RE: As our representatives. please carefully consider this letter that was sent to all board members .

Ron Margiotta to: jennifer.duerr. Deborah Prickett 01/13/201007:30 PM

'-~~--~-' ,---,~-~,--~,-~-~~,~ "~---~----~---

Jennifer,

Thanks so much for your comments, they will be passed along to our NEWLY established Advisory Committee on Assignments.

This email is not meant as a copt out but can assure you, your concern will be considered. Cannot promise you positive results but can promise a legitimate review.

Ron

-----Original Message-----

From: jennifer.duerr@duke.edu [mailto:jennifer.duerr@duke.edu] Sent: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 5:46 PM

To: Deborah Prickett; Ron Margiotta

Cc: jennifer.duerr@duke.edu

Subject: As our representatives, please carefully consider this letter that was sent to all board members.

Dear Board Members:

I am a member of Node 597.0, which is made up of residents of Carpenter Village in Cary. Currently our base elementary school is Carpenter Elementary, our base Middle School is East Cary and our base High School is Panther Creek. We have two fundamental issues with our Middle School assignment, East Cary, that warrants the Board's immediate attention for the 2010-2011 school year.

First, our home, which is located in the heart of our node, is 8.54 miles or 15 minutes (according to mapquest) from East Cary. This distance requires our children to get on the bus everyday at 6:15 am in order to take a 45+ minute bus ride to school each way. This is unfair to our students, given that there are two other options that are located ~ the distance and travel time compared to East Cary. They are: Mills Park Middle School, which is 3.7 miles or 8 minutes, and Davis Drive Middle School, which is 4.34 miles or 7 minutes away. As I am sure you are aware, studies show that sleep deprivation has a direct negative correlation to academic performance. In addition, volunteering at the school and allowing our children to stay after school for activities is nearly impossible for our families.

The second, and possibly larger, concern we have is that our neighborhood is the only neighborhood that is going from East Cary for Middle School to Panther Creek for High School. This makes it very difficult for our children to form relationships because, unless their friends live in our neighborhood, they will more than likely NOT go to High School with ANY of them. As any of us who remember Middle School know, building solid and consistent relationships is critical at this stage of a child's life.

When Carpenter Elementary School opened two years ago as a year-round school, the members of our neighborhood chose to accept this decision and support the school district. This was very different from the actions of the neighborhoods surrounding us, who formed committees, signed petitions, and hired attorneys when redistricting occurred at Davis Drive and Green Hope Elementary Schools. We saw that these actions got these nodes the results

they wanted. We are hoping that having a new board in place, whose members support the philosophy of neighborhood schools over busing, would eliminate the need for such dramatic actions in order for the right changes to be made for the students of Node 597.0.

We have all assumed that our node would be reassigned to the new Mills Park Middle School, which is the closest of all Middle Schools and a feeder school to Panther Creek. However, we have learned that making assumptions in regards to reassignments has resulted in our children being consistently overlooked, as evidenced when we falsely assumed that we would be assigned to Davis Drive Middle School, as all the adjacent nodes to us are assigned and Green Hope High School, the High School assignment of all adjacent nodes which is in walking distance to our home.

Also, we thought that there would be a new reassignment plan this year in time for Mills Park's opening next year. We did not realize that it was part of the three year plan for reassignment last year and that we were, again, overlooked ..

The families of Carpenter Village in node 597.0 were in strong support at election time of the new board members, with hopes that their emphasis on neighborhood schools would help our situation. Please re-evaluate our assignment and take into consideration the following two proposed solutions that are in the best interest of our children's education and quality of life.

The two proposed solutions for the 2010-2011 School Year:

Reassign node 597.0 to Mills Park Middle School (3.7 miles) and continue to

assign us to Panther Creek High School (2.2 miles) OR

Reassign node 597.0 to Davis Drive Middle School (4.3 miles) and Green Hope High School (1.5 miles)

Thank you for your consideration, Jennifer Duerr

This message was sent to the following Board members:

Ms. Deborah Prickett Mr. Ron Margiotta

Thank You for Common Sense Votes connie to: Deborah Prickett

01/18/2010 10:51 PM

This message has been replied to.

I recently moved from Charlotte to Raleigh. Parents in Mecklenburg and Wake County are the same--they overwhelmingly want neighborhood schools. The opposition is effective and vocal at crying wolf, but their failed policy results can't be improved by their complaints about the new board.

Your are making the right decisions on school assignments, teacher workdays and year round schools. I am proud to be a new Wake County resident seeing the courage and wisdom of our new school board.

Connie Wilson

2721 Glenwood Gardens Lane #302 Raleigh, NC 27608

Assignment Zones

Janetintheusa to: Deborah Prickett

01/21/201012:53 PM

Ms. Prickett,

First, I wanted to say thank you for doing what you were elected to do without remorse. I am a heavy supporter of change for the Wake County School System and don't believe that what is now in place is productive for children at either end of the scale.

I was just reading about the "community assignment zone" idea. To me it sounds very logical. I do request that you consider how the "lines" are going to be drawn. One of the problems we face as a neighborhood is the illogical splits defining the current "nodes". I live in node 337.3 and our neighborhood is grouped with those across major routes (Creedmoor Road), and separates us from adjoining neighborhoods.

I would like to suggest that when the lines are drawn that they logically follow street patterns and neighborhoods. From what I saw in The Independent newspaper, the lines drawn for the new zone idea are similar in fashion to the old nodes. For example, the split between nodes 11 and 12 appear to cross 540 where there is no street and again across Creedmoor at an odd location. In my opinion, it would make more sense to use 1-540 and Creedmoor as boundaries for the zones. I would suggest this is the case across the county.

Lastly, I also recently read an article about a charter school in Houston that is receiving recognition from President Obama. It is not for being diverse, but for implementing strict academic and behavioral requirements on the low income students that attend. Apparently, they are having great success.

Thank you for taking the time to consider my opinion, and keep up the good work.

Janet Hammond

2109 Summer Azure Way Raleigh, NC 27613 (919) 870-7966

School Assignments

Robert Gardner to: Deborah Prickett

01/22/201004:03 PM

To:

Ms. Deborah Prickett dprickett@wcpss.net

In a perfect world we would all prefer neighborhood schools, but the world is not perfect. Our present student assignment plan may not be perfect but let those "who would like to take back America" understand we will not go back to a segregated school system - we have been there and it didn't work. If, and when, society becomes sufficiently integrated, then and only then will neighborhood schools work.

Year-round schools also may be an "inconvenient truth," especially in a down economy as people consider the economics of more schools versus higher taxes.

May we continue to have open discussions as we seek ways to improve our schools for the public good.

Robert R. Gardner, Retired 1409 Dellwood Drive Raleigh, NC 27607

Tel: 919-787-6430

question lconcern about caps from Stough parent Elizabeth Hudgins ~o Deborah Prickett

Please respond to Elizabeth Hudgins

01/22/201008:33 PM

History:

This message has been replied to.

Dear Ms. Prickett -

I have contacted you before and I appreciate your responsiveness and willingness to take parent views into consideration.

I am the parent of a 4th grader at Stough Elementary. Stough is essentially a neighborhood school now, but we loose many students to magnets and year-round schools. Because our neighborhoods straddle the beltline, our base has closeenough proximity for a variety of magnets to be a viable option for families and we lose many students to magnets and year-round schools. Without some sort of cap in place, we could well lose more students. (Magnet schools have extra programs. Year-round schools have newer facilities.) If the cap is lifted, how will the School Board assure that Stough keeps the students/resources it needs to remain an excellent school for our students?

Thank you for your commitment to education.

Elizabeth Hudgins

mother of a Stough 4th grader

Elizabeth Hudgins 919-782-6474

Changing school curriculum for success jennybbrown to: Deborah Prickett

01/24/201009:26 AM

History:

This message has been replied to.

If we want to get rid of the busing diversity - then we should be prepared to change the curriculum at each school to meet the needs of it's children. This program is working very well for their students and allows them to learn according to their strengths.

http://www.wral.com/news/edutopia/story/6874985/

Re: question Iconcern about caps from Stough parent Elizabeth Hudgins ~o Deborah Prickett

Please respond to Elizabeth Hudgins

"-~-~. ---,,-~-~,,-'~. ~" •. -~~~.

01/25/201006:56 PM

Thank you for keeping Stough concerns in mind! (I can only imagine how hard it must be to juggle a full time job AND being on the board - thank you for your time and commitment!)

Elizabeth Hudgins

-----Original Message----From: Deborah Prickett Sent: Jan 24, 2010 7:42 PM To: Elizabeth Hudgins

Subject: Re: question/concern about caps from Stough parent

Thanks Mrs. Hudgins. I do remember your other email. I will keep your comments in mind while moving forward. Hopefully, the survey will be helpful as well in providing a direction and just getting the input from the community and staff.

Deborah

Deborah Prickett, M.A.

Board of Education, District 7

Wake County Public School System Raleigh, NC

dprickett @wcpss.net

-----Elizabeth Hudgins <eshudgins@earthlink.net> wrote: -----

To: Deborah PrickettiSuperintendentIWCPSS@Staff From: Elizabeth Hudgins <eshudgins@earthlink.net> Date: 01/22/2010 08:33PM

Subject: question/concern about caps from Stough parent

Dear Ms. Prickett -

I have contacted you before and I appreciate your responsiveness and willingness to take parent views into consideration.

I am the parent of a 4th grader at Stough Elementary. Stough is essentially a neighborhood school now, but we loose many students to magnets and year-round schools. Because our neighborhoods straddle the beltline, our base has close- enough proximity for a variety of magnets to be a viable option for families and we lose many students to magnets and year-round schools. Without some sort of cap in place, we could well lose more students. (Magnet schools have extra programs. Year-round schools have newer facilities.) If the cap is lifted, how will the School Board assure that Stough keeps the students/resources it needs to remain an excellent school for our students?

Thank you for your commitment to education.

Elizabeth Hudgins

mother of a Stough 4th grader

Elizabeth Hudgins 919-782-6474

Elizabeth Hudgins 919-782-6474