A FAIR "CHOICE"? I DON'T THINK SO!!!

Yesterday, Judge Howard Manning announced that the Wake County Public School System can lawfully proceed with their "opt-out plan" for families who oppose mandatory year-round school attendance. Judge Manning ruled earlier that WCPSS could not force children to attend year-round schools against the wishes of their parents. The Wake School Board decided to still go ahead and forcibly convert 22 schools to a year-round calendar, with one change in plans. On Friday,they are sending home 30,500 letters by students at these 22 schools, asking that parents return a "consent form" to give permission for their child/children to stay at the converted school. Parents who want to remain in a traditional setting will have to leave their now-converted school, and be reassigned to a traditional school elsewhere. Where? Well - parents won't exactly know! The letter is supposed to name a traditional calendar school assignment, but school leaders say they can't guarantee that choice.

So, here is the question that the WCPSS is asking parents: "Do you want to stay at your "home" school (for which we have mandated a year-round schedule) - OR do you want your child to be removed from the school he/she currently attends and be placed in a traditional school somewhere (we can tell you which one it might be, but that could change - oh, and there's always a chance it could be very far from where you live, but we still need your decision, even with that uncertainty).

Sound fair to you? If not, you need to get busy right this second, writing and calling Wake school board members (who say they are hearing from folks who back their plan), County Commissioners, and media personnel. There's a quick link to these folks on the right (only media link is to N&O editor, but you can find others). Time is running out, so please act quickly. In my opinion, they should leave the schools as they are for now (no conversions), fill current year-round schools with volunteers, re-check attendance estimates for the 2007-08 school year (these have been questioned by many) and look for other ways to find extra space - ways that are not ideal, but that are far less risky than what they now have in mind. These could include keeping mobile units in place where students are already successfully performing, using music and art rooms as classrooms (opening up 40 seats) and putting those programs on carts (that's been done forever, and it works!) - and other options as well.

What a shame that in all of this bickering, finger-pointing, and name-calling the FACTS (which have never changed) about the negative side of MYR schools seem to have gotten lost by the wayside!!! I think I'll re=post those..

Here are a couple of links - one to the N&O story yesterday, the other to the WCPSS site for specifics. 

http://www.newsobserver.com/146/story/572419.html

http://www.wcpss.net/news/2007_may4_board_responds/answers.html