Wake School Board Approves Largest-Ever Reassignment Plan

On The Web:

Wake County Student Reassignment Resource Center

About 9,400 students will be affected by the plan, which allows more than 3,000 current tenth-grade students the option to remain at their current school.

About five out 10 high school students affected by the plan would attend schools closer to their homes, and about seven out of 10 elementary school students would attend closer to home.

Tuesday's vote comes after more than a month of public input into the proposal, in which many parents voiced their support and opposition. Based on comments received, the school board made changes to the proposal on March 8, and made some minor changes Tuesday based on parents' requests.

Among those new changes, two groups of high-school students will now remain at Middle Creek High School. And a group of students from Garner High School have been added to the reassignment plan. They will now attend Middle Creek.

The only school board member who voted against the reassignment plan, Ron Margiotta tried to convince board members to remove some groups of students from the plan, but his ideas were rejected.

"I think we need to go forward with the plan," said board member Rosa Gill, who grew tired of several last-minute attempts to remove more students from the plan. "I just don't think we, as a board, can be divided and let little pieces of the pie change what we do as a group."

But board member Carol Parker said the reassignment has made her constituents question their confidence in the school district's process,

"I don't know how else to say it, but they feel they've been jerked around," she said, going on to make an impassioned plea to improve communication to parents.

"I think we're doing a disservice to the community when we don't put out more information."

The plan will be posted on the school system's Web site by Thursday morning. Parents will be officially notified of their children's assignment on May 15.