Twelve years ago, a candidate that opposed the status quo, business as usual of the Wake County School Board attempted to bring accountability to the system that constantly moves kids, year after year, from school to school in what has become an annual bout of torture that turns families upside down and erodes parents’ time spent with their children.
I am proud to have worked on that race way back then. I was upset on election night with the outcome but I knew that, one day, Wake County would get the School Board that it needed. I just didn’t think it would be this long in coming.
That candidate from the ’97 race fell short on election day but his legacy of listening to parents upset with the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) was a seed that grew for more than a decade into a movement of parents, community activists and conservatives that flowered on election day, 2009.
Despite all of the sour grapes that supporters of the status quo are are spewing all over the blogosphere and in local media outlets, the victory stands as an example of what motivated citizens can do when the get fed up enough with government to make change happen. The education establishment still hasn’t realized what happened Tuesday.
For years, social engineers at WCPSS have forcibly moved just enough kids in districts that weren’t up for election in the next two years to avoid reaching critical mass amongst the plebes. After making some schools year round last year and having parents sue the system, parents got motivated.
Bureaucrats have withheld assignment data from citizens and town officials while the PR shop of WCPSS has droned on an on about how great the assignment process was and how great the system was. You have to give the school system PR flacks their due. They have done an amazing job of marketing Wake County as one of the best school systems in the country while hiding the truth about student achievement.
But the system was really just a house of cards that came crashing down on election day.
A child that was in kindergarten back in 1997 will graduate at the end of this school year without ever having the piece of mind of knowing what school they would attend from year to year. How many children and their families had to suffer under the weight of part of their government that never wanted to just listen to what parents had to say about the education of their children.
So what happened to that candidate from ’97?
He decided that public education needed some competition and went on to found an award winning charter school, an award winning independent Catholic school and a chain of private schools. What was the name of this man that knew Wake County schools needed a change 12 years ago? Civitas board member Robert Luddy. I don’t know where he keeps his crystal ball, but I am glad he had a vision those many years ago.
My daughter and husband and 5 children moved to Holly Springs 3 months ago because her husband received a corporate transfer in the area. Everything they saw on the internet painted a positive picture of your school system. However, they have encountered nothing but negative nightmares trying to get their children enrolled in the WCPSS. As of today the children’s school records from their former schools have not been requested and the former school is calling my daughter asking why their children are not in the former school. My daughter filled out the proper forms in early June to have the records requested by WCPSS be transferred. She made numerous phone calls all summer and was told no one could help her or the phone was not answered at all. As of yesterday no records have been requested. So when the children’s course assignments were made out their excellent college bound records or previous classes were not taken into consideration. Her children were also assigned- 2 in traditional and 2 in non-traditional schools. That was rectified by a physician who demanded they all be in traditional because of a special need’s child they have. However there is no availability to speak with this child’s teacher before school starts. They were told that the teachers work 10 months and do not come in before school starts. Wouldn’t it be in the child’s best interest to pay the teachers to come in a couple weeks earlier to take care of all our children’s needs? I am a registered nurse and find it dangerously unacceptable to not have a registered nurse in every school daily. I have worked in schools and I was kept busy with medications, injuries, inhalers, immunization records, diabetic sugar checks, monitoring of insulin and screening for head lice to name only a few.
My daughter spoke with many people and was told that the only way out was a private education. That is not possible with 5 children and a middle income salary. Only the elite can afford those private tuition prices.
It is time you changed your ways to make our children a priority. You have my permission to show this e-mail to every school board member.