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July 1-15, 2010, News Archive
7/15/10 Fear of 'resegregation' fuels unrest in NC
"For folks who were there and lived through it, there's a real sense of a collective forgetting, a collective amnesia," says James Leloudis, a history professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who was in high school when the county system integrated. "There is a kind of tragic disremembering."
7/15/10 Associated Press look at Wake County school fight
"The Associated Press weighs in on the Wake County school controversy with a story noting the historical context between current battle."
7/15/10 Hearing airs qualifications sought in next Wake schools leader
"Vickie Adamson, a Wake schools parent who introduced herself as the former director of financial reporting for a Fortune 500 company, called the recent budget process in the schools system frightening."
7/15/10 NAACP leader banned from Wake school property
"In a letter sent Monday, the four protesters were warned they'd face legal action from the school system if they showed up on school property without permission. The ban comes just before Barber had planned to show up at next week's school board meeting following a march in downtown Raleigh to protest the school board majority's elimination of the diversity policy."
7/15/10 Wake test gains renew diversity flap
"This doesn't prove that the assignment model works," Tedesco said of the new test results. "This proves that teachers are making it work for our students."
7/15/10 Policy was breached?
"The decline in the graduation rate for low-income students coincided with a decline in diversity, due to the pressures of growth. The policy guideline was that schools should not have over 40 percent low-income students. In 2007, 36 schools exceeded that number. In 2009, 56 schools exceeded that number."
7/15/10 Tactics on the right
"The writer of the July 8 letter "Hate-filled alliance" states, regarding reactions to the last Wake County school board election, "Constitutionally approved majorities don't matter. Start with lawsuits, demagoguery, disruptions, but most important promote hate." That applies equally to those on the far right who take these same actions against the majority of voters who elected President Obama."
7/15/10 Not a good fit
"The old saying goes something like, "you can't change stupid!" I hope for the sake of the children of Wake County that the Wake Board of Education doesn't live up to that saying and that they choose a properly trained educator to lead the education of our future."
7/15/10 Tyson accuses Wake of arbitrarily barring quartet from school property
"Tyson questioned how the quartet can be barred from being on school property when their second-degree trespassing charges haven't been adjudicated yet."
7/15/10 NC Heat to hold meeting tonight
"NC Heat (Heroes Emerging Amongst Teens) will make a pitch for people to attend Tuesday's march protesting the end of the diversity policy in Wake County. The meeting will run from 6:30 to 8 p.m at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, 1801 Hillsborough St. in Raleigh."
7/15/10 Debating the impact of the diversity policy on the latest test results
"Yevonne Brannon, chairwoman of the Great Schools in Wake Coalition, said the test results show the board majority's criticism of staff over academic achievement was "unfair."
7/14/10 Piedmont Episcopal District of AME Zion Church backing NAACP march
"The Piedmont Episcopal District of the AME Zion Church has joined in backing the July 20 NAACP rally and opposing the Wake County school board's elimination of the diversity policy."
7/14/10 GSIW praises teachers and diversity policy for test gains
"GSIW then goes on to point to studies showing the correlation between academic achievement and teacher quality. The group notes how high poverty schools have "great difficulty attracting and retaining experienced teachers and principals."
7/14/10 Protestors barred from Wake school property
"The letters, sent less than a week before an expected mass protest at the July 20 school board meeting, state that by disturbing the June board meeting, those arrested, "blatantly violated the board's rules for public participation at board meetings and attempted to prevent the board from conducting its meeting."
America's Top States for Business 2010
N.C. #4
CNBC's Top States For Business 2010-Categories And Criteria
Diversity Trumps Adversity
"While some companies see diversity as separate from their "real" business challenges, we know the opposite to be true. Our challenges are too big to let a single employee's ideas or energy go to waste, so sustaining an environment of dignity, respect, and collaboration - where different perspectives are not only welcome but sought out - is critical."
7/14/10 Schools hearing draws a dozen
"A dozen people turned out Tuesday night at the first of two public meetings to provide feedback on what residents want in Wake County's next schools superintendent."
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/14/580333/schools-hearing-draws-a-do...
7/14/10 Sheehan: Obedient CEO wanted for Wake schools
"The board majority members don't want someone to come in and tell them what to do, or how to do it. (As a Jack Welch undoubtedly would.) The majority members want someone who views the world as they do, will toe their new line and enforce their new agenda within the "educrat" establishment they disdain."
7/14/10 $59M surplus may fund two elementary schools?
"Despite budget cuts resulting in layoffs and some classes being eliminated, the construction savings can only be used for other capital projects such as building and renovating schools and purchasing land for new schools."
7/14/10 Expressing skepticism over the superintendent search
"They have an agenda they want to push," Allen said of the board majority. "I'm concerned if you're just trying to fulfill that agenda for them."
7/14/10 This, despite school support
"I left one school to not be a "filler" for someone else's neighborhood school, now my son has been stuffed in a class to "fill" up that space."
7/13/10 Race, equality in schools discussed
"We want to look at issues that keep Pitt County schools from achieving unitary status (the elimination of the vestiges of segregation)," Ozie Hall, president of the coalition, said. "Our goal has always been to develop a dialogue with the community and other organizations to come up with solutions for all of us. Pitt County could be a model for the country."
7/13/10 Low turnout for meeting seeking input on superintendent for Wake schools
"Only about a dozen people showed up for a public meeting Tuesday evening to weigh in on the qualities they want in the Wake County Public School System's eighth superintendent."
http://www.wral.com/news/education/story/7953208/
7/13/10 Wake schools sign lease on Cary office site
"School officials got the final approval they needed last week from the state Local Government Commission. County commissioners approved the deal last month."
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/13/578564/wake-schools-sign-lease-on...
7/12/10 A non-educator to lead the schools
"A business or military type CEO will have no credibility with educators and will not effectively lead them. If you were an educator who worked for pay lower than you're worth, would you trust and follow a CEO who has no experience in the classroom?"
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/12/573279/a-non-educator-to-lead-the...
7/12/10 National NAACP President may come to July 20 Wake school board protest
"Barber mentioned his attempts to bring Todd Jealous to Raleigh after giving a fiery speech Thursday at the prayer vigil organized by the Eastern N.C. District of the AME Zion Church."
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/wakeed/national-naacp-president-may-come-t...
7/12/10 CMS dad reaches out to feds about school district's decision
"If we don't do everything in our power to diversify the school system," McGill said. "Then those children who are in these segregated schools will be a product of their environment."
http://www.wbtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=12790610
7/12/10 Chancellor's Diversity Messages
"Since my arrival at NC State University, I have expressed my desire to see this outstanding university soar to new heights. One way that we can begin doing this is through a collective effort to embrace diversity on our campus."
http://www.ncsu.edu/diversity/chancellor/
7/11/10 Culture clash over Wake schools
"Don't look for Charles Meeker to call anybody a carpetbagger. But there's no reason for him to back away from his premise that the school board's new direction is being set by folks whose values are out of kilter with those shared by a great many residents who have been around here long enough to understand why the Wake schools have been operated the way they have. Good Southerners understand that diversity is an important means to worthy ends."
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/11/573470/culture-clash-over-wake-schools.html
7/10/10 Hate or love
"Is standing up to bullies, whether they are elected officials or not, "hate"?"
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/10/573291/hate-or-love.html
7/9/10 Bishop Thompson calls on "moral army" to oppose end of diversity policy
"Thompson, the leader of the 40,000-member Eastern NC District of the AME Zion Church, cast his support for the old diversity policy as being the morally correct position. He urged the school board majority to step back from the "dangerous road" it's taking, which he called a "recipe for disaster."
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/wakeed/bishop-thompson-calls-on-moral-army-to-oppose-end-of-diversity-policy
7/9/10 June Atkinson on Wake's shift away from the diversity policy?
"Atkinson, a Democrat, asks "why will people not come together to do that which is in the best interest of all children who live in Wake County?"
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/wakeed/june-atkinson-on-wakes-shift-away-f...
7/8/10 The debate over Wake County Schools' future heats up
"With community meetings like the one at Poplar Springs Church, the coalition hopes to shine light on the School Board's decisions for parents and other taxpayers."
http://www.garnernews.net/view/full_story/8028183/article-The-debate-ove...
7/8/10 Wake school board looks at legal bills
"The law firm that has represented the Wake County school board for decades is now in danger of being fired on short notice as the system analyzes its annual million-dollar-plus legal bills."
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/08/570312/school-board-looks-at-lega...
7/8/10 Mishandled search
?"Debra Goldman's efforts on the Wake County school board policy committee to narrow the superintendent's ability to maneuver in advance of his/her arrival should send a clear signal to a community holding its breath over the future of its schools as well as to prospective candidates for the job."
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/08/569621/mishandled-search.html
7/8/10 All vote for all?
"The last paragraph in the July 2 "Curious search" letter about the Wake County school board reads, "We have no one to blame but ourselves. Next time we all need to get off our butts and vote." I didn't have that opportunity because I am in Board of Education District 6 and the last election was not our time to vote for a candidate."
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/08/569620/all-vote-for-all.html
7/8/10 Let's vote on it
"Since we have national, state and countywide elections this November, why not place a non-binding question on the ballot asking if Wake County residents prefer the new neighborhood school policy or the old busing for socioeconomic diversity policy?"
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/08/569619/the-peoples-forum.html
7/8/10 Wake residents can weigh in on next superintendent
"The public can weigh in on the qualities they want in the next superintendent of the Wake County Public School System at two forums next week."
http://www.wral.com/news/education/story/7926375/
7/8/10 Forums set on Wake superintendent
"Wake County school leaders announced Thursday that two meetings will be held next week for the public to share what traits they want in the next schools superintendent."
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/09/571983/forums-set-on-wake-superin...
7/8/10 Brannon calls on school board majority to fix academic problems first?
"Yevonne Brannon, chairwoman of the Great Schools in Wake Coalition, argued that the school board majority hasn't been focused on improving student achievement. Before changing student assignment, she said the board needs to "fix what's broken before you create new problems."
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/wakeed/brannon-calls-on-school-board-major...
7/8/10 Student assignment consultant to speak to school board committee
"The Wake Education Partnership and the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce are bringing to Raleigh an education consultant who has specialized in drawing up student assignment plans using controlled choice to achieve diversity."
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/wakeed/student-assignment-consultant-to-sp...
7/8/10 Your input needed: The new Wake schools superintendent should
..."Stakeholder meetings" on the choice of a new super to replace the departed Del Burns start next week. The Chamber is a stakeholder, as defined by the Wake school board majority. The majority's critics - the NAACP, the Great Schools in Wake coaltion - are not stakeholders, it seems."
http://www.indyweek.com/citizen/archives/2010/07/08/your-input-needed-th...
7/8/10 Stealth segregation
"So is everyone happy? Not a chance. As board member Joe White likes to say, "schools close to home" are only desirable if you like the school close to your home. And as members weigh their commitments to nearby schools, diversity and equity, they're going to find a lot of collisions."
http://obsyourschools.blogspot.com/2010/07/stealth-segregation.html
7/7/10 Legislature wants more high school grads
"Under a measure the Senate approved unanimously Tuesday, the Board of Education must set minimum goals for graduation of 74 percent by 2014, 80 percent by 2016, and 90 percent by 2018. The measure now goes to Gov. Bev Perdue for her signature."
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/07/56871/legislature-wants-more-high...
7/7/10 Wake commissioners approve Rolesville high school site
"Like an Old West gambler joining a high-stakes game, county school board chairman Ron Margiotta let Wake County commissioners know Tuesday that he held all the cards."
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/07/568619/wake-approves-rolesville-s...
7/7/10 Rights group plans big rally on Wake schools policy
"We're here today to fight against something that is extremely evil," said the Rev. John Mendez on behalf of the General Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, whose 400,000 members represent the largest black denomination in the state. "We would not be here today if evil was not pervasive. But there is something evil because it is divisive."
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/07/568618/civil-rights-group-plans-m...
7/7/10 A good look?
"By dumping Burns and the diversity policy, the majority has managed to appear oblivious to the views of a substantial number of constituents who don't agree with them. Those constituents understandably are skeptical of the majority's aim to find a superintendent who will obediently carry out their wishes."
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/07/568394/a-good-look.html
7/7/10 Grad-rate logic
"What does Martinez make of the fact that the further schools stray from socio-economic balance, the worse the graduation rate becomes? Indeed, that is what helps explain the difference between 2007 and 2009. How does Martinez reconcile his scapegoating of the diversity policy with the fact that the lowest performing high schools in the state are all segregated, filled with poor and minority students?"
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/07/568384/grad-rate-logic.html
7/7/10 Erasing Enloe
"The current school board majority apparently seeks to erase the legacy of this man and this great school. Why?"
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/07/568395/erasing-enloe.html
7/7/10 Achievement now
"If student achievement isn't going to improve one iota with this new assignment plan, then stop it and focus on achievement now."
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/07/568388/achievement-now.html
7/6/10 NAACP Plans March Against Wake Schools Assignment Plan
"If we sit back and let them take us down this driveway to division, we allow them to undermine the sweat and tears and efforts of parents and grandparents -- white and black -- who fought so hard," said the Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP, at Tuesday's news conference."
http://wake.mync.com/site/Wake/news/story/53313/naacp-calls-for-wake-sch...
7/6/10 County OKs land deal for Wake high school
"Wake County commissioners on Tuesday approved a nearly $4.3 million land acquisition for what will be the Wake County Public School System's largest high school."
http://www.wral.com/news/education/story/7911720/
7/6/10 Opponents rally against Wake schools assignment plan
"Our children are being used as tools of division," proclaimed NAACP state chapter President Rev. William Barber in a passionate speech Tuesday in downtown Raleigh."
http://www.wral.com/news/education/story/7908793/
7/6/10 Wake school board opponents plan march in Raleigh
"This crowd is trying to make a U-turn in a settled public policy in Wake and set an even more regressive model for the state and nation," said the Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP, at today's press conference."
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/06/567840/wake-school-board-opponent...
7/6/10 Parental perspective
"Throughout all this talk about the diversity policy and the new Wake County school board, not once have I heard whether or not many of the board members have children."
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/06/563137/parental-perspective.html
7/6/10 Showdown today over Rolesville High site
"Whether the Wake County school board can stick with the Rolesville High School site or has to go back to the Forest Ridge High site will be decided today by county commissioners."
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/wakeed/showdown-today-over-rolesville-high...
7/5/10 Some schools grouping students by skill, not grade level
"Instead of simply moving kids from one grade to the next as they get older, schools are grouping students by ability."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-07-05-grade-held-back_N.htm
7/5/10 No names till superintendent is chosen?
"Legally, the school board isn't required to announce the names of applicants before they're hired. The Durham school board didn't publicly identify Eric Becoats as a finalist until his hiring was announced at an April meeting."
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/05/565909/no-names-till-superintende...
?5/26/10 The Future of Racially Integrated Schools
"Without carefully crafted school-assignment policies, a vast majority of American public schools would be racially segregated because of historic patterns of residential segregation."
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/05/26/33burkholder.h29.html?tkn=L...
7/4/10 Is this where Wake schools are headed?
"Those Southern cities and scores of others have headed down a road that, until recently, Wake County refused to travel." http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/04/562936/is-this-where-wake-schools...
7/4/10 A new movement
"To paraphrase the Independent Weekly's Bob Geary, Raleigh may well go down in history as the capital city where the conservative crusade to resegregate the public schools, more than 50 years after the Brown decision, was crushed by a new Southern movement, more diverse and inclusive than anything in our history."
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/04/562951/a-new-movement.html
7/4/10 Out of his shell?
"Too many things have been quietly changed because no one spoke out."
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/04/562949/out-of-his-shell.html
7/4/10 Schools' big picture
"I've lived since graduating from Broughton High School and UNC in four other states and overseas, including a stint in New Jersey where my kids attended neighborhood schools, with the requisite exorbitant taxes. Returning to Wake County after almost three decades away, I appreciate even more what we did here in the South, in the '70s. We don't want to go back. We value diversity, equality and excellence in our schools."
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/04/562948/schools-big-picture.html
7/4/10 Lousy listeners
"Many diversity supporters are ready to collaborate with the new board majority on issues such as proximity and stability of school assignment and raising achievement standards. Why isn't the board willing to work with us?"
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/04/562947/lousy-listeners.html
7/4/10 Meeker's newcomer vs. native moment
"What the mayor probably meant and what I believe is that people who, regardless of origin, lived through Wake schools' long decades of courageous, largely successful struggle to attain both quality and diversity have an investment in that struggle and its success that more recent arrivals don't realize or understand."
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/04/562946/meekers-newcomer-vs-native...
7/3/10 Durham clergy join diversity clash in Wake
"The Concerned Clergy of Durham issued a statement calling on the Wake school board to restore the recently discarded policy of trying to keep school enrollments socioeconomically balanced. The group argued that the elimination of the diversity policy in favor of neighborhood schools will lead to resegregation."
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/03/563561/durham-clergy-join-diversi...
7/3/10 Names that fit
"But once the dismantling of the diversity policy is completed, the need for space at Enloe for base population kids who no longer can be bused to "richer" schools will crowd out magnet kids, and the high-level academic and cultural achievements that now characterize EHS will no longer be achievable. Therefore, calling the school Enloe a year or two from now would constitute false advertising."
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/03/563025/names-that-fit.html
7/3/10 Proof of devotion
"If Tedesco wants to prove his devotion to black women, he should protect our children. Preserve diversity. End high-poverty schools, don't make more of them. Help us address the achievement gap. We'll do our part and pray for him, but let's keep it professional."
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/03/563029/proof-of-devotion.html
7/3/10 The Birmingham model
"King says of nonviolent direct action: It seeks to so dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored."
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/03/563026/the-birmingham-model.html
7/2/10 Conservative self-deception
Unlike many with whom they are often in league (i.e., unrepentant segregationists and the "what's in it for me and my kids?" crowd who simply don't give a darn about the common good), both men appear to have convinced themselves that what they are arguing for really is in the best interest of poor and minority kids."
http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/cms/2010/07/02/conservative-self-deception/
7/2/10 Durham clergy criticize Wake school assignment policy
"The group said the Wake County Board of Education is heading in the wrong direction by changing its student assignment policy."
http://www.wral.com/news/education/story/7897199/
7/2/10 Calendar conflict
"So, we are supposed to just deal with a school transfer that has greatly upset our two younger ones and never take a family vacation for the next six to eight years because we have kids on completely different schedules."
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/02/561370/calendar-conflict.html
7/2/10 Curious search
"So we are paying someone a lot of money to help find a superintendent who will not have the authority to assemble his or her own staff? What qualified person would want that job?"
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/02/561368/curious-search.html
7/1/10 School board to go with secret search for superintendent
"The committee agreed to keep the list of applicants confidential until they come up with a list of finalists. The committee also allowed the search firm of Heidrick & Struggles to begin advertising for the position with a Sept. 1 application deadline."
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/wakeed/school-board-to-go-with-secret-sear...
7/1/10 Consultant pushes Wake board to define what it wants in next school chief
"Still undecided pending the school board's July 20 meeting are specific qualifications, including what level of education it will require and length of experience, if any, in a school system."
http://www.wral.com/news/education/story/7893429/
7/1/10 School board members back barring Barber from school property
"School board member Chris Malone said Barber, head of the state NAACP, should be trespassed for his actions on June 15. The four activists refused to give up the podium and then occupied the seats of the board members when they left the room."
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/wakeed/school-board-members-back-barring-b...
7/1/10 Raising conflict of interest concerns about McLaurin and Meeker
"McLaurin said there's been no conflicts of interest because she hasn't voted on things that would financially or personally benefit Meeker."
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/wakeed/raising-conflict-of-interest-concer...
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