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Tearing down policies that built Wake's schools

From the News and Observer
Published Fri, Mar 12, 2010 02:00 AM
Modified Fri, Mar 12, 2010 10:41 AM

RALEIGH - Every parent has observed the glee with which toddlers knock down building-block towers. With a little patient nurturing, many learn the greater joy in creating a painting or sculpture or structure that lasts.

The lesson is that while it is easy to knock down something, greater skill and thought go into creating something that survives, and that creation is infinitely more satisfying than destruction.

The League of Women Voters of Wake County is dismayed by the destructive forces at work within the current Wake County school board. It is reminiscent of an angry child with a hammer. The structure that the board suggests for replacing what it destroys is at this time a vision that exists in only a few minds, although one could look to Charlotte for a reasonable facsimile.

When the hammer comes down, as it surely will at the board's March 23 meeting, the existing magnet school system will receive a mortal blow. The community goal of no high-poverty schools will be shattered as well.

Many candidates in past elections have made campaign pledges such as "every school should be a magnet school." The flip side of this is that no school will be a magnet school. It certainly looks as if that will happen. Perhaps there will be some curriculum differences, but certainly not at the enriched level that currently exists in many of our magnet schools.

The League of Women Voters of Wake County has supported the Boards of Education and their goals for over 40 years, ever since the city-county school merger of 1976. Along with our support of high-quality education programs and adequate financing, we have always supported socioeconomic balance and equal opportunity for students. We are adamantly opposed to dismantling a system that supports these goals.

We are disheartened by abuses of process by the current board and disappointed at the way in which a supposedly data-driven process rejects any data that disprove its certitudes. A recent survey of parents revealed that nearly 95 percent were satisfied with the placement of their children. Should this information not cause folks to re-examine the premises of their argument that so many parents are dissatisfied that wholesale change is needed?

It is also worth noting that it is the explosive growth in population that drives instability in assignment. Overall, the same people who backed the new majority in the last election opposed the bond issue that would have allowed more sustained development of school buildings.

At the last board meeting, one of the student speakers urged the board to work together to fashion goals and procedures that everyone could support. That is what we would all wish. Surely no one wants to create a cluster of 14 high-poverty schools within the Beltline. The real estate frenzy that will occur if certain zones are perceived as having poorly performing schools is not only unpleasant to contemplate but offensive to anyone who cares about equality of opportunity and quality education.

What is perhaps most alarming in the current climate is the lack of data about what the proposed changes would cost. With declining revenues at all levels of government, the financial outlook for the school system is bleak. We hope the board will exercise good stewardship. This is no time for a cavalier approach that simply assumes that "staff will figure it out."

By attending schools with diverse populations, students have the opportunity to gain multicultural awareness and communication. The business community and indeed all the citizens of Wake County should value a system that will graduate students who will continue to learn and communicate across cultures. The global economy is here to stay, and competition for jobs and skills will be intense. Our young people need to be well prepared for the challenges in a global economy.

The diversity policy, magnet schools, fiscal responsibility and careful and thoughtful cooperation of the board and the staff have been valuable assets of the Wake County schools. They have been important ingredients in developing Raleigh and Wake County as a highly desirable area to live and work.

We hope that the current school board doesn't dismantle those policies that create opportunities to move forward in the 21st century. Instead, board members should value the steps that have been taken to build a high-quality school system and work to improve it.

Lisa Mowat is president of the League of Women Voters - Wake County.