Republican school board in N.C. backed by tea party abolishes integration policy

[mahatmakanejeeves]

From yesterday; thus not LBN.

Republican school board in N.C. backed by tea party abolishes integration policy

By Stephanie McCrummen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 11, 2011; 10:43 PM

IN RALEIGH, N.C. The sprawling Wake County School District has long been a rarity. Some of its best, most diverse schools are in the poorest sections of this capital city. And its suburban schools, rather than being exclusive enclaves, include children whose parents cannot afford a house in the neighborhood.

But over the past year, a new majority-Republican school board backed by national tea party conservatives has set the district on a strikingly different course. Pledging to "say no to the social engineers!" it has abolished the policy behind one of the nation's most celebrated integration efforts.

And as the board moves toward a system in which students attend neighborhood schools, some members are embracing the provocative idea that concentrating poor children, who are usually minorities, in a few schools could have merits - logic that critics are blasting as a 21st-century case for segregation.

The situation unfolding here in some ways represents a first foray of tea party conservatives into the business of shaping a public school system, and it has made Wake County the center of a fierce debate over the principle first enshrined in the Supreme Court's 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education: that diversity and quality education go hand in hand.

[fascisthunter]

1. tell us GOP what this does for Racial Tolerance

exactly, you bunch of misanthropes.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. More states' rights BS.

[davidinalameda]

3. how much money is going to be spent

defending the lawsuits that will be filed against this

money that could have gone to educating the kids

[AspenRose]

4. You should see the comments.

[Thunderstruck]

8. May I ask where you see comments for this article? I've

looked but can't seem to find them. Thanks =).

[AspenRose]

9. This links to the print version

To see the comments you go here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/11/AR2011011107063.html?tid=wp_featuredstories

Below the title to the right there have been 197 comments (so far)

[Thunderstruck]

14. Thank you AspenRose. Some interesting comments indeed. n/t

[jpak]

5. Tea Party Republicans are against integration and for segregation?? Who knew?

:shrug:

[democrat_patriot]

6. Going to get flamed but....

Each and every year kids are shuffled around to different schools, sometime 4 in 4 years. How is that helpful?

I live across the street from a High School here - and my child may get shipped up to 30 miles away. I moved here BECAUSE of this high school, and I want my child to go there. Is that wrong?

[Dappleganger]

7. Rich folks enforcing NIMBY...

how is that fair to poor children when they cannot afford to live in a nice district and are condemned to sub-standard schools?

[Cid_B]

12. self delete...

Responded to wrong post...

[democrat_patriot]

24. Either way it's unfair to someone.

And I'm not rich.

I just want to be able to choose a school for my kid, just like everyone else.

Not sure what the solution would be.

[Dappleganger]

35. Yep, better that you get yours

than anyone else have a chance for their child who happens to be condemned to a poor district.

[Cid_B]

13. According to some...

.. you should worry about the educational welfare of every child within that 30 miles just as much as you care about that of your own child. Anything less and you are intolerant (to say the least)

It's just not fair that you spent the time and resources to move to that particular district when everyone else couldn't do the same thing (for some reason.)

[Tsiyu]

22. in 1972 when I was 13 years old

we moved from Upstate New York to Jacksonville Fla.

It was during the height of de-segregation.

My parents move to a mostly white middle class neighborhood with decent schools.

However, I was bussed to inner city Jacksonville.

I went from Pine Grove Moddle School in Minoa NY to Douglas Anderson Middle in Jax.

From a school in NY with its own planetarium and tennis courts to a falling down, decrepit set of buildings that hadn't been thought about for years.

It opened my eyes to reality and i met some of my best friends there. I cried at first, thinking my parents were nuts, but it formed my later opinions about education, integration and the inner city.

There were problems, but none of them involved student violence or educational standards. It was probably one of the best things that happened to me as a kid, to see the disparity and to vow to fight it if I could in the future.

[Cid_B]

28. Good for you...

I'd even entertain the idea of letting the warm fuzzy unicorn type parents volunteering their children to be bussed...

However, if I spent big bucks to move from a crap shack to a decent area for the benefit of my children only to find that my kids are going to be bussed 30 miles back to the crap shack? I'd flip out...

[Tsiyu]

29. Well then, Good for you, too then...i guess n/t

[dsc]

33. I both live in and work in Wake County as a teacher

and you are just telling tales here. Yes, some movement happens. But no way is it 4 schools in 4 years without a move on your part. Once you get put in a high school (as a frosh and then a sophomore) you stay in that same high school unless you want to leave it. I admit to not knowing how elementary school works but I can't see how, without massive growth in an area, you would have 4 moves in 4 years.

[Tsiyu]

10. Oh no, the Teabaggers aren't racists; Nosiree

i can hear their tiny brains as they tell themselves it's perfectly fine to take out their rage at having a Black President on poor minority children.

Way to get 'em, Teabaggers! :puke:

Scum of the Earth.

Absolutely.

[alp227]

18. aren't NAACP the REAL racists? n/t

[Tsiyu]

20. don't you beat your wife? n/t

[alp227]

26. oops, forgot to add the sarcasm icon

i was referring to the NAACP/Tea Party dispute as NAACP has called the TP racist and even issued a report linking TP to racists you can see it online at teapartynationalism.com

[Tsiyu]

27. oops

too late to edit my post and I'm glad you don't really beat your wife ;)

[jwirr]

11. Hopefully the laws that take money away from them for failing to

integrate are still on the books.

[zazen]

15. those fed up with WCPSS reassignment weren't all Tea Partiers

But the frustration with some of the ill-informed decisions of the past leadership left a power vacuum, and the right wing stepped in when the Dems mostly didn't show up to vote because they were fed up with the old guard.

I'm in the thick of this stuff here and I can tell you that the objections against some of the older policies and practices could have been handled without our School Board being hijacked by the Tea Party--however, the former board did make some pretty ill-informed decisions, taking some lame school of ed theory and rather whimsically organizing the entire schedule of all Wake County parents in a very patronizing way. By having schools get out one hour early every Wed (it couldn't be Fri, because they didn't trust teachers, whom they claim that treat as professionals) not to "leave early"), all of the speed limit signage had to be changed throughout all of the municipalities at a couple hundred grand, which no one considered when they said, "Oh, we have to have "professional learning communities." That decision was the last straw.

But then the Tea Party anti-health insurance reform crap took hold and they hijacked the sentiment against the Board, and now they have a foothold for their tirades.

You should see our new superintendent, just hired last week. He's been an operations superintendent in DC for 1-2 years? and before that was a Brigadier General. He's an active supporter of Sarah Palin. Ugh.

[nc4bo]

16. I'm torn....

But have no doubt of what the Tea Party is trying to do here.

Very tough on the kids being bussed. Some really do have to get up extra early so they can travel out of neighborhoods to attend a decent school.

Fix the damn neighborhood schools so these kids can get a good education close to home!

The NC "Education" lottery was supposed to help fund our education system but it *SURPRISE* really doesn't.

http://www.nc-educationlottery.org/about_where-the-money-goes.aspx - looks good right?

But look again: http://www.wral.com/news/local/wral_investigates/story/7561544/

What if the NC lottery money actually went to help underprivileged schools?

[mmonk]

17. I wrote on the issue.

It is one of the most linked to stories on my blog. It is http://americancommentary.wordpress.com/2010/04/11/suffer-the-children-the-war-on-public-education-one-school-districts-story/"> here.

[OneGrassRoot]

31. Wow, great job! K&R (ooops, I'd K&R your blog post if I could)...

:hi:

:applause:

[mmonk]

36. You did in a way.

Thanks:hi:

[Jamastiene]

19. Same thing is happening in Mecklenburg County (Charlotte, NC) too.

It's happening all over the state. It's disgusting.

[Greybnk48]

21. The Klan by any other name...

These people used to hide in the shadows. I'm not sure why they've become so emboldened.

[One_Life_To_Give]

23. Those who fail to learn the mistakes of history

There are advantages to community schools. Especially if you are from an above average community. But although the advantages have always been there. We collectively decided to engage in Integration programs. Because we saw that the benefits of the program would outweigh the costs. You might save a few dollars today. But in the long run the poor kids segregated into the under-served schools. Will cost you ten fold and more to maintain in the prisons end ghetto's of tomorrow.

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[WillyT]

30. K & R !!!

:mad:

:kick:

[trayNTP]

32. Ranked the top public school district in the country last year, look for that to change now.

[Shining Jack]

34. Sweet!

And the Big Boss will do what? Squat.