As parents experiment with student assignment, Wake school board meets

The “Community-Based Choice” plan (the "blue" plan) allows parents to choose from a variety of four to six elementary schools, each linked with a middle and high school. Students get priority based on whether they have a sibling at the school or live close by, and the district takes into account achievement balance and capacity at any individual school.

The alternative, the “Base Schools Achievement " or "green" plan, is similar to the current assignment model. Under it, the school system assigns students based on student achievement, ensuring that students from low-performing areas end up at high-performing schools.

Tata called a special work session Monday at 5:30 p.m. to brief the Board of Education. He has said he hopes to have a single plan for the school board to consider at its June 21 meeting.

The plans are alternative courses of action to replace the district's current long-standing policy of assigning students based on socio-economic diversity in favor of a policy that assigns students based on where they live. 

Rev. William Barber, the president of the group, wrote, "How will either of the proposed plans ensure, with built-in and concrete corrective mechanisms that any significant increase in re-segregation will trigger, that Wake County will not create or increase racially identifiable, high-poverty schools?"