Wake County School Board Member “THE TEDESCO PICTURES I MISSED” –Source: The Cash Roc

I want to thank Jeffrey Wotus, a constant, yet unhinged critic of mine, for digging up these new John Tedesco pictures from when Tedesco served as Borough Administrator for the small municipality of Highlands, NJ from 2000-2002. (Read more)

Response: You must see these pictures. Curmilus Dancy II – The Political Agitator

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A Must Read – ANSWERING JOHN TEDESCO’S WAKEED BLOG RESPONSE PART 1 – Source: The Cash Rock

Wake County Public Schools

Wake County – History of turmoil – Source: The News & Observer

Your Oct. 25 front-page article about the District 3 runoff race leaves a very mistaken impression with the paragraph two phrase, "After two years of protests and partisan votes and bickering and budget woes …"

The protests and bickering didn’t begin two years ago. They were already vehement during my opponent Kevin Hills’ term as chairman, when real parents with real concerns about their children’s education rose up to demand a more responsive and less arrogant school board. As The N&O itself reported in July, 2007 [prior to Hill's election], "Angry parents have picketed the Wake County school system, packed school board meetings and sued the system to protest year-round schools and student reassignment." (Read more)

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Wake County Public Schools

Superintendent Tony Tata today announced the staff members who will be serving on the student assignment team

• James Overman, senior director, Elementary Education (Task Force Leader)

• Brad McMillen, senior director, Evaluation and Research

• David Ansbacher, senior director, Magnet Programs

• Tamani Anderson Powell, director, Magnet Programs

• Susan Pullium, director, Growth and Planning

• Susan Andrews, senior administrator, Staff Development

 
In February, after the Wake Education Partnership and the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce presented their Wake School Choice plan, Tata asked the Board of Education for permission to take over the responsibility of developing a student assignment plan, which they unanimously agreed to do.

“I have developed a team of staff members who are going to be temporarily reassigned from their current position with the new responsibility to work 100 percent of the time on a student assignment plan that meets Policy 6200 and uses the input that I’m getting from the community,” he said. “We’re going to come up with the best plan that we can that satisfies the board and that satisfies the community.”

Tata said he and the student assignment team will take into consideration the ideas contained in the Wake School Choice plan, other previous proposals and information that he has gathered through his listening tour as they work to develop a new plan for WCPSS.  The team will begin work immediately and will be assisted, as needed, by staff and resources from other areas of the school system including Finance, Growth and Planning, Transportation, Special Education Services, English as a Second Language, and State and Federal Programs Departments.   Once the team has the core of a plan, the team hopes to begin sharing their work with key community stakeholder groups to discuss core concepts of the plan. The goal is to have a plan ready to present to the Board of Education by late spring.
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More Events and Links…..

Wednesday, March 9, 2011
7 pm, "Civil Rights and the Wake County Public School Policy," Rev. Dr. William Barber III, speaking at the annual meeting of the ACLU; NC Advocates for Justice, 1312 Annapolis Dr, Raleigh, NC

Tuesday, March 15, 2011
6:30 to 8 pm, "What is the Alves Plan? What Does it Mean for My Child’s School Assignment?" a presentation by Wake Education Partnership VP of Communications Tim Simmons; Martin Street Baptist Church, 1001 East Martin Street, Raleigh; free and open to the public; sponsored by Great Schools in Wake and the Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children.

Links of Interest
The Wake County Board of Education Economically-Disadvantaged Task Force has a website, including all the handouts and materials presented at those meetings.

Independent reporter Bob Geary has a summary of Superintendent Tata’s presentation to NC HEAT last week on Indyweek.com, titled "Tata: ‘Am I Gonna Value Diversity? Of Course.’ "

A study on Teacher Merit Pay by Harvard economist Roland Fryer published in the National Bureau of Economic Research finds that teacher incentives may decrease student achievement, especially in larger schools.

The U.S. Department of Education is opening an investigation of Boston Public Schools, under allegations that the school system is disproportionately targeting schools with high concentrations of minority students in its school closure decisions.

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Wake County Public Schools