instruction)"
2/20/11 Enloe puts a fine point on Wake diversity issue
“Colethia Evans, whose daughter is a ninth-grader, is frustrated with the diversity debate and the polarization in Wake County, where a student's letter to the editor can blow up into a community controversy.”
2/20/11 Unhelpful credits
“Our public school system is a community resource - a critical piece of infrastructure that ensures a strong and healthy work force and makes North Carolina a vibrant, attractive place to live and do business.”
2/20/11 Unwise moves
“Ignoring pleas from the public hearings the Wake County school board reassigned 3,500 students. About 90 percent are low-income students.”
2/20/11 Gains and losses
“The report found that reading gains were significantly higher and math gains significantly lower in charter schools. And African-American students performed significantly below their traditional public school counterparts in math, with no discernable difference in reading.”
2/20/11 Big questions
“Congratulations for framing the discussion and debate about our schools in Wake County.”
2/20/11 Helpful facts
“The information summarized in the tables you published Feb. 13 was the most meaningful and useful contribution to the Wake County school assignment debate I have read in your paper.”
2/20/11 Zones at Enloe
“I can recall a number of electives I enrolled in knowing I would be one of very few magnet students. I elected to take these classes both due to my interest in the subjects and for the different perspectives I could be exposed to. While these classes might not have prepared me for college coursework in the same manner as an AP class, many of these were my most educative experiences at Enloe.”
2/20/11 Ahead, together
“I think most people would agree that both neighborhood schools and diversity are good things. I urge us to work toward consensus.”
2/20/11 To the rescue
“Thanks to the Raleigh Chamber and Wake Ed Partnership for creating a 21st century version of democracy - when elected leaders get mired in politics, do it yourself. Perhaps these two groups would be so kind as to do the same for our state and national budget crises.”
2/20/11 One approach
“I have read with interest about the problems facing Wake County Public School System. Windsor School District in Windsor, Calif., has come up with a different solution to the rich school/poor school problem.”
2/20/11 Redistricting
“The League of Women Voters of Wake County addressed the Wake school board recently about the upcoming school redistricting process.”
2/20/11 School jobs are still at stake
“The economic stimulus package that Congress passed two years ago preserved hundreds of thousands of jobs in the nation's public schools. But with the economy still sputtering, the future of many of those positions remains in jeopardy.”
2/20/11 CMS shuffles its listing of needy schools
“Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools shuffled its lineup of high-poverty schools earmarked for extra help on Friday, but at a time of heavy budget cutting, those schools might well receive less additional aid than in years past."
2/19/11 N.C. plan a step back toward segregation
“The yearning to return to the antebellum South is not just being reflected in this year's celebration of the Confederacy, but also in growing efforts to reverse years of successful school integration.”
2/18/11 Wake school officials meet with AdvancED for second day
“Wake County school officials spent a second day Friday meeting with an accreditation team that’s reviewing how the school board does business.”
2/18/11 Shawnee Mission, Kan., Parents Sue To Raise School Taxes
“But with limits on what private money can be used for and state funding cuts forcing the closure of schools and increases in class size, the parents want a judge to toss out state property tax caps so they can pay more for their schools. Seventeen parents have filed a federal lawsuit that's believed to be the first of its kind in the nation. A hearing in the case is set for Friday.”
2/18/11 Interviews Complete In WCPSS Accreditation Review
2/18/11 Looking at the Renaissance Schools Model
“The issue has gotten more attention this week because the school board voted Tuesday on a $950,000 a year bonus plan for the schools using federal Race to the Top money.”
2/17/11 Richard Kahlenberg praises Chamber/WEP student assignment model
“In a guest blog column in today's Washington Post, Kahlenberg writes that the new controlled-choice plan "presents a credible third way between the constant reassignment of students under the old system and the tea party’s proposed re-segregation of Raleigh’s schools." He also calls it a "a politically palatable model for preserving diversity in our schools."
2/17/11 Tony Tata looking at underutilized schools
“Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata will meet with Hilburn Elementary School parents tonight as part of his efforts to assure them he's concerned about the situation at underenrolled schools.”
2/17/11 Accreditation group meets with Wake school board
“A team from the national accreditation group AdvancED began its long-anticipated visit with the Wake County Board of Education Thursday, meeting with several board members and community groups.”
2/17/11 Chamber of Commerce vs. Tea Party over Wake County schools
“Wake County, North Carolina, which includes the city of Raleigh and the surrounding suburbs, has made headlines in recent months as a new Tea Party-backed school board majority has sought to dismantle the district’s longstanding and nationally acclaimed school integration plan.”
2/17/11 State lawmakers push to end some required tests
“Lawmakers in the state House want to get rid of four mandatory end-of-course tests now required of North Carolina high school students in U.S. history, civics and economics, Algebra II and physical science classes.”
2/17/11 Wake accreditation is on the line
“School board members hoping to keep accreditation at Wake County's high schools will spend the next two days explaining how they've made major decisions.”
2/17/11 32 new schools foreseen in Wake
“Even though a sputtering economy has slowed growth, Wake County schools may still have to accommodate nearly 50,000 more students by 2020 - a projection that has sparked early talk of the need for nearly $1 billion for school construction.”
2/17/11 AdvancED's lengthy interview list today and Friday
“The interviews, arranged by school administrators at the request of AdvancEd, is largely similar to the list arranged when the review was to take place last month.”
2/17/11 AdvancED reviewing how Wake will provide equity to students
“Could the wording from the Oct. 5 resolution that killed the zone plan come back to bite the Wake County school board during the accreditation review?”
2/16/11 Wake schools getting more students, not more funding
“Wake County commissioners met with school board members Wednesday and said they plan to give the school system $313.5 million in funding – the same amount the school system has received the past two years.”
2/16/11 Wake school board to meet with AdvanceED
“After months of tense negotiations, a national accreditation group will meet with the Wake County Board of Education on Thursday.”
2/16/11 Tata takes student assignments by the horns
“Superintendent Tony Tata is taking control of Wake County's evolving student assignment process, aiming to prepare a new long-term plan for where students are educated by late spring.”
2/16/11 Diversity data gap
“How can Martinez think that simply by being diverse Enloe handicaps its minority students, who would automatically perform better at a nondiverse school?”
2/16/11 Extrapolating logic
“Martinez invests the diversity policy with too much responsibility and gives it too much blame, all the while failing to appreciate some of the good that it has done.”
2/16/11 Prohibitive expense
“However, by definition, anyone considered "poor," and a lot of people who consider themselves middle class, too, cannot afford to pay the difference between $3,500 and even a less expensive private school. If we really want to give poor children access to private school education, we need to provide them with cash payments equal to the entire tuition bill. Any takers?”
2/16/11 Unproven and a distraction from the job at hand
“A moment’s reflection indicates why this is so: our children are our hope. If we fail to educate our children effectively on a mass basis, our state is committing suicide. Fifty years ago, in a state full of factories and mills hungry for strong backs and flexible fingers, North Carolina could manage pretty well with half of its kids departing school in their mid-teens.”
2/16/11 CMS' Gorman wary of Perdue budget plan
"We're really cautious about that," Gorman said of Perdue's no-teacher-cuts pledge. "We're waiting to see the numbers. We're not changing our data."
2/16/11 NC charter school changes return to Senate panel
“Republicans in the General Assembly have tinkered with a proposed rewrite of North Carolina's charter school law that would eliminate the current 100-charter limit on the alternative schools.”
