Last week, the U.S. Department of Education rejected every grant proposal submitted by a North Carolina school district, including Wake County. Some wanted to blame the rejection on the elimination of forced busing.
Today, Keung Hui of the News & Observer reports that the feds passed on Wake’s application because one reviewer had a very specific concern,
Complaints that the Wake County school system wasn?t doing enough to address gender issues appears to have cost school leaders up to $10.3 million in federal money for the magnet school program.
Two of the three reviewers who looked at Wake?s application gave the school district perfect scores on how it would promote desegregation. But a third reviewer repeatedly complained that Wake?s application didn?t adequately deal with gender issues, giving a much lower score than the other two reviewers.
[snip]
The third reviewer?s frequent references about gender surprised David Ansbacher, Wake?s senior director of magnet programs. He said gender wasn?t one of the targets in the federal magnet grant.
Bill Carruthers, president of Grant Prose, a company that helps groups apply for grants, also said gender isn?t one of the goals of the grant. He said he didn?t mention gender at all in the successful magnet grant application he helped the Houston school system write this year.
In one response, Reviewer #3 wrote, “[The school system] consistently leaves out gender as a factor to differentiate when it comes to meeting the needs of all students. Race is too much of a factor. …”
On the other hand, Reviewer #3 complimented the “strong school board.”
