Fascinating story in today’s News & Observer about yesterday’s forum about Wake County schools sponsored by WakeUp Wake County, a group that advocates on behalf of the traditional public system as practiced in Wake. Former Wake school board member Tom Oxholm is opposed to neighborhood schools and supports Wake’s busing plan that seeks to spread around the low-income kids.
Tom Oxholm, a former Wake school board member, supports the district’s efforts to promote diversity by balancing the percentages of low-income students at schools.
Oxholm said moving to a system of neighborhood schools would lead to resegregation and economic disaster.
“If you go down that way, the cleanup will be unbelievable,” said Oxholm, who co-wrote with former Superintendent Bill McNeal a book on their experiences called “A School District’s Journey
Mr. Oxholm’s views are also aired in this N&O blog:
Oxholm also complained about the recent newspaper articles comparing the different approaches that Wake and Charlotte-Mecklenburg have taken toward dealing with diversity.
He blamed the articles for confusing the public about the purpose of Wake’s diversity policy. He said the policy is not about trying to make sure every child scores his best on standardized tests but is designed to keep all schools healthy
So what does JLF education policy analyst Terry Stoops think about all this?
