Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Tracked Back In!

I know that you haven’t heard much from me lately, but I can explain.  We just completed our first track out and were out of town during that time.  We enjoyed our rearranged vacation back home.  By rearranged I mean we usually go to visit family and friends back home around the 4th of July time.  We go then well because quite frankly we can count on it being warm at that time.  But because of the YR conversion this year we just couldn’t make it happen.  So we stepped back and looked at it.  We figured we could still go on the kids’ first track out.  Being September, though, it is kinda hit or miss with the weather but we thought at least we would be able to catch the fall colors changing.  The weather was quite frankly a little cool when we got there and down right hot when we left.  All in all a great get away with lots of fun activities for all. 

We returned to school this past Monday.  The children knew, at least two of them, that their rooms would be different and they knew right where they needed to go.  I had the opportunity to take my kindergartner to school that day and she was a bit confused.  I kept asking her if her room was changing prior to the track out and she insisted that she was in the same room.  Come to find out that wasn’t entirely true.  As we ventured down the hall and realized we were not where we needed to be, her teacher heard us and popped her head out to catch us.  They had only moved the the room next door so it wasn’t much of a move but still a move none the less.  I kept waiting for the teachers to send home reminders of classroom changes prior to the track out but that never occurred.  Luckily my 2 older kids where keeping close track of that but I feel bad for the younger one.  At least I was able to take her that first day back, but what of all those young and confused kids like my daughter that didn’t have that luxury?  I bet they were scared.  My suggestion is that with the younger children the teachers should send home a reminder over break of their new room number so that the parents can reiterated that to them prior to returning to school.  Sounds fair.

I also found something very lovely when I walked through the front doors of the school.  On a board sitting for all to see in front of the office was a welcome back poster for all those returning teachers on track two.  I thought that was just a real nice thing to do.  I do have to give a shout out here to my son’s 4th grade teacher Ms. Dudley who was unfortunately forgotten on the board.  While all the other teachers names were placed on nice old school house shaped cards, Ms Dudley was on a yellow post it note.  So here is a very warm welcome back to you Ms. Dudley. 

I know that you haven’t heard from me in a while and quite simply that is because everything is going fine.  Our school is adjusting well to the new schedule with no major hang ups.  I have finally had an opportunity to speak with the Principle about how things are going and it’s true that they did have to close on track of I believe 4th graders but she assured me that this happens every year the only obstacle is that when a class is consolidated now they have to contend with the track system.  How has everyone else found their new system working?  If your from Rand Road let’s hear from you. 

“Room to grow” doesn’t sound like a crisis to me.

I’m still waiting for the supporting documents from your previous claims.

Thanks,
Allison

First Rand Road was way over capacity prior to the conversions and now they have room for the students that are slotted to go there and for more to attend in the future.  Yes this was a crisis because all the schools in this part of the county were over capacity and no new schools were being built for several more years.  The conversions have made it a much more bareable situation with the growth that we are experiencing.

As far as supporting documentation, what exactly do you take issue with? Did you contact Horace Tart?  I spoke with him yesterday and he is more than happy to speak with you if you choose to contact him.  The info you sent me was not the CIP but an information sheet about the bond.  The CIP has morphed over time and has been updated several times as the need arises to deal with new situations and growth.

Hi Sheryl:

Leesville Elementary was a bit over capacity before the conversion and is now under-capacity after the conversion, so like Rand Rd, we do have “room to grow”.  It’s too bad all schools couldn’t be in that same situation, but unfortunately the opposite is true in SO MANY schools now.

Please understand that I do NOT have an issue with you.  I have an issue with the fabricated “growth crisis” that was based on the threat of “8000 new students coming into Wake County Schools before the 2007-08 school year started”.

There has never been a question about whether or not Wake County is growing.  I think everyone would agree that the county is growing because it is a GREAT place to be.  That is no secret, and quite frankly, it’s been growing for a long time.

However, if you saw the recent “day 20 numbers” you know that the projection of new students was off by 26%.  That’s a HUGE margin.  If anyone has worked in a job where you are evaluated by how close you come to projections and goals, you would be fired for being that far off.

Everyone makes mistakes.  BUT, when you build a plan to force 22 schools to a Mandatory Year Round schedule because of this so-called CRISIS that is BASED on that figure of 8000 students, in my opinion THAT is the problem.  Many people who are involved in demographics and projections challenged that 8000 figure last fall and basically BEGGED the School Board to take a path that wouldn’t be so disruptive to so many families.  As we know, there was no Plan B, so in the end the conversions were forced anyway.

This year’s situation is bad.  If the next plan isn’t more realistic, the situation will be MUCH WORSE for next year.  So many families at the MYR schools who agreed to “give YR a try” are now planning to opt-out for next year.  We don’t have traditional space as it is.  Unless something is done to shift some of the “YR inventory” to traditional seats, it will be a real nightmare.

(I’m not talking about the fact that Leesville Elementary School and Rand Rd. and the other MYR schools now have “room for growth”.  Some of us (you and I included) could sit back and say “life is good in my little world so no change is needed”. I’m talking about the poor children who are in grossly overcrowded traditional schools because of last year’s fiasco.  I’m concerned about friends and actually thousands of children I don’t even know who are in those overcrowded schools.)

I am a huge supporter of the School Board and I am in ongoing conversations with several members of the school board, so please don’t try to label me as a “School Board Basher”.  I’m just a parent of children in the school system who is informed and involved and willing to HELP correct last year’s mess so that we don’t see an even worse situation in 2008-09.

Sheryl,
Room to grow?  Yes, that is a good thing, but at the same time, that is not what we were told.  The information was always centered on the necessity of conversions now.  If it wasn’t needed now, why not have more traditional schools to eliminate split schedule families and traditional school crowding?  Seems silly to create problems today for a solution that you don’t need until tomorrow.

Also, the underlying concern is the lack of support for the school system.  Why is that the demographics of the schools are not mirroring the demographics of the county?  Who is the school system losing and why?  It isn’t good news.

First off growth is the issue and your statement proves that.  You yourself said that Wake County IS growing and you must understand with growth comes problems.  Yes, I have lived here almost 10 years now and the growth is unbelievable.  You can’t continue to school kids in schools that are over capacity and expect them to do well.  Teachers would get burned out.  Class sizes would be ginormous (one of my words) and children would be left in the dust.  I agree that the traditional schools that are now overcrowded need to be fixed.  I think they all should be converted to YR like the administration wanted to do in the first place.  The schools that have been converted are going to stay that way.  The school board has already said that.  The plan for next year truly hinges on the appeal now pending in the court system. 

As for the projection, the school board can’t be faulted for making a sound projection based on past numbers.  They projected right in line.  And projections are just that, a calculated guess based on past performance.  This is not the first year the school board has fallen below its projected numbers.  They fell below their numbers in 2000, 2001, and 2002 but then had a dramatic jump in enrollment in 2004, 2005 and 2006.  I spoke with Horace Tart yesterday and he said that since the 20th day numbers came out there has been an additional 600 students enrolled in the school system.  They can’t account for parents that decided to home school or send their children to private school.  That is a variable that just can’t be a solid number.  Many of my friends opted to do that.  Their choice. 

Let’s also not forget that WCPSS in now the largest system in NC and the 19th largest in the nation.  That is really saying something.  Growth is an issue. 

I have found, at least in my area, that the conversions are working and that most parents support the school board.  They, like me understand the growth issue and why the conversion were necessary now.  It is bad judgement to wait until the boat has sunk to try to repair the hole.  The school board has to think of the future with their planning or where would we be 10 years from now.  In a worse situation with our children paying the price.

Yes, Growth IS the issue, but “GROWTH CRISIS” is not.  In my opinion they are 2 very VERY different things.

If the “conversions are working” in your area, that’s GREAT.  I wouldn’t begrudge you anything that you’ve got what you want.  Unfortunately, that’s the EXCEPTION and not the RULE.  Looking at the system as a whole, the conversions were a FAILURE.

One statement you made hit the nail on the head “You can’t continue to school kids in schools that are over capacity and expect them to do well.”

Take a look at the traditional schools TODAY.  COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE.  Assuming that the appeal is overturned and the School Board cannot assign students to the YR seats, next year will be EVEN WORSE unless they do something to shift some of the YR inventory to traditional seats.

I will be the first to agree that IN THEORY a multi-track YR school does have more capacity IF AND ONLY IF the following conditions are met:  EVERY seat in EVERY class in EVERY grade on EVERY track is filled.  That is IN THEORY.

But, IN REALITY there is available capacity in YR schools and there are GROSSLY OVERCROWDED traditional schools.  Our reality today is not acceptable “as a whole”.  (I understand that you’re happy with your own situation, but there are many THOUSANDS of families who are not)

The WCPSS needs to look at the REALITY and deal with it in a much more balanced way. 

I have suggested that they survey ALL families in the system to get their “calendar preference demand” BEFORE they set their “school calendar seat supply”.  Pretty simple economics, and I sincerely hope they do that.  THEN, they’ll have realistic numbers to work with.  That would be money (and time) well spent so that they’re working with REAL numbers and not just projections.

In contrast to what you have said is happening in your area, in “my area”, we have a horrible situation with 1 traditional school that is SEVERELY OVERCROWDED and 2 YR schools with available capacity (and another YR Elementary School slated to open next year just 2 miles away)  There are NO AVAILABLE TRADITIONAL SEATS and the traditional demand is HUGE.

I’m still very hopeful and optimistic that this time around they’ll do “what’s right” for the system based on real numbers and real situations.

And again here we are!  I strongly disagree with you assessment of the situation as a whole.  After our last back and forth were you said that every BOE member feel the conversions are a failure I emailed them all and heard back either by email or phone from all but one.  And they all stated that they did not feel that the conversions were a failure.  Many had different reason as to why but all in all not a failure in their eyes. 

I also strongly disagree with you that a majority of people are unhappy with the situation.  There are many, silent supporters of the WCPSS.  They feel that the board did what it had to do and converted in order to help ease overcrowding in their kids schools.  And by the way it doesn’t matter that I had applied for YR in the past and was denied.  I am not a supporter of the conversions because of that.  If you had actually read my reasons you wouldn’t even bring that up time and again. 

And again the YR schools that where converted this year will NOT be converted back to traditional.  Been said many times here, on Yahoo’s site and BOE member have told me personally.  So I guess we are at a stale mate. Unless all elementary and middle schools are converted.  That would solve the problem.

I feel that as a School Board supporter and very involved parent of children in the school system , I’m looking at the reality of the situation down to the very basic level and it’s not acceptable. (OVERCROWDED traditional schools and UNDER CAPACITY YR, Projection missed by a horrendous 26%).  The reasons we’re in the current situation are plentiful, but I believe they stem from poor planning in the past and more recently the FORCED MYR conversions based on the THREAT of 8000 new students, against documentation to the contrary. 
For some reason you feel the need to spar with me and I’m not sure why because the justification you keep bringing to the table doesn’t make sense based on what the school board has said and done.  Quite frankly, I’m tired of discussing this because while you want to DIVIDE and play silent majority/minority games, I just want to MOVE ON and work WITH the WCPSS.
I’m not sure why the fact that you had applied for YR in the past and been denied has ANYTHING to do with the current situation.  Why did you state that I keep bringing it up time and time again.  When have I EVER brought up the fact that you had applied for and denied YR in the past????? 
Due to my compassionate nature, what does rub me the wrong way is that you continue to say that the conversions were a success because everything is “hunkie dorie” in your little world now—-and to that I say “good for you”.  (THAT is what I say time and time again.)  I don’t judge the system as a whole based on MY OWN situation.  I just don’t operate that way, because even if things were “hunkie dorie” in my world, I still have friends who are in the OVERCROWDED traditional schools and I can’t help but feel sorry for them.  That’s just me, and that is why I want to help fix a DAMAGED situation.
So, let’s move past this talk of the past to the future.  While I’ve been discussing many options and scenarios with decision makers, I have 2 questions for you:  (1)What would YOU propose we do to shift YR inventory to accommodate the GREAT traditional need in the area for 2008-09? (2) What would it hurt to survey the families to find out what the REAL seat demand is?  I truly am curious and willing to listen.

I feel that converting some of the MYR schools back to traditional would have an IMMEDIATE positive impact on providing traditional seats that are so desperately needed.  I honestly don’t care about speculation from the Yahoo group, and although Chuck Dulaney can make his recommendations, I believe that the School Board has wisened up and won’t blindly follow his plan this time around.  They’ll actually listen to the families and look at REAL, HARD data. At least I HOPE they will. (Just my opinion)

Sheryl,
I think your argument in support of the YR conversions boils down to this:

1.You like it.
2.It works for you.
3.Your school is less-crowded because of it.

These are all very valid arguments but they do not apply to everyone. Some families don’t like it but had to choose it. Some families are split because of the conversions and are forced to make it work. Other families are in extremely overcrowded schools simply because they need a traditional calendar. It is unconscionable to me that you continue to blame others for the decisions of WCPSS.

While Horace Tart seems to be a very nice man, it appears you are being spoon-fed the answers to your questions. If that’s the case, I’m not surprised by some of your information.

My argument doesn’t boil down to I like it, it works for me and my school is less crowded.  Please go back and read all the posts.  I add rebuttal to your arguments in clear and concise information.  I am not spoon fed by anybody and take everything I’m told with a huge grain of salt.  I have read the CIP’s that have morphed over the last couple of years and I am neither stupid or naive. 

Here’s what it boils down to:

1.  The schools were overcrowded
2.  There is a growth crisis that will continue for several years as suggested by capacity percentages of each school.
3.  WCPSS can not build schools fast enough to deal with present and future growth.
4.  More seats were needed for now and later.
5.  Utilizing the schools we have now to increase the number of available seats to accommodate growth makes good economic sense.  ($6 mil to $30 mil)

That is were I stand on this issue and have always been there.  I believe you only see what you want to see and therefore are slanted in your view.  We need to just agree to disagree.  Your comments border on the rude and condescending side at times but I’m not going anywhere.  You will find a flip statement about blaming WakeCares for the mess that has happened from this but I don’t blame them per say.  They did what they thought they needed to do for their own benefit.  It just didn’t suit everybody and some people do blame them for this situation. 

My suggestion to the BOE is to convert all Elementary and Middle schools to YR.  Continue to build and open new schools on YR schedules for capacity projected in the future.  Projections are just that and they are not always right.  As I had stated before this is not the first time their projections were wrong and I’m sure it won’t be the last.

I’m sorry if you find me condescending or rude. It’s hard to debate an email and insert the proper emotion. I don’t mean to be either. If we get past the “I say-you say” argument, I think we can begin to understand each other’s positions.

I do believe you support YR because you can make it work. Try to understand how others who can’t make it work (for whatever reasons) feel about the situation.

If all schools were to convert to YR, how do you feel about the high school separation that is caused? Many parents have children at the different school levels. Do you believe it is OK to split a family at the high school level?

Also, do you believe that the conversions were done only for capacity?

I don’t claim to be “right” and I don’t think your views are “wrong”. I don’t, however, think you see the whole picture.

Sheryl,
You said:
“As for the projection, the school board can’t be faulted for making a sound projection based on past numbers.  They projected right in line.”
That is not true.
http://www.stopmandatoryyearround.com/reports/capacityreport.pdf
See page 6.  The projection for this year was very different from previous years.  The growth was weighted much more in the elementary schools.  That is where the conversions took place and that is where the projections fell short.

They were told this months ago and ignored it.  Now you are trying to say that they made a sound projection and what they did was necessary.  Neither of those statements are true.

Lisa B:
I have never met you, but I feel as though I know you well.  You have the patience of a saint when dealing with someone who continues to spout misinformation.  Thank you for your calm, rational, honest approach.  You are such a voice of reason in the midst of an unreasonable situation.  I am sure that your family and friends know what a loyal friend and advocate they have in you.
Thank you for caring about others and not just yourself.  Good things happen to good people, and you deserve great things for your compassion.  The effort you put forth for your own family and families of children you don’t even know will bring a positive outcome soon, I am sure of it.
I wish only the best for you and yours.

Lisa B.

I just want to echo the comments by Cheryl…and thank you for your efforts. 

As a parent of a YR elementary and a traditional middle schooler…I can attest that having children on two different school calendars has been a hardship for my family. I have seen no benefit in the conversions.

I feel sorry for my dauhter who is about to track out while all her close friends remain in school.  While I surely will have quality time with my daughter during the 3 weeks, I cannot take the place of her friends that she ordinarily would have been able to play with.  In her 4th grade class there are only 5 other girls so it’s not like there are a bunch of her other friends tracking out that she could play with.  I requested track four and was given my second choice instead.  I had no idea how bad track 3 was going to be.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that why some may feel the conversions were a good thing, they definitely have not been for this family.

Gary B.

Ok everybody let’s just be clear here.  I am not a monster and I do understand the seperation of families.  I will also have to deal with it soon but I know we will work through it.  In our house we stress the importance of a good education.  Nothing comes before school except family.  There have been times when the MYR conversion has not been exactly the best situation for us when it comes to family but we adjusted and even took our kids out of school to take care of family matters.  I do feel for those of you who have children on different schedules.  My neighbor is one of them.  She juggles everyday with her children and I feel for her.  But at the end of the day they are home, together, as a family.  But on the other hand what would you rather have?  Children in severly overcrowded schools?  I understand that some are now and that does need to be taken care of by whatever means possible to work in favor a both sides.  Maybe doing a survey of what people want in the county is a good idea but I just feel that it would be more costly and a logistical nightmare trying to give everybody what they want.  The system is too big.

Tone is very hard to carry over on the web and I understand what your saying Lisa.  I am the most unconfrontational person truly but when I feel backed into a corner I will respond.  Something that has come with age I suppose.  I don’t believe they will ever convert High Schools you YR for many reasons not the least of which is the AP classes.  They would have to offer AP classes on each track and when you have only a hand full of students that take those classes it wouldn’t be cost effective to pay a teacher to teach 5 kids at a time.  They would surely have to look at that.  Maybe AP (just what they called it in my school) could be an in addition to but not included in the school day kind of program.  Where they do most of the work at home or via conferencing like online colleges.  Just a thought.  The modified high school calendar is a thought but still doesn’t fix the problem. 

Rich I will be looking up my own numbers.  I know I have them here somewhere in my folder that will help me explain to you where I came up with the previous statement.  I do also have some personal experience about the age and type of people that are moving here and they are for the most part of child bearing age and it is in the water here in Wake County.  So projecting a larger Elementary growth was not unreasonable.  I’ll get back to you but I am now going to spend time with my kids.  Have a good night.

Time to move forward.

I just started a new blog topic in order to gather opinions on how we “the public” propose WCPSS should handle the overcrowding at the traditional schools, ESPECIALLY if their appeal is denied and they cannot force students to attend the MYR schools. 

There is obviously no time to build new schools for 2008, so we need to utilize existing facilities.  Severe overcrowding at the traditional schools is horrible now, and will only get worse next year unless they figure out a way to more effectively utilize the space at other schools.  I still believe converting some of the MYR schools back would provide some immediate relief to the overcrowding.

I plan to attend the Community Engagement Meetings and would like to hear what others think would be good suggestions for WCPSS.

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