Wake School Commission Votes to 'Demagnetize' 4 Schools

RALEIGH, N.C. — A Wake County school commission voted Wednesday to demagnetize four elementary schools, but the plan must be approved by the school board.

The commission also agreed not to make Forestville Road Elementary a magnet school. The schools are as follows: Wake Forest Elementary, Root Elementary, Lincoln Heights Elementary and Olds Elementary.

School board member Carol Parker said the issue has to do with the board's goal of keeping schools "healthy."

Magnet schools were designed to bring students in from other areas to keep free and reduced lunch percentages low. They've determined that these schools would be "healthy" schools without the magnet status.

The schools will remain magnets for the 2007-2008 school year but it is unclear when the magnet status would change.