I highly recommend Rick’s News & Observer column on recent Wake County school board decisions.
All options need to be on the table, even ones that affect sacred cows.
Should the new superintendent have the power to fire a poorly performing school’s teaching staff, as occurred in Rhode Island recently? Outside of No Child Left Behind regulations, should a parent be able to pull a student from a school and place him in another district school if the child’s needs aren’t being met?
Will the school board reveal how the state and federal supplements to serve at-risk kids are distributed to ensure that schools in low-income areas aren’t being underfunded? Will teacher associations agree to financial incentives so the best teachers can be matched up to the students with the greatest needs? Will the NAACP and other community-based organizations commit to serious mentoring and tutoring programs to help ensure minority and low-income children come to school ready to learn to the best of their ability?
