Blog: Jan. 19 Wake County school board meeting

The motion out there is to accept the contract.

Hill wants to amend the resolution so as funds not exceed $50,000. The contract is for the purpose of performing an audit on the board's legal services. There would be no deviation on the rates and no charges could be rendered until a description of the scope of work and associated benchmarks is received by the board.

The board votes 5-4 against Hill's amendment.

After much discussion and talk of other amendments, the board finally approves the resolution to hire Farr for no more than $50,000 for the audit and no more than $25,000 to offer legal counsel, should the board need it.

The board votes 5-3 supporting the amendment. For the first time, Debra Goldman does not vote with the block of newly elected board members.

The full resolution now reads:

"We strongly oppose the mandatory assignments of students to year-round calendar schools and support calendar choice for all families. Beginning with the 2010-2011 school year, every effort will be made to eliminate mandatory year-round assignments and to accommodate families into the calendar of their choice. This applies to year-round or traditional options, at a school within proximity of their residence. We will no longer deny calendar applications based on socio-economic status. We will use each and every seat efficiently."

The resolution passes.

"We strongly oppose the mandatory assignments of students to year-round calendar schools and support calendar choice for all families. Beginning with the 2010-2011 school year, there will be no mandatory year-round assignments. Every effort will be made to accommodate families into the calendar of their choice, whether it is year-round or traditional, at a school within proximity of their residence. We will no longer deny calendar applications based on socio-economic status. We will use each and every seat efficiently."

Kevin Hill and Keith Sutton put forth a motion to strike the phrase "there will be no mandatory year-round assignments" from the resolution the board voted on in its Jan. 5 meeting.

Hill says there's no guarantee of that, without knowing what the intended or unintended consequences would be. He says everyone agrees they will make every effort but they can't guarantee there will be no mandatory year-round assignments.

The board votes 5-4 against the amendment.

Dr. Anne McLaurin proposes an amendment to delete the sentence from the resolution that reads "We will no longer deny calendar applications based on socio-economic status."

Sutton seconds the motion.

The board votes 5-4 against the amendment.

8:20 p.m. – Sutton puts for an amendment to change the phrase: "Beginning with the 2010-2011 school year, there will be no mandatory year-round assignments" to " "Beginning with the 2010-2011 school year, every effort will be made to eliminate mandatory year-round assignments …"

The board votes 5-3 supporting the amendment. Debra Goldman votes against her newly elected members for the first time.

The full resolution now reads:

"We strongly oppose the mandatory assignments of students to year-round calendar schools and support calendar choice for all families. Beginning with the 2010-2011 school year, every effort will be made to eliminate mandatory year-round assignments and to accommodate families into the calendar of their choice. This applies to year-round or traditional options, at a school within proximity of their residence. We will no longer deny calendar applications based on socio-economic status. We will use each and every seat efficiently."

On year-round schools and diversity, student Lauren Fray says, "I don't understand how community schools will help increase graduation rates … The board hasn't presented any information on how community schools will help."

Others say they recognize the issues associated with bussing students – "there are problems and it tears up families, but we need to find some middle ground."

Parents will receive a flier to be sent home by students the week of Feb. 1 informing them of their options. Students will take home a flier to be distributed the week of Feb. 1.

An online application to apply for school will go live online Feb. 8.

Board chairman Ron Margiotta calls for the creation of a community relations committee that will meet quarterly. The charge of the committee will be decided soon. It would likely include things like what can make the school Web site more community friendly.

The board identifies the following priorities when considering and developing recommendations about what to do with year-round schools:

Proposal before the board: The public hearings, following the Feb. 16 recommendations, will focus on feedback on those recommendations made.

Tedesco proposes waiting on formal recommendations following all four hearings. That would put the staff making recommendations on March 2.

Staff recommendations for potential changes will be made March 2 so that all four public hearings will have been considered.

The number of people who wanted year-round schools that were denied placement were 884, Dulaney says.

The resolution reads as follows:

"We strongly oppose the mandatory assignments of students to year-round calendar schools and support calendar choice for all families. Beginning with the 2010-2011 school year, there will be no mandatory year-round assignments. Every effort will be made to accommodate families into the calendar of their choice, whether it is year-round or traditional, at a school within proximity of their residence. We will no longer deny calendar applications based on socio-economic status. We will use each and every seat efficiently."

Dulaney says board members will receive data from the parents' survey on Feb. 2. Staff recommendations will be made on Feb. 16.

Some members are questioning whether any schools will be converted back to traditional schools. Board Chairman Ron Margiotta says there are no plans right now to do so – that could happen, however, after the survey results.

"That determination has not been made at this point in time," he says.

Board member Kevin Hill (District 3, north Raleigh), who wants to know why recommendations will be made on Feb. 16 when there will be three public hearings scheduled for Feb. 18, 23, and 25.

"Why have the public hearings if we're not going to consider them?" he asks.

Dulaney says decisions would be needed to made, at the latest, in March, if there are decisions to convert any school calendars. April would be "a no-go," he says.

Staff will make it work. The concern is the ability to make a smooth transition, Burns said.

The number of people who wanted year-round schools that were denied were approximately 880, Dulaney says.

One member wants to know what schools could be converted into a year-round school. Another member asks: Would it be better to wait until the 2011-2012 school year to make any changes? Is the school system prepared to make changes and have potentially have to convert schools to year-round so soon? 

It's the first board meeting since Jan. 5, when members voted 5-4 to end mandatory year-round school assignments.

First off, the board hears about a parent survey regarding year-round schools and concerns revolving around it. Parents began responding to it last week, but there is a flaw in it that allows respondents to take the survey multiple times.

Once all surveys are complete – they are due back Jan. 25 – they will undergo a process referred to as scrubbing, which will clear out any fraudulent or duplicate entries. A first look at the data, so far, found less than 1 percent of entries are duplicates or fraudulent.

As of Tuesday morning, there have been about 21,300 respondents to the survey – about 21,000 in English; about 300 in Spanish.