Thursday, July 19, 2007

The Challenge!

Back when I first started blogging about how the conversions where affecting my family, I attracted a concerned parent who supported WakeCares.  We battled back and forth a couple of times with my side in support of the conversions for overcrowding reasons and the other side being fundamentally against it.  After several blog entries on both our parts, she challenged me.  She challenged me to dig deeper in the YR program.  To take a closer look.  I told her that with the access we have to information today that it would be easy to find items that both supported and undermined the YR program but that I would look anyway.  So I did.

I have poured over statistics and numbers trying to some how show those that believe that overcrowding is not an issue that it is.  I have read more articles in the last month or so than I can count.  I have spoken with school board members and asked many questions.  I am currently waiting for Chuck Delaney to email me back so that I can talk to him also.  I may have to email him again I guess. 

I have learned that the BOE does feel that most people don’t understand the WHOLE story.  I’m not sure I do, but I did learn that the conversions were originally intended to happen over 2 years instead of just one.  So when you see empty class rooms and tracks are being cancelled and people are being shifted its because they have converted these schools with 2 years worth of growth in mind.  Isn’t this what we needed anyway?  We needed more space but now people are complaining about empty classrooms.  There is no winning here.

I looked at each Elementary schools enrollment numbers and compared them with their capacity numbers with and without the mobile units in place.  That was eye opening.  Of the 19 Elementary schools converted 14 of them were over 100% capacity with trailers.  Some severely like Pleasant Union at 122% with no mobile units and Hodge Drive at 123% with 5 mobile units.  Most of them hovered around 105% on average.  There were also the schools that didn’t seem to need conversions with capacities lower like Lockhart that is only at 86% capacity with 16 mobile units.  Also Leesville at 91% with 19 mobile units.  (I’m   unclear if these are numbers for last year and projections put together but they were listed for the 2007-2008 school year.  And the numbers keep changing.  With track 4 starting in a week we should be able to get firmer numbers about this.)  While other schools weren’t converted with capacities at 120% like Hunter, Joyner, Cary, Dillard, Conn and Bugg. 

I have heard many rumors, all which I can’t confirm at this point, of tracks being closed at Rand Road and 1 grade on track 3 needing to be closed.  I would love to give you this information but my Principle won’t return my emails or calls.  I will continue to work on that. 

One thing that I find just wonderful at our school is the fact that the music teacher now actually has a room to teach music.  Before she was mobile pushing a cart from room to room to teach what I believe one of the most important things in school.  (Yes I was a band geek and I wouldn’t change it for the world)  I was completely unsettled by the whole mobile cart teaching and appalled that people don’t see that as an issue to be concerned about. 

One person asked if it was true that the conversions cost $6 million and only helped us gain 500 seats.  No, that would not be entirely true.  The conversion did cost $6 million with a seat gain projected at 3000.  Now,  it cost approximately $22 million to build a new Elementary school that seats 600-800 (they are now building them bigger, used to be 500)  I think $6 million is a bargain!  The seats acquired number changes from story to story.  The N&O reported only 500 seats were gained but we can’t be sure of that because not all tracks have actually started.  Also the BOE projected number of 3000 may have to be adjusted related to Judge Manning’s ruling.  We still have time to figure this one out.  Still seems to be a savings though.

What it boils down to is that most of our schools were over crowded and now with the conversions they are better.  Let’s give this conversion some more time.  Let’s see what happens in the coming year.

I welcome your comments and would love to hear from Rand Road families.  Where are you guys?

You obviously did not understand what I challenged you to do. I challenged to look into the hundreds of stories out there about how multi track mandatory year round schools have failed and then districts eventually had to build the schools they needed at a much higher cost. As my father always said, “Figures don’t make liars, liars make figures.“ WCPSS can manipulate the numbers any way they want to to make their case. History has shown MTYR to be a miserable failure any where it has been forced on families. In my mind there can be absolutely no justification for putting my kids on different schedules. Will your kids be on different schedules any time soon? When they are on different schedules how will you feel about it? When they are on different schedules and you find yourself not liking what it has done to your family, will you be honest about it and blog about it?

Suggest you look at the following websites, National Association for Year Round Education
Summer Matters
SOS Wake
Let me know what you find.

Hi Sheryl:

I think that between the 2 of us we’ve learned more about school calendars that we ever cared to. 

I just wanted to share a little perspective on the Leesville situation and the “overcrowding”.

We had a LOT of mobiles at Leesville (and after the conversion we STILL DO), but the situation we were sitting in was to be more temporary than long term. 

The families and staff OVERWHELMINGLY preferred to be a little overcrowded if the only other option was to be forced to convert to a YR calendar.

We have an under-capacity YR elementary school located just 5 miles away (Brier Creek) and there is a brand new YR elementary school opening up NEXT YEAR (named E-17) that is just over 1 mile from our school.  If the school board would have just allowed our families who WANTED a YR calendar to transfer to Brier Creek, and then just waited to see how the opening of E-17 affected our base population, I’m pretty sure the overcrowding would have been taken care of to a GREAT degree. 

There is currently not a traditional school in our area to accommodate the great desire to have a traditional calendar. 

Without going into all of the facts and options we presented to the BoE and Growth Management, it sure didn’t make sense to convert Leesville this year.

But, we’ve now started the school year on a year-round calendar, and are going to make the best of it.

What you may or may not have found while looking for studies is that when YR is VOLUNTARY, it’s been successful.  People who choose YR seem to LOVE it—-WHEN IT’S THEIR CHOICE.  Unfortunately, when it’s been MANDATORY there have been over 300 school districts that have reverted back to traditional for various reasons.

It would be interesting for someone to do a study that looks at how many of the people who CHOOSE a YR calendar actually have children on 2 different calendars.  I’d be willing to bet that once their kids were on different schedules they’d understand why the anti-MYR people feel the way they do.

Please take my comments as illustrating why Leesville was so against the conversion, and NOT as a confrontation.  Thanks!

Hi Lisa E.,

Thought I did understand the challenge but you can adjust it if you like.  I will be checking into those items you have listed but some of them do seem to be one sided anyway so I won’t be finding a balanced view.  It will be 4 years before my family is split but I understand the reason why.  I will enjoy the one on one time with my then teenage child that will be going through many emotional challenges as most teenagers do.  I will not leave the impression that my other two, who will follow in him in 7 and 8 years respectively, are any less important to me(not that anyone has here just to be clear)  I understand the difficultly of separated families but my husband and I feel that we need to do what is best for our children’s education.  We will always come together as a family at the end of the day.  ALWAYS!  That will never change.

I feel the reason why YR conversions fail when mandatory is primarily do to the parents view of it which is often cynical and not optimistic.  Children, especially young ones, tend to emulate what their parents feel and say.  This often leads to failure by no fault of their own.  No adult wants to be told what to do.  I don’t!  But I was able to step back and see the bigger picture.  That is what this is about.  Sure some of the schools aren’t overcrowded now but that’s what we needed.  A little overcrowding today will result in severe overcrowding later if gone unchecked. Fix the problem now. 

I’m sorry you think that the BOE is lying about the numbers.  But usually people lie to serve their own purpose.  I see no purpose being served here by them lying about the numbers.  And they are audited by an outside firm I believe yearly. 
I have gone back as far as 1997 to see how much the student population has grown and it has grown considerably since then.  The BOE can’t be faulted if their numbers were a little overzealous but they did plan according to the previous years growth numbers and their projection for the coming year.  I believe they are in a no win situation because if their numbers where over projected they would be attacked by people who said that they had all the numbers and still failed the system.  What can you do?  Talk real soon!

You say the websites I mentioned are one sided but what about the info you receive from the BOE? Is that info balanced? The problem with the whole multi track year round scheme, which is probably what my original challenge was about, is that you simply cannot achieve the capacity gains of 25 - 33% that WCPSS touted. It is not possible. It works in theory but not in reality. The Wake County Commissioners understand that point. Many other districts found out the hard way. Multi track year round costs more and does not produce the gains. Why must my family be shred in order for Wake County to find out what hundreds of other districts alreay know?

Multi tracking schools is far more economical than building new schools and it opens up seats in a timely manner.  If you read my blog, you would have seen that building a brand new Elementary school that seats approx. 500-800 students costs $22 million.  The conversion only cost $6 million with a gain of 3000 seats.  I strictly work with numbers.  I read the all the statistical info on WCPSS site.  I only received a few pieces of information from people who sit on the BOE.  I am also currently reading the minutes to all BOE meetings and watching some of them to be sure I don’t miss a thing.  I am going into this open minded.  Tell me the names of the school systems that have tried and failed at this so that I can research that.  Show me the math that says we can’t acheive the gains of 25-33%.  This school district is the 24th largest in the nation.  That is saying something.  The BOE is trying to do the best that they can to deal with unyielding growth that I’m sure your precious County Commissioners had NOTHING at all to do with.  Why don’t you look at them closer.  I find it very interesting how their moves are motivated by politics and not truth.  They have caused this problem and they choose to hold the BOE hostage while our kids pay the price.  Why don’t you take a closer look?

The 33% capacity gain will only be realized if EVERY seat in EVERY class on EVERY track is 100% full.  That’s not what any of the converted schools are realizing, which I think everyone against MYR predicted long ago.

Those numbers were one major point that the County Commissioners challenged at their meeting in early January.  They asked for a more realistic expectation, and couldn’t get one.

The converted schools are not realizing that 100% capacity at every level because as I stated the conversions were done with 2 years of growth in mind.  Let’s see what happens in 2 years.  Do I believe that there will be 100% capacity in every seat at every school?  No because you can’t predict with any certainty where the growth will be in a COUNTY wide system.  Do I feel that they may be close in most schools?  Yes!  The County Commissioners knew they asked the impossible.  Define realistic in this county.

I challenged you to dig deeper and get the information because if you have to find it for yourself you might be able to take off your WCPSS blinders and be enlightened. Reading the WCPSS website is no better than getting info from the BOE or the N and O for that matter. You need to find other sources.

And why does an elementary school have to cost 22 Million dollars? I would be perfectly happy if the kids were in prefabbed permanent buildings. Lots of other districts use them. The buildings should not be Taj Mahjals. They should be places to learn. Have you ever heard the VBS song that says, “The church is not a building, the church is the people.“ Try substituting the word school for the word church.
By using MTYR the WCPSS is trading operational dollars for capital dollars. In the long run we will all have to pay more!!! And as I have posted earlier, because it is ILLEGAL for the educrats at Wake Forest Rd to force us into year round the capacity gains will be even less. More wasted taxpayer dollars.

FYI, article in today’s N&O;about Magellan (charter school) they built their new school for $10M, now it is only for 3-8 (but in actuality that is the same number of grades as K-5),it is two stories and has EIGHT acres of land.  Would be interested as to why WCPSS says it takes $22M, maybe they should contact the builders of the Magellan school.

This whole YR v. Traditional debate is just another symptom of the bigger problem.  The real problem is not which is better.  The problem is that we as tax-paying parents can’t effectively choose which is better for our children.  The real solution is REAL school choice.  How do you get real school choice?  The same way you get real grocery choice – through competition.  WCPSS does not compete with anyone.  They have a virtual monopoly on educating our children.  And we should not be surprised at what that arrangement provides us.  Let’s see, we get a bloated bureaucracy that spends far more on administration than providing services.  Unfortunately, with all that bureaucracy, they still could not avoid getting us in this mess by planning for the growth more effectively.  We get to have our children bussed all over the county, not knowing what school they’ll be in from year to year.  We get to have our kids attend school on totally different schedules.  And we even get have our two high school children attending two different high schools.  Wow, now that’s what I want for my money.  With that arrangement, what’s their motivation to provide us with what we as tax-paying parents deem best for our children.  There’s not much motivation.  However, if we had more choices through free market education, then the providers of that education would adapt (actually compete) to meet our demands.  I don’t know why this concept is so hard for people to grasp.  You’ll note that I avoided the term “vouchers” because that seems to turn most people off without even considering the merits of the argument.

I just have one more quick point to make.  In all of this debate, I’ve heard some bashing of WakeCares.  And I don’t really understand that.  What they did was what more of us should do.  They stood up to that bloated bureaucracy.  Whether you agree with them or not, surely you can recognize that their lack of apathy shook up the bloated bureaucracy.

Dear Tax paying Parent,

I couldn’t have said it better myself! Thank you for recognizing the WakeCares folks for the heroes they are. It means a lot to those of us who put out families out there for the publice to scrutinize.

Let’s just be clear.  I’m am not scrutinizing the actual people of WakeCares, I am challenging their information.  Yes I did make references to some of the affidavits in my very first post to only show that some of their arguments where, let’s say, far fetched.  I have nothing against them personally.  I only challenge their information.  Their biggest being that their is no growth problem.  I found that to be untrue.  I knew this before I looked at the numbers. 

As for looking at the WCPSS site for my information, where else was I supposed to find the NUMBERS I was interested in?  The school to school comparisons, number enrollments, and capacity numbers.  That is what I used that site for.  I don’t read the N&O;.  I have gone to the sites that Lisa Ellison told me to go to and found that the information is their to support both sides as I thought I would.  Texas failed in YR for 2 reasons.  One they did it for academic reasons not growth.  Two, the parents weren’t supportive and ultimately undercut the process.  Their are many other schools in the nation that run on a YR program very successfully.  The best reason to go YR is to help control growth.  It ultimately costs less to convert schools to YR programs even when you adjust for the increase in electricity and building usage cost than it does to build a new school.  I think that it’s has been proven that when people hear the BOE is looking for land for new schools that they are not always giving the BOE the best price. 

Just one final thing.  As the richest country in the world I find it hard to fathom the lack of funding for our most precious thing.  Our children should go to school in castles and get the best education allowed without the constant fight for funding.  I, as a tax payer parent to two states in this nation, find the tax rate here much more palatable than where I grew up.  Most of us made the choice to move here to get a better life for our families, we have overloaded the system which was clearly(in the past)not planned accordingly and now here we are.  Caught in the struggle of what to do what’s best for our families.  I believe in school choice also but I truly believe that the last choice we made, moving here, may have reduced our choices for the future.  Please no comment about going back where I came from.  Thank you.

Hi Sheryl:

I think the point Lisa E was making is that the MULTI TRACK MANDATORY Year Round program is what has failed in HUNDREDS of school districts (I believe the number is over 350)across the country. 

When YR is a VOLUNTARY thing, it has been very successful.  In the past we had such a successful voluntary YR program here that there has been a long waiting list.  We still have people who WANT YR here in Wake County, and now we have all of these families at the 22 schools that were converted who wanted traditional.  That’s one of the major problems with the conversions.  It seems that Wake County could have allowed the VYR families on the waitlists to attend YR schools, and THEN looked at the numbers before making such drastic changes.

I have lots of friends who are VOLUNTARY YR and it works well for their families.  If my children were all on the same school calendar, I’d be much happier with YR as well.

The key to that whole debate all along has been MANDATORY vs. the VOLUNTARY. 

I agree that the lack of funding is a shame.  We have such low taxes compared to so many other places in the country that I’d be happy to pay higher taxes IF the money was going toward schools.  Unfortunately, I don’t think a bond will pass for quite awhile now after the way last year’s bond was handled.  (just an opinion)

Hi Lisa B,

I understand that it’s the MANDATORY part that is the issue and I quess my question is WHY?  What is it about us that sends us over the edge when someone MAKES us do things that we don’t necessarily want to do?  I don’t like change.  I can admit that. If it isn’t broke why fix it.  I know that personally when someone insists that I do something, usually at work, I become very defensive.  Recently I was told that I would have to attend a meeting that was being held during my vacation.  I told them no and was told I would have to clear it with the big boss.  I was prepared for a fight but then when I wasn’t forced to attend during my vacation I made arrangements to stay here for a few days to attend this MANDATORY meeting. 

When I was speaking to some of the BOE folks, one thing that was interesting to them was that when they were opening schools, new schools, on mandatory YR schedules they never received one complaint.  People just accepted it.  I’m sure they received some complaints but not on the scale that we have now.  Point being, what is it now, really, that is causing the frenzy?

I agree that there are some things that are mandatory.  Laws and taxes are 2 things that quickly come to mind.  I worked full-time before my children were born.  Yes, unfortunately, if my boss told me I had to miss something due to a deadline, I knew that if I didn’t go along with the boss I would probably not have a job.  With bills to pay, you can bet I chose to do what the boss said.

In regards to the Mandatory Year Round ruling, (in my opinion) the plan was just not studied enough to justify forcing 22 schools to convert to a year-round calendar.  Besides the fact that MYR had failed in over 300 school districts that had tried it before, the plan appeared to be built on assumptions that we were in a serious “growth crisis” which to date has not been proven (8000 additional students coming into the school system?) AND the MYR conversions were supposedly going to add 33% additional capacity to the affected schools which is completely unrealistic.

Without rehashing 10 months of research and studies justifying why the schools shouldn’t have been forced to convert to a YR schedule, I can say that if there TRULY was a need to convert those schools I could have understood what was happening.  If there TRULY was a crisis, there were a lot of other avenues that could have been taken.

Even just writing this brings up feelings of frustration.  When something clearly doesn’t make sense AND it threatens to put my family onto 2 different schedules, it’s upsetting.  As you said before, you CHOSE YR, your family is NOT on 2 different schedules, so at the current time you don’t understand what we’re going through.  (I’m not trying to start an argument, but just to explain the situation) Judge Manning’s ruling proved that MYR was illegal, but the loophole still allowed the conversions to be forced on us.

I really don’t want to keep revisiting the old mess.  For this school year our school is on a year-round schedule.  My family is split onto 2 different calendars, but we’re making the best of the current situation and need to move forward to be sure this kind of unfortunate situation doesn’t have to happen again.

Hello, Sheryl J.

I’m Dawn Graff, and I’m with WakeCARES.

I think a frustration shared by alot of families over the YR issue is that it was “forced on” by some, and denied the opportunity to others.

I am getting emails from families who have applied to YR for YEARS only to be denied. When their school became converted, naturally, they were thrilled as they received the calendar of their choice without leaving their “current” school.

As far as it being a “2 Year” plan, another frustration is that the “reason for and duration of” MYR changes often. Initially, it was to handle the 8,000 incoming students…then, it was part of a long range plan, then…it was only until the “crisis” was over.

2 Years is a new number to me.

You may recall that many opposed to MYR opposed the bond for that reason. During the bond campaign it was promised that if we “passed the bond” we would work on MYR and other issues later. Later never came, and as a result mistrust of the WCPSS and BoE has grown, and many have regretted their vote to support the bond.

Here’s a personal story that illustrates some or the overprojections of student capacity. I applied for a transfer from my base school (converted to YR) to a traditional school 1.3 miles from my house, rather than attend my “traditional option” that was 6.3 miles from my house and 145% crowding.

Transfer denied, of course. The day after my appeal hearing I was “offered” the traditional option 6 miles from my house. Why? Because they had (their words) “overprojected” the amount of students that would be attending that school by 100.  I asked how that could possibly be, and was told by a growth management employee that they numbers were very “fluid”. Indeed.

If, in addition to researching the YR situation, you are also following local politics, you will note the County Commissioners chose to not fund MYR because the numbers did not add up.

Voluntary YR is and has been highly successful here and other places.

MYR. Not.
There are counties in NC that have had MYR and reverted back to traditional calendars and voluntary YR, because of fiscal constraints and lack of support from families.

If you have questions, or would like more information, or sources, I can try to give them to you.

Thank you!
Dawn

The year-round conversions were done to address overcrowding in the 2007-08 school year - not for 2 years as you have stated.

http://www.wcpss.net/bond/downloads/quick_reference/cip_faqs.pdf

Actually the original plan was to convert all Elementary schools to YR.  Then as they progressed through the process of deciding what to do about the growth issue it moved to converting only some Elementary schools and to do that over 2 years.  Some in the 2007-2008 school year and then the rest in the 2008-2009 school year.  The BOE decided that was too much to spread them out over 2 years and decided to convert them all in one year. The page that you site is from the information page about YR conversions after the decision was final.

Hi Sheryl.

“I’m am not scrutinizing the actual people of WakeCares, I am challenging their information.“

I was one of the people who provided some of that information, so if you can narrow down what you want to challenge, I will be happy to address those issues here, in public, for all to see.

“I have nothing against them personally.  I only challenge their information.  Their biggest being that their is no growth problem.“

I think you are bending words here to try and make a point, but before I make that conclusion, please elaborate what you mean by “growth problem.“

“I found that to be untrue.  I knew this before I looked at the numbers. “

If you knew something before you started, it is very likely that you will find that which supports what you already know.  Have you actually looked at the data with an unbiased eye?

“Just one final thing.  As the richest country in the world I find it hard to fathom the lack of funding for our most precious thing.“

That is an enormous presumption.  Please provide comparative data of per-student funding for other nations.  I am not saying you are wrong, just saying that you need to show that what you claim is true rather than assert it and hope.

“I strictly work with numbers.“
“What it boils down to is that most of our schools were over crowded and now with the conversions they are better.“

First, how do you know they are better now?  Most of the schools aren’t even in session right now, so you are either asserting that schools that are closed aren’t crowded or you are passing off speculation as fact.

Second, if you deal with numbers, the count of the schools that are crowded is just about meaningless.  All schools at 101% capacity is far preferable to half at 200% and the other half empty.  Yet on your measurement, that would be preferable.

Rich

Hi Rich,

I welcome you to provide with the information that you obtained in your research.  For people to think that their is not a growth problem in Wake County is absurd.  In my area in the last 10 years there have been at least 10 new subdivisions built within a 7 mile radius of my subdivision.  I don’t presume to say that every single one of those homes now houses families with children but lets just say 50% of them do.  There have been no new schools built in southeastern Wake county in that time and there are no plans until I believe 2008 or 2010.  The area is still growing. 

You ask if I look at things with an unbiased eye, I really do try to but I pose the same to you.  Have you done that same thing?  Many people have directed me to web sites to show how their position is correct.  I have scoured these sites and find some things that they say are there but I also find the things that I say are there also. 

You are right, all the schools and all the classes are not currently in session but I have been attending my children’s school for the last 5 years and even my children say it is not as crowded as before.  Wake county BOE works with “averages” that I understand so for every class of kindergartners that have 24 kids in their class their is a class somewhere in Wake county that only has 15.  Fair enough.  I believe that the system it self is too big.  Cities should have their own school systems and control them as they seem fit like they do in most other parts of the country.  But that is not likely to happen here. 

Most schools have capacity levels at or above 100% except for:

  12 that are at 90% and up
  10 that are 80% and up
  11 that are 70% and up

There are 59 Elementary schools at 100% capacity or more in this county.  No schools are at 200%.  And you must take into account that people move here everyday with kids.  You can’t run schools at or above 100% and expect to have room for more children in the future.  Just can’t happen.  Simple logic!

But please show me your numbers and your source. I would love to look at it.
Thank you

Sheryl,

My source is, has been and most likely always will be WCPSS and NCDPI.  I try to use what the use to make sure it is comparable.  What would be the best way for me to get you the information?

I looked at things in an unbiased manner.  I wanted my child to be in a YR school.  But the more I looked, the more I realized that the current policy is one that doesn’t make sense for anyone.  Last thing I got into this for was to end year round.  That is what I want.

Also, you hit the nail on the head - “There have been no new schools built in southeastern Wake county in that time and there are no plans until I believe 2008 or 2010.  The area is still growing.“

That is 100% correct!  The problem is not the growth, it is the response to it!  Perhaps you already have, but if you have the time, read Director of Growth Management C. Dulaney’s affidavit in the Wake CARES case.  It is very revealing.  He outlines how there is indeed capacity in certain areas, just not in the right ones.  That isn’t a capacity crisis, that is capacity management crisis.  Of course, as it is his job to manage that capacity, that isn’t the conclusion he comes to.

As you and many others have said, the system is simply too big.  It is too complex.  I wasn’t particularly good at math, but I recall enough of it to know the parabolic curve and how things go up very fast at a certain point when you keep multiplying things.  I think we have reached that point.  Unlike some others, I don’t think there is a sinister agenda or malevolence involved.  I simply think that things have gotten out of hand and the people at the helm are too busy bailing water to realize the ship is sinking.

Rich

Hi, Sheryl…

The WCPSS BoE and Wake Co. Commissioners have both stated that there were 5 scenarios studied over a period of 18 months to see what would be the best way to “handle” growth and pass the bond.

Converting all of the Elementary schools was one of the scenarios…infact the original CIP budgeted $13million dollars for that.

I don’t think it was a matter of “too much at one time” as it was, fear of the outcry of more parents opposed to “assigned YR” as they call it.

Also, the implimentation of this has been nothing sshort of chaotic. As late as Friday, a converted Elementary school in Apex was asking for “volunteers” to move from 1st grade track 1, to track to or 3 because of overcrowding on some tracks and undercrowding on others.

Prior to these conversions. WCPSS had NEVER converted even ONE school from traditional to YR…why, then would they do 22 at once the first time they ever did it.

While your quest for truth and numbers is admirable, please look at a variety of sources.

The WCPSS would in know way show the weakness and shortcomings of the MYR conversions, nor would it ashow the large opposition to MYR or the increased operating costs.

Here’s a quote from a former Growth Manag. Supt. in WCPSS…the real reason for MYR….

“The result of these decisions—school locations, a failure to effectively influence residential patterns, and the addition of year-round schools with largely unchecked enrollments—has added significant obstacles for school leaders as they attempt to implement a policy of well-balanced schools”.

Zero about capacity.

More about balance and socio-economic diversity.

Again, maybe a noble goal, but to the exculsion and detriment of every other goal or program that benefits our students, is destructive pursuit.

Dawn

One point that you are over looking is how crowded are classrooms? There is a sixth grade class at Salem middle school with 34 kids and only 30 desks, so even though the school is NOT over crowded, there are crowded classrooms. Also at Salem El there are 27 kids in kidnergarten on track 4 and 27 in at least one 2nd grade class, while similar classes on track 2 have only 15 kids, and this is a school with excess capacity. How is it that a school with unused capacity has crowded classrooms? Another dirty secret about forced year round that the BoE didn’t tell people.

Don’t just look at the numbers supplied by WCPSS, you need to know the details that they are NOT tellign you to get a more acurate picture of the situation.

Well I would love to get more information but no one else is going to give you the actual numbers of enrollment in the system.  What you also failed to notice is that I did address the very same situation that you are pointing out.  Again the BOE works on averages.  One class of 27 here and one class of 15 there averages to one class of 21 well within the numbers noted to be acceptable by the state.  Another symptom of the system being too large. 

Also you must also remember that parents chose which tracks they preferred to have their children on.  Track 4 is the most popular and track 2 is the least popular.  The Principles at each school are the ones who placed the children on these tracks all based on what the parents asked for.  I’m sure that there are some parents that asked for track 4 and didn’t receive their first, second or even third choice in some instances.  Principles did their best to accommodate parents choices of tracks.  By doing so they may have inadvertently (or not) overcrowded certain tracks in some locations.  Simple cause and effect.

I don’t see the dirty little secret here.  Salem Middle school is a YR school with a capacity at 110%.  That would seem to be overcrowded to me. Again the parents have choose the tracks on which they wanted their children to be.  The Principle was probably just trying to make people happy again. 

Chances are if they are not telling US something than they aren’t telling anybody!  Don’t read too much into it. It’s not a conspiracy!  It’s simple math.

Hi Sheryl, 
“The Principles at each school are the ones who placed the children on these tracks all based on what the parents asked for.“ 

Im confused.I was under the impression that GM did the assingments of tracks. Do you know something that we all do not?

Also if WCPSS was being fiscally responsible then they would be opening the schools that they received money for and not adding an additional 2.6 million $$$$ to complete.  Case in point E-17 (aka Sycamore Creek Leesville Rd) this school had the property and all the money and have not started construction yet.  This school was slated for opening July 08. According to their timelines that they set forth this school will not be ready on time.And it will cost the taxpayers an additional 2.6 million.  How is that responsible?