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I'm liberal and I don't like the bussing for an environmental reason. I just don't think we have those sort of carbon emission points to use. While this did factor into us picking Durham Co over Wake Co, the main reason was we had just endured a multiple year fight in Portland over school redistricting and I was tired of that fight. (The redistricting was due to schools shrinking.) And we were looking for racial diversity that we did not have in Portland.
Ideally, economically diverse neighborhoods would slove this problem. Kids from diverse economic backgrounds would go to the same neighborhood school. (Even walk to school together maybe!!)But greed has won out in the end. Lets face it, even if the city of Durham wanted to put a low/moderate income housing project in the Southpoint area, the City could not afford the land. (DPS currently can't even afford land here for another school). The same thing applies to Cary, Raleigh, etc.
I'm not throwing up my hands saying there is no solution, but the solutions I have all have holes in them. I'd love to see evidence of another city where promoting economically diverse neighborhoods has been put in place. I've seen low in come neighborhoods welcome those w/ money. But I've never seen examples of a Southpoint or Cary welcome low income developments. I hope there are examples I'm just now aware of them.
That's cool. Just wondering,
What is an "economically diverse neighborhood."
So, birds of a feather can't flock together?
Bussing - against if for environmental reasons.
That's super cool.
That's cool. Just wondering,
What is an "economically diverse neighborhood."
So, birds of a feather can't flock together?
In my personal view an economically diverse neighborhood is a place where upper, middle, and lower income neighbors live, play, work, and go to school together. (I realize this sounds like a hippy utopian dream. ) I believe if I open myself to people who are different than me (economically, socially, racially, politically, culturally, etc) then I learn and grow as an individual. I believe "out of sight out of mind" is human nature. If I'm around a variety of people I'm more likily to understand them and their struggles and goals. But I also value the time that I spend with the birds of my feather. That time grounds me where as time with those that are different somehow expands me. I think both are healthy for grown ups and children.
Quote:
Originally Posted by weluvwakeforest
Bussing - against if for environmental reasons. That's super cool.
At our elementary school in Portland, 85-90% of the kids were in the walk zone and did not have bus service provided for them. We loved our "walking school buses" even in the cold and rain. Kids tracked the number of miles they walked for class projects and teachers helped the older grade calculate the number of carbon emission credits that these kids saved by walking.
Maybe WCPSS should buy some carbon emission credits to off set it's bussing.
Snowpea--I understand your point about socio-economic diversity being different from racial diversity. But the only reason why WCPSS is doing socio-econ is because they can't do racial diversity. (Or at least they saw the writing on the wall after Charlotte's was struck down). And by doing socio-econ, they come up with very similar results.
Snowpea--I understand your point about socio-economic diversity being different from racial diversity. But the only reason why WCPSS is doing socio-econ is because they can't do racial diversity. (Or at least they saw the writing on the wall after Charlotte's was struck down). And by doing socio-econ, they come up with very similar results.
It's the same thing painted with a different brush so that WCPSS can stay "legal".
[quote=Snowpea;3291666]Durhammom, my post referred to socioeconomic diversity. Does yours?
Hi Snowpea,
To answer your question -- yes! For many reasons I wanted to raise my kids in a place where diversity in many forms was the nature of the area.
But that misses the point of my post which was simply to request that folks who objected to bussing not be labeled as conservative and anti-diverse but viewed simply people who objected to bussing for a variety of reasons. I think some of the responses to my post have shown that -- people object to bussing for many reasons.
Personally my objection to bussing was formed before my kids were born when I lived in another state used to watch a bus filled with kids who lived a good 30 minutes away used to pull into the school near my home and I used to think how unfair it was to put those kids on a bus so early and so long when they should be running and playing. Were they really gaining that much to take that much time away from them?
Now I do find common ground with much of what has been written. Like PDXmom I wish that our communities were more integrated (socio-economically). I recognize that this is difficult to achieve particularly in newer areas like West Cary and Southwest Durham where proximity to RTP has elevated the land value. Like RaleighJayne I agree with the principle behind the diversity policy but question the varying levels of implementation. For example, the locations of some of the magnet schools are outdated and the poverty levels in some schools are troubling (and exceeding the 40% F & R maximum). Like Durhammom I feel that long bus rides are negative. I think a 30 minute school commute is acceptable but I would like to see a cap at that level.
We received a letter last night that says that my kids kindergarten classes are so overcrowded that they need to create an extra 1st grade class to accomodate them next yr. I have twins in kindergarten. Now do you think that they would create that class on track 1..the most popular at this school...or maybe even track 4...no, they created it on track 3!!! So they are asking for voluteers to move to track 3 next yr or else they will make the moves themselves. So basically their complete lack of planning (like why would they let the kids that came to these classes mid year cram the popular tracks completely full?). They created this problem, but we get to pay for it. If they had a policy of putting kids that come in mid yr in less popular tracks, and then creating a new class if necessary, then those kids wouldn't have to change tracks. Not to put down kids that come in mid year, but we all have to apply for tracks and be accepted and not everyone gets first choice, so its no different. We have plans for Sept & Dec trackouts already...this would not be good.
I venture to guess that they ARE putting the new comers in the least popular tracks even if it means that they fall further behind in the school.
We are new and I just registered the kids hoping for them to start as soon as possible as yr round has already started. They are putting us in track 2 that is about to track out. They have already gone through 6 weeks of school instead of putting us in a track that has only gone through 3 weeks.
I obviously live in Mayberry RFD here in MA. I've had two kids go through the middle school and there have been less than 5 incidents of fighting in the combined six years they were at this school. I've heard of some minor hazing and bullying but I've also seen kids suspended at least 4 times for it (on different occasions). There was a group in my older son's class that were a bad influence on a larger group of kids. In 7th grade, the prinicipal had ALL the parents in for a series of meetings (not mandatory but 95% of the parents showed up). She put some parameters in place and let us know about them. She followed through on the restrictions she made and if a kid broke the rule, they paid the consequence (which is why she wanted to get parent buy-in first--so she wouldn't have to argue later). By the end of 8th grade, the teachers and administrators decided to handle this group proactively for high school by breaking them up. We only have one high school. They held one back and had him repeat 8th grade. They told another his grades were ok for 9th grade but that the high school would be too competitive so they strongly encouraged him to attend the regional voch-tech school (open to any resident of any town in the county). Another was strongly steered towards private school. The remaining kids, once the group was broken, became "law abiding citizens" and there were no more problems.
Gangs and bullies make me nervous. A lot of it is part of the growing up process but when kids don't feel safe at school, I get very upset. There's a huge difference between hurting someone's feelings and physically threatening them.
As for the track changes described in the OP: Reason # 452 I will not send my kids to WCPS.
For Saturnfan: How do you propose to tell people to stop moving there so the schools can "catch up"?
I venture to guess that they ARE putting the new comers in the least popular tracks even if it means that they fall further behind in the school.
We are new and I just registered the kids hoping for them to start as soon as possible as yr round has already started. They are putting us in track 2 that is about to track out. They have already gone through 6 weeks of school instead of putting us in a track that has only gone through 3 weeks.
If you're that unhappy with the track; why don't you look into your school that's on the traditional calendar? School just started Aug. 25th.
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) I believe if I open myself to people who are different than me (economically, socially, racially, politically, culturally, etc) then I learn and grow as an individual. I believe "out of sight out of mind" is human nature. If I'm around a variety of people I'm more likily to understand them and their struggles and goals. But I also value the time that I spend with the birds of my feather. That time grounds me where as time with those that are different somehow expands me. I think both are healthy for grown ups and children. 
Re not happy
