Schools

Sign-up for a YWCA Fall 2010 “Removing Barriers to Equity in Education” Study Circle
Organize a study circle at your school.  For more information please find attached the YWCA study circle starter-kit or call Crystal Hayes, Director of Racial Justice Programs at 919.995.1866 or email chayes@ywcatriangle.org

The YWCA of the Great Triangle and WakeUP Wake County held a forum on Wednesday December 16 to discuss the potential impact of the new Wake County Board of Education and its proposed policies.  More than 50 community members attended the forum to hear a Board member Keith Sutton speak, as well as to ask questions and express concerns.

For more information, see coverage on MyNC.com and WRAL.

Courtesy of The Carolinian Newspaper, NC's twice-weekly African-American newspaper, we are re-posting a topical three-part series of articles about the Wake County Public School System, written by Cash Michaels. Part 2, below, was first published in the print-only newspaper November 19, 2009.

© Cash Michaels, The Carolinian

 Editor’s note - This is part 2 of a three-part series on Wake County Public Schools' lost focus on black student achievement in recent years, allowing the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School System to pull ahead in the NC report card results.
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 Two weeks after the bad news struck, David Holdzkom, assistant superintendent for Evaluation and Research for the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) is still analyzing the data, trying to figure out what happened.

Courtesy of The Carolinian Newspaper, NC's twice-weekly African-American newspaper, we are re-posting a topical three-part series of articles about the Wake County Public School System, written by Cash Michaels. Part 1, below, was first published in the print-only newspaper November 12, 2009.

© Cash Michaels, The Carolinian

Editor’s note - There is no question that as recently as ten years ago, Wake County Public Schools were considered among the best in the state, if not the nation. But, as recent reports suggest, something has gone wrong, and WCPSS has problems now it long thought were behind it. Problems that have been politically exploited, resulting in an historic change on the Wake school board that many see as detrimental to the future of black students in the system.

In part 1 of a three-part series leading up to the Dec. 1 swearing-in of the new school board, The Carolinian examines exactly what went wrong, and why, with the WCPSS.

WakeUP is currently focusing on the following growth issues that affect the quality of education of students in Wake County:

The passage of the $970 million school bond was an important first step in addressing the $5 billion needed for Wake’s public school construction over the next ten years. But its passage did not eliminate divisive issues such as mandatory year round school assignments.

Wake has serious financial problems in dealing with the 7,000 – 8,000 additional students expected year-after-year. But Wake is a wealthy county. It has close to the largest base of taxable property in NC. None-the-less over a decade of low taxes and minimal financial support for public schools is responsible for the $5 billion financial hole facing voters over the next ten years. Additionally, that low level of support is at the root of parents mistrust and flat educational performance of our nationally acclaimed school system.