Wednesday, Mar. 10, 2010

'Community assignment zones' still a hazy concept

The push to redesign the Wake County Public School System entered a new and more contentious phase last week as school board members squared off against each other and against dozens of angry, divided residents over the issue of school assignments.

The focus of virtually everyone's ire was a new resolution calling for community-based assignment zones that would remove socio-economic diversity as a goal of the system. The resolution emphasizes stability, choice and local communities. It was approved 5-4 behind the strength of the new board majority, which was elected last fall.

Frustrated pleas, angry retorts and plenty of theatrics have become common fare at the marathon board meetings since the new majority took office Dec. 1. But last week's gathering, stoked in part by politically partisan calls to pack the house, at times bordered on hostile.

Critics and supporters of the board arrived early and spilled into the hallways, carrying placards and passing out stickers. In public comment sessions lasting more than three hours, they resorted to calling each other racists and apologists. A few isolated calls for compromise drew only tepid support.

Filling out the details

For all of the fire, the resolution itself contains few details about how community assignment zones would work. It calls for development of a new "zone-based assignment model" during the next nine to 15 months.

It requires the school system staff to present a plan by June 30 that offers "logical feeder patterns," "optional choice assignment opportunities" and "better alignment of internal management systems." It anticipates that the changes will begin in the 2012-2013 school year.

One of the first key questions the board will need to address is the role of magnet schools. The plan calls for "high-quality year-round and magnet schools as viable options," in addition to vocational and alternative schools.

But the new board majority has offered mixed opinions on where magnets would be placed. Some members have suggested keeping the current system virtually intact, while others have proposed spreading magnets around the county.

Removing current magnet schools would likely create pockets of high-poverty schools in several areas of the county. That has led representatives from several local PTAs to approve resolutions in the past few weeks underscoring their support for current assignment policies.

Searching for middle ground

Although no board member escaped criticism during Tuesday night's debate, Debra Goldman was singled out multiple times for helping to write the resolution. Just a few days earlier in a school board committee meeting, she led a call for more research to guide student assignment decisions.

In prepared remarks Tuesday, she explained it is the job of the full board, not the committee, to provide overall direction on student assignment. Approval of the resolution, she said, was needed to guide the committee's work.

She then went on to speak of her support for the current magnet program and the value of diversity, challenging fellow board members on both sides of the debate to do their homework and rise to the challenge of finding a compromise.

"The community-based schools idea is not one that goes against diversity," she said. "The two ideas can work in tandem. Until you can absorb that and start looking at things from a realistic and honest standpoint, we will not ever be able to craft a holistic and effective assignment policy."

What followed, however, was a testy exchange among board members. Those in the minority repeatedly questioned why such a sweeping resolution had to be introduced and voted on in the same evening. Chairman Ron Margiotta effectively cut off debate on several points.

The members of the board minority then offered an amendment, including the addition of language that promised all children "a sound, basic education" - a state constitutional right, as the state Supreme Court declared in 1997. The amendment was defeated. and the original resolution eventually passed 5 to 4.

Margiotta then called a brief recess. The Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP, immediately came forward from the back of the room and called opponents together for an impromptu rally. Under the glare of TV lights, they chanted and sang in solidarity. Barber threatened court action.

And at that moment, the middle ground in this debate seemed like a faraway place.