The N&O published an amusing editorial titled “Before they leap,” urging the Wake County school board to “proceed with caution.”
Here is the first paragraph:
Here are some plain-truth observations about Wake County’s public school system: It’s successful, educating a broad range of students who perform well (with some exceptions) on mandated tests and enjoy a host of extracurricular activities and academic opportunities. It’s admired, a major selling point for communities in the county hoping to lure progressive employers who rightfully want to know about the schools’ quality.
So, the plain truth is that Wake County’s public schools are successful some of the time and offer a lot of extracurricular activities and academic opportunities. It’s admired by someone, somewhere – perhaps by those who don’t have kids in the system. And what in the world is a progressive employer?
But these points aside, I am amazed that the N&O and those who support the busing policy give such little credit to classroom teachers. Instead, they argue that it is the policy and the administration that oversees the policy that makes the school system successful (some of the time), admired (by someone, somewhere), and attractive to progressive employers (whatever that means).
