Thousands of SE Raleigh students might be reassigned - Home Page - NewsObserver.com

Thousands of SE Raleigh students might be reassigned - Home Page - NewsObserver.com


RALEIGH -- Amid heated words about resegregation, members of a Wake County school board committee proposed today moving thousands of Southeast Raleigh students to schools closer to where they live next year.
Some members of the student assignment committee said the Southeast Raleigh moves are consistent with the new policy adopted in May that eliminates diversity as a factor in assignments while stressing proximity.
“It’s pretty clear that if we’re going to be consistent with policy, sending nodes from WakeMed on (U.S.) 64 on the eastern side of Raleigh to Apex is a far cry from proximity,” said school board member John Tedesco.
But other committee members who supported the now-discarded diversity policy warned that the moves of the Southeast Raleigh students would create high-poverty schools. They also warned it would eliminate large numbers of seats in Southeast Raleigh magnet schools for people to apply to next year.
“The bottom line is what’s best educationally for the children,” said Anne Sherron, a community member appointed by board member Carolyn Morrison. “I don’t think arbitrarily moving children is the end all.”
Today’s fight was the latest battleground for the fight over the role of school diversity in the state’s largest school system.
Members of a new board majority elected last fall eliminated the use of socioeconomic diversity in the student assignment policy adopted in the spring. They instead stressed stability, proximity and family choice in the new policy.
Board members have deadlocked on developing a long-term assignment model that would carry out the new policy. Republican board vice chairwoman Debra Goldman joined with Democrats on Nov. 9 to adopt a plan to follow a consensus-building approach.
In the short term, Goldman had voted with Democrats on Oct. 5 on killing the development of a plan to divide the county into 16 assignment zones. But the resolution also called for making adjustments to next year’s plan that comply with the new policy.
Three citizen members of the committee appointed by new board members came to today’s meeting with a list of changes affecting large numbers of Southeast Raleigh students.
Staff was asked to consider these moves when presenting a revised 2011-12 student assignment plan to the board next Tuesday.
Tracey Noble, the community member for board member Deborah Prickett, proposed numerous moves that would send Southeast Raleigh students out of schools in North Raleigh.
David Williams, the community member for Tedesco, proposed moves to send Southeast Raleigh students out of Garner High and East Garner Middle back to their communities.
Ann Rouleau, the community member for board chairman Ron Margiotta, proposed moving Southeast Raleigh students out of schools in western Wake.
Sherron warned that the moves could put Wake into even more trouble with federal investigators. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is investigating a complaint from the NAACP that alleges racism from a number of moves made earlier this year to send Garner High students to Southeast Raleigh High. Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/11/30/834890/thousands-of-se-raleigh-students.html#ixzz16nbcHJUf