19 arrested as protesters claim school plan would resegregate system (Wake County, NC)

[alp227]

Wow, some in the community are mad as napalm right now over there:

(CNN) -- Police in Raleigh, North Carolina, arrested 19 people at a rancorous school board meeting Tuesday afternoon where protesters accused the Wake County School Board of adopting a plan that will resegregate the school system.

The Wake County School School Board voted in March to stop the decade-long practice of socio-economic school assignment and assign students to their neighborhood schools. The system plans to transition into the new practice in the next 15 months.

Currently 85 percent of the system's 143,000 students attend a school within five miles of their home, said system spokesman Michael Evans. Another 12 to 13 percent attend magnet schools and the remaining 3 percent are assigned based on their income level and growth issues.

Wake County is a booming school system with unprecedented growth that often requires the students to attend different schools, Evans said.

The discontent among opponents, which included the Wake County superintendent who recently resigned as well as the state schools superintendent, has been mounting and also resulted in arrests at a school board meeting in June. Tuesday's meeting agenda did not address the issue, but it was raised by speakers during public comment, Evans said.

Some comments by attendees:

The Rev. William Barber, head of the North Carolina NAACP, was one of the first arrested before he entered the school board building. He led a crowd chanting "What do we want? Justice. When do we want it? Now," as they descended on the school board building.

Before the meeting Barber also spoke at a protest rally that drew about 1,000 people to the state capital.

"This is not a game, Mr. Margiotta," Barber said. "You have in your hands the future of 140,000 young people ... you know educationally, legally and morally your policy changes are wrong."

Another minister, David Forbes, also spoke at the rally, saying, "'Neighborhood schools' is a trick word to re-segregate a city that worked hard to bring about a progressive new possibility."

So how do you desegregate the schools now? Maybe fixing stuff at the neighborhood level perhaps.

[Jamastiene]

1. I wouldn't hold my breath on them desegregating then fixing anything

at the neighborhood level. They are just going to keep selling what amounts to re-segregation. Conditions are going to go right back to what it was like before Brown vs Board of Education. It's happening in several areas in the state. Charlotte is doing it too, only in a different way.

I'm glad to see somebody fighting back. I was wondering how long it was going to take before civil rights organizations woke up and started fighting back. It's about time.

Revs. Barber and Forbes are right.

I'm disgusted by re-segregation and I do believe this is re-segregation.

[mzteris]

2. The next school board election will reverse their damage

but the chaos and heartache and cost - not to mention the negative publicity - in the meantime is going to be a killer.

THIS is why Democrats should NOT SIT AT HOME!!! just because they may be "disaffected" with some particular aspect of the part at any given time.

I feel fairly confident there are a number of lawsuits being worked on to HALT this travesty - or at least keep it tied up and unable to implement until the next election.

ugh - just went to check:

staggered four year terms - the four assholes just elected are there until 2013.

Chris Malone
John Tedesco
Deborah Prickett
Debra Goldman


Up for re-election in November 2011

Ron Margiotta (MAJOR ASSHOLE - HAS TO GO!!

Not sure if all the following are "safe" - but I think so. I don't live there anymore so haven't followed as closely.
Kevin L. Hill
Keith Sutton
Anne McLaurin
Carolyn Morrison

If those four are good - and Margiotta is shitcanned and replaced - then the balance goes back - UNLESS they change the f'ing rules for that, too - like they're doing for everything else!!

[Jamastiene]

3. Democrats should get out more during primaries as well as general elections.

If we got out the vote during both primaries and general elections, we could tailor our government much better. We know why the general elections are important, but the primaries help us shape the direction of the party also. In the primaries, we can choose those who will follow our party's platform more closely. There is power in that. If we ever started focusing on the primaries, as much as we do the general elections, we could get the representation we really want more often than we do.

I do still believe North Carolina is leaning more progressive now than it was 10 or 15 years ago, but this whole re-segregation issue is proving we still have a long way to go.