An Email I Sent Tuesday Night

From: Louise C. Lee
Sent: Wednesday, May 03, 2006 12:45 AM
To: Wake County School Board Members
Subject: sorry I missed the meeting

To All Members of the Wake County Board of Education,

I am so sorry that I wasn’t able to speak at your meeting on Tuesday. I thought I would try to put some thoughts on paper since I won’t have another speaking opportunity until May 16. Thank you in advance for taking the time to carefully read this.

You already know all too well where I stand on the issue of forcing year-round school attendance in Wake County. I trust that you are carefully reading every single comment on the online petition. Those comments are addressed to you and to the County Commissioners, not to me. To only skim through them would be committing a gross disservice to your constituents.

I am writing today to ask you to please take action on the following points:

A…. Share the whole story with the public, even if it “hurts”! These are people’s children whose lives are about to be turned upside-down. Every citizen deserves to know both sides of the issue.
** Let them know that this is a “Band-aid” solution, and not a permanent “fix”.
**Tell them that even though they might save money now, new schools will have to eventually be built, at an even greater cost to them due to the giant increase in construction costs.
**Share the research facts, that I have passed on to you, with them – not opinions, but facts.
**Explain what happened last Friday! You are aware of the fact that reports are still representing your vote as a “done deal”. And why shouldn’t they?!? After all, you did vote, even though you didn’t have to. A Board member explained to me exactly what that vote meant, and that the “real” vote still won’t take place until May 16. Try telling that to the general public – it makes no sense! To make things worse, you voted when the member who most adamantly opposes the proposal was out of the country! And what about the teachers? You sent out a survey on Wednesday, then had the nerve to vote before the survey was even due, much less tallied! Even the results of the News and Observer teacher survey had not been made public. Imagine how this looks to people! I would like to believe that none of this was your intent, but it’s hard to explain away. I even drove out to Cary to see first-hand what was taking place, but you had adjourned early. To make it even worse, this only deepened the lack of trust that so many people have for the school system. That mistrust is, in my opinion, one of the main factors driving opposition to a bond referendum – the other being a deep resentment for what parents see as a threat to their families – mandatory year-rounds. I share all of this with you not to place you on the defensive, but to let you know that this is a general perception that is shared “on the street.” You need to know. I hope you don’t mind my blunt honesty!

B….Urge the Administration to go back to Governor Easley and stress the vital need for a short reprieve from the requirement to lower third grade class size. Solicit the aid of Wake County’s legislative contingent if need be.

C….Go back and accept applications from those who want to go to year-round schools! This one is totally incomprehensible to people. Over 2700 denied last week – is that right? You would have even more volunteers if some parents had not given up after being rejected year after year. If the reason for non-acceptance has to do with F&R ratios, ask the Administration to “pretend” that all 2700+ applications were accepted. Have them show you what schools would be affected and by what percentage. I want to see those results.

D….Join me and other citizens in asking the General Assembly members for help legislatively.

Please put your ear to the ground and really hear what people are saying. As you know, polls are only as good as the wording of the questions and the interpretation of the results. The Chamber of Commerce poll never mentioned the word “mandatory”, and questions pointed out the merits of year-round schools. This poll that drew so much excitement from education leaders is the same poll that showed that 53%, if you add in the ones who said they didn’t care or it didn’t matter, said that they would be more likely to pay more in property taxes if it meant reducing the number of schools on a year-round calendar. 63% of the participants had heard very little or nothing at all about the bond referendum. Is this the group you’re placing your confidence in?

I continue to keep you in my prayers as you grapple with this issue. I have no magic answer, but I think it’s going to take a combination of options – rather than one “quick fix”, to rationally deal with our growth problem. There are no good options. In my opinion, however, the one you are currently supporting is flat-out wrong.

Respectfully Yours,

Louise Lee