Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011

Tata: Schools have capacity

The superintendent doesn't fear the schools' new assignment plan will result in high-poverty schools.

Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata on Friday downplayed concerns that the new student-assignment plan could create racially segregated and high-poverty schools.

Tata said the schools expect to be able to handle most if not all requests from families in Southeast Raleigh who might seek a seat at a higher-performing school under the new choice-based plan. Critics have contended that the plan doesn't have strong-enough measures that would allow parents in low-performing and often high-poverty areas to get into high-performing schools.

"We have plenty of capacity in the high-performing schools," Tata said at a news conference Friday.

He also said officials are working to keep diversity in two new single-gender leadership academies that are starting next year. Critics of the single-gender schools complain that they could become like the Greensboro ones they're modeled on, where the students are almost all black.

"We don't want to give anything the appearance of being isolated or segregated," Tata said.

Tata also said Friday that school leaders are working as fast as possible to set up a feature that will allow parents to search what their options will be under the new assignment plan. He said officials are talking with education consultant Michael Alves, whom area business leaders previously hired to develop a similar choice plan, to set up the website.

But Tata did not say whether the information will be online before the school board is scheduled to vote on the plan Oct. 18. The plan will be implemented in the 2012-13 school year.

The new plan

Earlier last week, Tata presented to the school board a new plan that would overhaul the way students are assigned to schools.

Under the plan, every family would get at least five elementary schools, two middle schools and two high schools to choose from. The elementary school choices would typically be the closest schools to where a family lives.

The plan implements a change in policy made last year, when the Republican school board majority eliminated the use of busing for socioeconomic diversity. Instead, the board favors sending students to schools closer to where they live.

To try to provide diversity, the plan gives every family at least one academically high-performing school to choose from as one of its "regional choices." In the case of families living in high-poverty areas near magnet schools, they'd get three regional choices.

But during last week's presentation, Democratic school board member Kevin Hill and some public speakers questioned whether families from low-performing areas would have a realistic chance of getting into one of these higher-performing schools.

That's because the new plan doesn't have any seats specifically set aside for students from low-performing neighborhoods, who would rank fifth on the priority list for getting in.

Tata said Friday that projections show the system will have space at the high-performing schools to handle most of the students from the low-performing neighborhoods even if all of the higher-priority students choose to attend.

A public hearing on the assignment plan will be held at 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13, at Broughton High School. Speakers can register at www.wcpss.net.