Hello! Yesterday’s BOE meeting is captured in this summary from a Great Schools colleague. I’ve tried to highlight main points in green, so you can scroll down to what interests you:
The Board of Education passed its final version of a desegregation plan and eliminated 68 jobs in the Central Office as the result of a tightening budget year.
Bell Schedule decision: At the Board’s Committee of the Whole meeting, in setting next year’s start and end times for schools, the Board decided to revert to the 2008-09 bell schedule (they have eliminated the Wake Wednesday early release for Professional Learning Team meetings), after considering options that would have been budget neutral. The Board now must find $750,000 in the tight budget to fund the new buses and drivers needed to meet that schedule while also opening four new schools this fall. The budget neutral version had many elementary schools starting at 9:30 am. The 2010-11 budget, which was a main focus of the meeting, was officially approved. About 68 staff members from Central Office will loss their jobs as a result of the Reduction in Force approved by the Board. In addition, 57 vacant positions will be eliminated.
Langauge for magnet funding: Also at the main Board meeting at 3 pm, the Voluntary Desegregation Plan, drafted by Board members John Tedesco, Debra Goldman and Keith Sutton over a four-hour period a few weekends ago, was approved 5-4 on its second reading. This plan was drafted to meet the requirements of the federal magnet grant. [You can read more in this N&O story today.]
Board member Carolyn Morrison suggested an amendment that would state that in the Community-Based Assignment plan "every effort shall be made to avoid minority group isolation of students." Dr. Morrison related her experiences working in a low wealth school and how difficult it was to raise student achievement and recruit teachers to the school. She said she wanted to avoid resegregating the schools. Members Chris Malone and Debra Goldman called the language "redundant," and Mr. Tedesco said Dr. Morrison’s clarifying language would "water down" the directive. Member Kevin Hill said Dr. Morrison’s amendment spells out the intent of the Board, that avoiding "minority group isolation of students" would be the ideal.
The Board vote 4-5 to defeat the amendment. The unamended Voluntary Desegregation Plan was passed 5-4. Both votes were split, with the five majority members being Chair Margiotta, Ms. Goldman, Mr. Tedesco, Deborah Prickett, and Chris Malone. The four minority votes in both cases were Mr. Sutton, Dr. Morrison, Dr. Anne McLaurin and Mr. Kevin Hill.
Ms. Prickett said she has heard Dr. Morrison say she is against resegregation of schools, and Ms. Prickett said she would not be "put in a box" in support of segregation–she said that was not the Board’s intent.
Budget cuts; Media specialists safe — for now: There were 22 speakers during the public comment, still limited to 2 minutes each (instead of the previous 3 minute limit that was in place prior to February). Several media specialists from throughout the system came to oppose the proposed cuts in 40 media positions that will take effect if the budget situation worsens. For now, those media jobs are safe–non-school-based jobs were eliminated in the RIF approved yesterday. Although the cuts were said not to be school-based, the budget cut and Reduction in Force did include 12 positions at Project Enlightenment, the award-winning, nationally recognized preschool resource of WCPSS. As you may recall, many parents supporting Project Enlightenment petitioned the Board against cutting the program, yet they were hard hit, 12 of the 68 positions; 9 full or part-time completely lost and 3 transferred elsewhere in Central Office. Like the other WCPSS staff members RIF’d, those staff were called last night (April 20) by Human Resources and told not to come to work today (April 21). [Ruth Sheehan wrote about this and the recent presentation at Hilburn Elementary in her column today. Note to Leesville folks, our own Beth O. is featured in Sheehan’s column. There is also an article in the N&O about the RIF, and this story explains the Governor’s budget and how it will affect education.]
Tedesco taken to task: Two speakers expressed concern over BoE member John Tedesco’s speech at the Tea Party rally last week, both questioning whether Mr. Tedesco violated the BoE Code of Ethics policy that bars Board members from being influenced by special political interests. One speaker called Mr. Tedesco "Palin-esque" and said he should be "embarrassed" for speaking to a radical group that advocates violence.
Seating / security: The COW work session was filled with about 20 members of the public yesterday, but the main Board meeting was moderately attended–only about 50 tickets or "seat vouchers" (the new term from WCPSS) were given out. There were four uniformed Raleigh Police Officers providing security as well as several WCPSS security officials. If you’ve been wanting to see this Board in action, the crowds have lessened. Whether this has occurred because of the Board’s tighter restrictions on public participation and input or a lack of interest is uncertain. In addition, many of the public may be watching the meetings online on WRAL.com.
Joint meeting of BOC and BOE today
I’m sure there will be more on this tomorrow, but here is the N&O’s preliminary story on the proceedings.
LTEs
Upcoming meetings:
Thursday, April 22, 7 pm to 8:30 pm, Great Schools In Wake Community Forum, Temple Beth Or, 5315 Creedmoor Road, Raleigh. Speakers include Beverley Clark, former WCPSS Board of Education member; Chuck Dulaney, former Asst. Superintendent, Growth and Planning; Mary Kelley, parent and lifelong Raleigh resident. The focus on this forum will be the so-called Rim schools, those traditional schools along the edge of the Beltline that are neither magnet or year round. The forum will examine what will happen to these schools under the proposed "Community-Based Assignment" model.
Leandro Hearing on Substandard Schools. On Tuesday, May 4, Judge Manning, who presides over the on-going Leandro court case, will hold a hearing that will focus on low-performing elementary and middle schools in three urban school systems: Forsyth, Guilford and Durham. The hearing will begin at 10 AM in Courtroom 5A of the Wake County Courthouse.
That’s more than enough for today. Thank you for staying engaged with WCPSS
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