I listened to the public comments at last night’s School
Board meeting.
(As a side note…Mr. Hill felt it was more important for the
Board to hold their closed session discussion than to listen to everyone who signed up
to speak at the beginning of the meeting – which left many waiting until 10p to
make their comments. But, that’s another topic…)
Speaker after speaker last night complained about the new student assignment
plan. And, after each speaker, the crazies in the audience (GSIW, I assume)
clapped wildly. But, if you really listened, what these parents – and some
students – were asking for in their complaints was to have a neighborhood
school.
Some were families from charter schools who wanted a
proximate “base” assignment along with their neighbors who currently attend a
WCPSS school. Others complained about their feeder pattern as it fed into a
different and usually further school than their classmates. Almost all of them,
however, regardless of their specific complaint, were pleading for a neighborhood
assignment. I wondered if the GSIW women were actually listening – or just
clapping out of habit.
I also wondered if any of the Board members were
actually paying attention to what these parents were asking for. My wonder
didn’t last long. Enter Jim Martin.
During his comment time, Mr. Martin said:
“I would like to recommend…that we try to work with staff
to establish a control process for next year’s assignment plan to at least
ensure that the demographic make up of schools does not drastically change from
where it is this year.”
I’m surprised he didn’t actually mention Carnage Middle by
name.
Then, during her comment time – and after much pandering to
the media and her GSIW friends in the audience, Susan Evans said:
“I can’t promise what all we’ll be able to change for next
year but I just want people to know that we are taking this very seriously and
we’re looking very closely at how we feel like our populations are going to be
affected by the data that we’ve seen.”
So, after all those comments from concerned parents and nervous but articulate students, Martin and Evans still had no clue.
Parents aren’t arguing about demographics or school populations. They’re
arguing about how this plan affects them personally.
Martin and Evans remain completely blinkered by diversity,
hung up on demographics and obviously fearful that they aren’t doing what GSIW
and the NAACP want them to do. What is that, you ask? Bring back diversity in
assignment, of course.
Even the magnet parents who showed up in masses two years
ago hollering to “save diversity” have changed their tune. They are now leading the charge to have the
ability to opt back in to their neighborhood high schools as they used to be
able to do. Everyone wants a neighborhood school but Evans and Martin (and
maybe Kushner) are still stuck on diversity.
No, this plan isn’t perfect. Yes, it will probably need some
adjustments as it moves along. But, the changes that parents are asking for are
completely different than what these Board members have indicated they intend
to do. These Board members want to be able to better control the populations of
a school (Carnage Middle, for example) and manipulate your choice. Well, maybe
not your choice specifically – but certainly the choices made by the
low-income families in Wake County – because, in Martin’s and Evans’ world,
those low-income children and the choices made by their parents can break a
school.
Whether Martin and Evans get traction in bringing back
quotas or ranking F&R status higher in the priority list remains to be
seen. But, regardless of how diversity is brought back, it will ultimately
affect everyone’s choice. And, it will
be the first step back to the way things used to be.
