NYT feature about Wake County diversity policy shift
When Rosemarie Wilson moved her family to a wealthy suburb of Raleigh a couple of years ago, the biggest attraction was the prestige of the local public schools. Then she started talking to neighbors. Don’t believe the hype, they warned. Many were considering private schools. All pointed to an unusual desegregation policy, begun in 2000, …
What the retirement of Superintendent Burns should mean to Wake County
In an interview given to WRAL today, departing Wake County Superintendent Del Burns made an uncharacteristically blunt statement: “I think the potential is here for a change that will result in segregating rich schools and poor schools in the Wake County Public School System.” There it is. Just let it sink in for a moment. …
Reports says cost of foreclosure goes well beyond just losing the house
A new study on the impact of foreclosures on Latino families says losing a house can lead to depression, poor academic performance by children and financial devastation. None of these findings are likely to be surprising to anyone who has been foreclosed upon or knows someone who has lost their house to foreclosure. The study, …
Southern states most at risk from 2010 Census undercount
Ever since the Census Bureau’s offbeat 30 second Super Bowl ad, there’s been a lot more buzz about the upcoming 2010 Census count and the impact of an under-count in your state (which suggests that even if the ad wasn’t great, it succeeded in getting people talking). Hopefully Southerners — and not just those in …
Innovative program at a NC college for at risk youth
Here, and at North Carolina’s other 70 early-college schools, the goal is to keep at-risk students in school by eliminating the divide between high school and college. “We don’t want the kids who will do well if you drop them in Timbuktu,” said Lakisha Rice, the principal. “We want the ones who need our kind …
Think you have what it takes to run for office? Candidate filing starts today!
Candidate filing starts today for North Carolina’s 2010 political races, including a Wake board of commissioners battle that could give Republicans financial control of the biggest trophy in local government, the county’s 140,000-student school system, the largest in the state. In Wake, Democrats now hold the majority on the seven-member board of commissioners, which controls …
WCSB Survey shows most parents happy with the status quo
Plans by the Wake County school board’s ruling majority to overhaul the way students are assigned are being complicated by the board’s own survey, which shows nearly all parents like the status quo. Results released this week show that 94.5 percent of the nearly 40,000 parents who participated in the survey said they were satisfied …
Interesting quirk in Chatham County's school board race
A 13-year-old mapping error placed Kathie Russell, who represents the board in District 3, outside of her district by almost a mile. (more)