No, it’s not the Durham County School board, where antics and outbursts were commonplace a few years ago. This time around, a threat of contempt — and a reference to the Scopes monkey trial — took place at a recent meeting of the Orange County school board. This mess is the result of the school board attempting to “balance” the economic diversity of the student population at two county elementary schools — one that is high-performing and one that is low-performing.
Just read the story and you’ll see how very sad it is for the kids involved. The school board continues to focus on a politically correct ideological goal, rather than on tackling achievement issues head-on and reprioritizing financial and human resources to assist the schools and kids that need concentrated help.
Since I grew up poor, I can tell you that my performance in school had nothing to do with the household income of the kids sitting around me. I learned for two reasons. First, because I had solid teachers at school. And second, because there was an expectation from my parents that I would study, do my homework, and behave in class. When I didn’t, I was disciplined. When I did, I was praised and encouraged. In today’s world, I would be one of the low-income kids being shuffled from school to school in a well-intended, but flawed attempt to meet the challenge of providing an education to every child, regardless of their home situation.
This weekend, Carolina Journal Radio (the show I co-host with Mitch Kokai) will feature an interview with Locke Foundation Education Policy Analyst Terry Stoops discussing economic diversity policies and the lack of data to support the conclusion that they have a positive impact on student achievement. Here’s a video clip from the interview, in which Stoops focuses on the approach used by Wake County — an approach held up as a national model. You’ll find a listing of radio stations that carry CJ Radio here, as well as information on the weekly podcast.
