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Oh, well, you left out all those other "important" points about how their current school is great and it would be hard for parents to volunteer at Northside, etc.
Agreed that has been part of their message. The "organized opposition" has a number of documents and talking points floating around. It seems as the process moves along they are trying to zero in on a few of what they perceive to be their strongest arguments. I'm not close to it, so I can't really vouch for their messaging.
The board met again last night for their "work" session. It was an extremely disappointing display from the board. In spite of hundreds of emails and public speakers coming out in favor of plan 4.1, only a single board member (James Barrett) wanted to discuss it. Instead, the vast majority wanted to focus solely on the much-maligned 2.1 with its heavy use of satellite neighborhoods and busing. Instead of taking into consideration public comment, the board asked the administration to only look into to 2 minor changes to the plan. Not a SINGLE recommendation from the public was taken up by the board for the administration to investigate. Both James Barrett and Mike Kelly from the board were willing to ask the tough questions, but their voices were drowned out by the rest who focused on personal anecdotes and questionable qualitative data to force a decision that will harm many in favor of a few. It was a sickening display that likely left all of those of us who have commented publicly with a bitter taste in our mouths since our words clearly fell upon deaf ears. Luckily our votes will be counted in the next election.
The board met again last night for their "work" session. It was an extremely disappointing display from the board. In spite of hundreds of emails and public speakers coming out in favor of plan 4.1, only a single board member (James Barrett) wanted to discuss it. Instead, the vast majority wanted to focus solely on the much-maligned 2.1 with its heavy use of satellite neighborhoods and busing. Instead of taking into consideration public comment, the board asked the administration to only look into to 2 minor changes to the plan. Not a SINGLE recommendation from the public was taken up by the board for the administration to investigate. Both James Barrett and Mike Kelly from the board were willing to ask the tough questions, but their voices were drowned out by the rest who focused on personal anecdotes and questionable qualitative data to force a decision that will harm many in favor of a few. It was a sickening display that likely left all of those of us who have commented publicly with a bitter taste in our mouths since our words clearly fell upon deaf ears. Luckily our votes will be counted in the next election.
Wow. I had to check the date on this post. It sounds eerily like posts from WCPSS parents in 2009.
Thanks for posting CHT. I was just wondering if they had decided. Surprised we didn't get 100 phone calls and emails about that, too. Got calls on my cell and my home phone at 5:30am this morning that school was delayed.
It seemed like 2.1 was the one they were going for. Interestingly, I was talking to an acquaintance who lives in the north CH neighborhoods that have been most up in arms about redistricting. She has a 4th grader and she said that while a bunch of her neighbors were upset about the potential redistricting her family wasn't and they were even considering sending her 5th grader next year to Northside even though they would be grandfathered in at Seawell.
I looked at the tour of Northside that's posted on the district website and facebook and thought it looked awesome: CHCCS News: Staff Tour Northside Elementary . It looks like it will be a really cool school and I'm sort of sorry we can't go there, too, but we're happy to stay put at Carrboro also. Either one would have been fine with us.
Redistricting in Chapel Hill confounds me. It seems the district continues to try and destroy itself. What would a rational person do when it's time to build a new school? Maybe figure out where the kids are and build it near them? Since they'd already decided on closing FPG and sending most of the kids to the new school, would it have been smart to locate the new school somewhat near FPG? Shouldn't they have chosen a location that would minimize travel distances, in this case somewhere south of 54? A rational person would find a way to make the main goal of redistricting simpler: balancing "at risk" (meaning poor) populations so that no school fails like FPG did. So... find the largest poor population in the district and build the school there, putting all the poor kids in the school's walk-zone, forcing you to bus in middle class neighborhoods from miles away to make the spreadsheet work? What a great idea, geniuses!
The people who chose to put Northside north of Franklin are either incompetent, or don't care about kids. They booted every mostly poor Hispanic segment out of FPG and rezoned them randomly, and created a school with a large poor black population in it's place. Instead of creating a school with short bus rides, Northside's map looks like broken glass fell all over the map. The new school will have the longest average bus ride in the district by far! Way to go, geniuses!
You'd think they would have learned something from the failure of FPG. To compensate for the level of poverty at Northside (poverty is generally what causes low test scores - not race or culture), they grabbed segment 74A from Seawell, just like they grabbed my neighborhood to improve FPG's numbers last time. I read a lot about 74A complaining about the bus ride. These guys should try the drive from south of 54. Let's face it - 74A is pissed off because they're being zoned into a school with a large poor black population simply to make the spread sheet look good. Why should that **** them off?
Well, here's what happened last time when these geniuses trashed my neighborhood. My son wasted a year in kindergarten while his teacher taught English to non-English speakers. She was a good teacher - it was't her fault, but with almost the whole class speaking Spanish instead of English, she had to teach English. I went to the first class. She held up a red sheet of paper and said something sounding like "Rohoe - red". She litterally ignored my son for a whole year, and didn't even teach him Spanish, but she put him in a "gifted" program for 20 minutes a week. We moved him to Woods Chartered the next year, where his first grade teacher thought he had a learning disability because he had spent a whole year learning to ignore the teacher.
The last redistricting plan accepted by the School Board showed FPG with only 20% poverty, but the year my son was there the poverty rate was actually 44%. One reason this happened is parents bailed. When a school turns bad like FPG did, parents who can afford it move their kids. The ones who stayed where mostly the poor kids. That's what's going to happen to segment 74A. All those great students shown in the spread sheet wont show up. Instead, they'll all grandfather in for two years, meaning the poverty level at Northside will be far closer to what it would be without 74A. Two years is enough for a school to fail. If that happens, those parents in 74A will never allow their kids to attend Northside. I also wonder if the school board is using population numbers in each segment, or school enrollment numbers. Four of the five closest families with elementary age kids nearest me did what I did and pulled their kids out of FPG (the other is in the dual-language program), so the enrollment numbers for our neighborhood are very low. We'll send very few kids to Northside.
It's really sad. Few of the kids around here go to the same school. It really damages the community. So, when you hear 74A complain about the bus ride, don't listen. They've got it easy. However, grieve with them over the incredible loss they will face as their community fragments. Grieve for all the all those poorly educated kids let down by FPG, and grieve for the poor kids Northside is likely to let down. Be upset that your children will suffer in middle and high school because teachers will be dealing with FPG's and Northside's failures. Be upset that all those parents in 74A are trying to figure out how to afford private school, and that the drive to their eventual school is going to be a lot worse than the drive to Northside. When their older kids are in East Chapel Hill High, they're youngest will be somewhere with different holidays, ruining vacation plans. Their property values will drop 20%, which just in 74A is probably more than the cost of building Northside. Grieve for the loss of the state's best school district as we continue to drive parents who care about education away. Don't be surprised to see 74A parents form a new charter school.
I know it's unfair to bus the poor kids around, while letting the middle-class kids attend their community school. Frankly, it's unfair to allow such poverty to exist. However, when you zone poor kids to a good school, they show up. When you zone middle class kids to a bad school, they don't. When you've driven off all the middle class kids through ignorant redistricting, you'll have a failed school system full of poor kids. Someone in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro system needs to get a clue. I hope it's not already too late.
Since they'd already decided on closing FPG and sending most of the kids to the new school, would it have been smart to locate the new school somewhat near FPG?
I must have missed something - I've don't recall ever hearing that FPG was closing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by waywardgeek
When their older kids are in East Chapel Hill High, they're youngest will be somewhere with different holidays, ruining vacation plans.
Not that it changes your argument, but 74A is assigned to Chapel Hill High, not East (it was shifted when Carrboro High opened).
Quote:
Originally Posted by waywardgeek
Their property values will drop 20%, which just in 74A is probably more than the cost of building Northside.
Ah, property values. The great unspoken reality behind a lot of this. (No, really, it's about the kids.) I made reference to it back in this post.
FPG will be a dual language Spanish magnet starting the fall, CHTransplant. I have friends who went ahead and moved their child over there already and they have been really pleased with the school, so to each his/her own, I guess.
I know there was a fairly vocal protest against making FPG the Spanish magnet from the families who are currently at the school, too, so apparently some of the folks who are at the school liked it enough to want it to stay traditional. I'm told it was folks from the more affluent neighborhoods districted for FPG who were protesting the change as they wanted to keep it the way it was, but I'm not sure on that. I do know that there was talk of making Carrboro all Spanish dual language magnet, too, but ultimately they decided to just do the two tracks as a magnet because Carrboro has a larger walk zone than FPG since it's nestled right in the middle of town vs on the corner of 54 and Smith Level Rd like FPG.
I think Northside looks like an awesome school and would really be totally happy if we were districted for it. As I mentioned up thread, I don't personally know anyone who has anything but good things to say about Northside. It's only on city-data and in the newspaper that I read the complaints. I know they're out there, but my friends that have been up for redistricting have all been very positive about it, including my friends in 74a. Interesting to note that the friends in 74a are Chapel Hill natives, too.
I think Northside looks like an awesome school and would really be totally happy if we were districted for it.
I agree. Seems a bit premature to be making judgments about a school that isn't even operating yet.
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The redistricting mess continues
