Wake County School Board In North Carolina Eliminates Integration Busing In Face Of Budget Cuts

In Wake County, N.C. some are accusing the local school board of upholding segregation, elitism and even racism.

According to the Washington Post, the Wake County School Board has slowly eroded much of its integration policy over the past year, including integration busing. However, proponents of the trend say it's not about race or class war, but about practicality.

ABC Local reported that the school board claimed the existing desegregation policies regarding busing were unfair and unhelpful, citing long bus rides and costly bus routes as detrimental to student success.

Wake County's new superintendent, Tony Tata, looks to continue the school board's emphasis on "neighborhood schools." Tata told WRAL that he believes progress and diversity are two separate issues, and his focus is on the former.

"If what we're trying to do is create a diverse environment and we're not concerned about their student achievement, then that's not something I'm interested in."

According to the Washington Post, John Tedesco of the school board defended his position by saying that desegregation busing policy is too outdated to be applicable.

"This is Raleigh in 2010, not Selma, Alabama, in the 1960s -- my life is integrated. We need new paradigms."

The local community has responded differently.

In March, the Christian Science Monitor reported that protesters sat outside of a school board meeting, chanting, "No resegregation in our town, shut it down."

A few months later, WRAL reported on another protest that ended with 19 people arrested. Wake County school board member Keith Sutton noted the trend:

"It is beginning to create something of a spectacle I think, in terms of our meetings."

WATCH:

Many are concerned that lack of busing will result in poor, racially-secluded pockets of schools. These areas would then perpetuate the disadvantaged climate rather than produce the change that usually results in integrated schools.

Public ire aside, the Tea Party has shown its support of Wake County's actions. Art Pope, a popular republican figure who sits on the board of Americans For Prosperity, was quoted by the Washington Post as saying the isolation factor might make things more convenient.

"If we end up with a concentration of students underperforming academically, it may be easier to reach out to them. Hypothetically, we should consider that as well."

Comments

[polcomm]

10:50 AM on 01/27/2011

It's not the bus ride, the length of it or the atmosphere. It is the essence of neighborhood schools which are the foundation of our educational culture. In fact, many schools now are more segregated since busing than not. That is definitely true where I live. Much of achievement has to do with the home, where students spend more than two thirds of their time every day. This is about parental responsibility for the most part, not teachers. This about a mind set that cannot be made into a law and forced upon a single mother with five children each by a different father. This is not racial, it is mentality, it is a way of thinking about your life and those that are entrusted to your care. Single parenthood especially affects boys. You can't legislate that children have two parents, which is one of the major reasons, though not completely, of why black youth ends up in prison and not in higher education. You can "look for superman" but the real issue is the parents. Superman should be your parents, not a government check, not a program paid for by taxpayers, not a reward for doing nothing. This kind of mentality is passed on from parent to child. I have heard young girls say many times that the government will take care of them and their children. This idea is what a law cannot change. Looking for superman states the sorry state of most parents in the underclass.

[jmyoung666]

05:51 AM on 02/09/2011

There is no evidence linking single parenthood to legal or educational problems. Diversity itself is beneficial to the kids growing up. It creates more open minds.

[NewDaddyDave]

01:33 PM on 01/20/2011

Raleigh's my home since 1984, this area is diverse black/white/multiethnic mix. I think that's the by-product from its many universities.

My neighborhoods have been very diverse, I think the busing is not for ethnic reasons as much as financially low income or lower performing students to be spread around to meet free lunch/percent graduation quotas.

Abandon the madeup busing for diversity issue. Focus on the problems wherever they exist, not just spread them around.

We have tied the hands of the educators where they only passively supervise. Give teachers and faculty back the power to maintain control, and education levels will increase.

We have classes that are continually disrupted, and kids being harassed on buses to the point of parents driving them to school.

All this is why my child is going to private school. We heard about all the dicipline problems on the buses and classroom, then when my wife toured what was to be my daughters school, she witnessed a class going inside the side door. One kid (guessing he was 4th or 5th grade) was in line slapping a girls butt and telling her: "You have a fat A$$ bi+ch". How did the teacher address it? She did nothing other than say "Now lets get inside..."

I don't know the race of that kid, that wasn't the the problem, was it? Forget the manufactured busing for"race" aspect, and focus on real problems: control, high dropout, and continually lowered education standards.

[steelol]

06:13 PM on 01/30/2011

How did the teacher address it? She did nothing other than say "Now lets get inside..."

LOL! Reminds me of my school. Too afraid to discipline students or too apathetic. What a disgrace. China is gonna whomp us.

[jmyoung666]

05:53 AM on 02/09/2011

Yes and grouping low income or low performing students together helps them.

[Tkevan]

02:09 PM on 01/19/2011

Yes, let's spend the money on 5mpg buses, instead of books.

[becut]

10:35 PM on 01/16/2011

One-way integration is not integration. Real integration should be two-way.

[DanSc]

02:16 PM on 01/16/2011

Want to end school segregation? Move out of Whitopia people

[veteran teacher]

09:04 AM on 01/15/2011

Push for neighborhood schools. End integration. Provide vouchers to supply public money to go towards private schools. Denounce and destroy the schools/teachers in the schools left behind. Get rid of unions/tenure so you can hire cheap. Then control curriculum and school dialogue. Private schools thrive on public money. No one wants to teach anymore.

Move on to the colleges and universities. Get rid of tenure so you can hire cheap and control curriculum/dialogue. Make professors responsible for the exam scores of their students. Higher education is only for the elite. No one wants to teach in college anymore.

Is this really, really, really, what people in America want?

[Tkevan]

02:13 PM on 01/19/2011

My daughter had a 45 minute bus ride to Jr HS each morning. Do you really think this is conducive to having a good first period?

[PenGoddess]

04:45 PM on 01/19/2011

My kids rode the bus for close to an hour every day and it didn't bother them. They even had to transfer at the grade school. They enjoyed the ride and had fun with it. But then again, no one told them it was bad. It was just accepted as what you had to do to get to school.

[Basil08]

12:59 PM on 01/20/2011

Mine was an hour. Still graduated in top 10% of class, and Cum Laude from college. The bus ride has little to do with academic performance if she is focused. I actually used to use the time to study and review. She will be ok.

[medic628]

01:39 AM on 01/15/2011

This is going to be real good to watch.

[OldCowboy]

03:47 PM on 01/14/2011

'...the Tea Party has shown its support of Wake County's actions." Further evidence of the Tea Party's racist nature.

[Pete Lorenz]

04:36 PM on 02/02/2011

Racist nature? Nope. Guessing you haven't been to any of their stuff.

Anyway, desegregation is not the same as integration. We should desegregate, i.e. not force races to separate. We DO NOT need to so actively integrate, i.e. push several races together just for the sake of diversity even when it doesn't make sense and isn't helping anyone.

[HearMeNow1959]

03:14 PM on 01/14/2011

How would the "white folks" feel if they just swapped administrations and teaching staffs? Send the teachers and admin from the "white schools" to teach the kids at the "black schools" and vice-versa.

[Ghoulish]

08:09 PM on 01/14/2011

Wouldn't bother me a bit. I don't believe those schools have anything more than more resources and maybe more selection when it comes to choosing classes.

[jmyoung666]

05:58 AM on 02/09/2011

Isn't that a problem in and of itself? In non-integrated systems, tyhe suburban kids have a lot more opportunities than the inner-city kids.

[Tkevan]

02:14 PM on 01/19/2011

Are you saying they are unqualified to teach?

[Waitaminute]

02:01 PM on 01/14/2011

Jim crow was practical. Slavery was practical, desegregation was practical. George Wallace was a practical thinker and so is Mata. Practical and typical rac**t!

[sealdadeal4me]

09:47 AM on 01/14/2011

Why dont the federal govt just cut off the funding for the school district if they are breaking the law. I dont understand the problem. If the busing or the schools are unequal and illegal then the federal govt should just cut off the funding for busing in the district and the resources.

[ian0000]

10:44 PM on 01/13/2011

the key is to make sure that all schools in the district have the same resources as current thought by black academics is that black kids should be educated in an afro centric ciriculum with other blacks and taught by black teachers. in philly , at the moment , the biggest flight is black kids fleeing the regular school district schools and entering afro centric charter schools, where they learn more about nubian history than english history for example (actually no english or any european history is taught) . busing is a hindrance in that respect.

[Waitaminute]

01:44 PM on 01/14/2011

"Fleeing and entering Afro centric charter schools" Where are those Afro centric schools you speak of? Black students have the same curriculum as the white students.

[ian0000]

06:53 PM on 01/15/2011

"black students have the same curriculum as white students" yes, in the regular public schools , thats the point. black students are leaving the philly regular schools to got to afro centric charter schools which have a totally different curriculum than regular schools . eg instead of the usual history course which studies egypt , europe and america , they study all of africa.

[Jorjor91]

04:48 PM on 01/17/2011

Yet, you don't criticize those that go to Jewish Schools, or those that go to Catholic Schools, or those that go to performing arts schools, or any other specialized type of school...Also, I find it hard to believe that "no English" is taught. You can teach kids how to write and read without necessarily only reading stuff that has come out of the West. I went to public school in an area where I was lucky enough to have been introduced to much of the amazing literature that has been produced by African, Latin American, and Asian writers along with all of the American and European classics and am better for it. As far as the blacks being taught by black teachers thing, one thing I doubt you will ever understand is that until white teachers stop assuming that black kids are trouble, or treating them as if they are a lost cause before even giving them a chance, black kids will tend to feel more comfortable with black teachers because in their minds they will sympathize with them more and not automatically assume that they are stupid. I am in no way saying that all white teachers do this. I have had white teachers my entire life (grew up in Suburban St. Paul) and I never felt that any of them automatically had a prejudice or preconceived notions about me, but I think you are making big assumptions about things that you don't know about.

[jmyoung666]

05:59 AM on 02/09/2011

He meant English History

[mostlyindignant]

09:37 PM on 01/13/2011

Makes me so proud to live in Raleigh...

[Brian Edwards]

09:01 PM on 01/13/2011

I can't believe it took HP this long to cover this. I live in Hillsborough NC about an hour away from Raleigh and this fight has been going on for a few years now.

[roadtothemitten]

08:43 PM on 01/13/2011

I think Americans can draw comparisons from the German school system. When Germans enter into 'high school' they are put (by a combination of parent and teacher) into one of four schools: Gymnasium, Gesamtschule, Realschule, and Hauptschule. The best and brightest (or from another perspective the best connected with the most resources) go to Gymnasium, or Gesamtschule, and can later go onto the University. However, if you're unfortunate enough to be placed in the Hauptschule (if you are an immigrant, or the child of an immigrant, with parents that can't defend you, or if you are viewed as disruptive and untalented by your teacher) you have absolutely no chance of attending a University in Germany. Just so you know, what school you get sent to is decided in the 4th and final year of Grundschule or elementary school. So, when you're about 10 years old your future is decided.

While the situation isn't identical, America does have a hidden system like the one in Germany where people recognize what constitutes 'a good school district' versus 'a bad one.' I think the protestors have legitimate concern about facing not only unequal resources, but also the loss of mutually beneficial cultural enrichment. I had a great education growing up, but I didn't experience true diversity until studying abroad. Please, to the older generation: don't deprive your children of the chance to end racial-ethnic-economic discrimination and barriers. Your children won't thank you for isolating them in white-rice bowls.

[greatness891]

02:03 PM on 01/14/2011

Fanned