An Open Letter to the Wake County Board of Education by Kent Misegades

Members of the Wake County Board of Education:

On February 14th, 2008, the Wake Educational Partnership released a position paper in support of a policy pursued since the 1970s by the Wake County Public School System to obtain demographic balance in its schools. Following two months of research of the information contained in this paper, and with the support of staff members of WCPSS and leading experts on education policy in our County and State, I published a rebuttal to the WEP’s position paper on April 1st. The full text may be found here:

www.ullisart.com/images/Misegades_Balance_rebuttal.pdf

Referring to the conclusions of this rebuttal, I respectfully request from the Wake County Board of Education an explanation for the following facts regarding the performance of our schools and details regarding socioeconomic assignments of children attending Wake County public schools:

1. Data obtained shows an inexplicable and increasing gap between the percentage of children living in poverty and those receiving free and reduced-price meals, contrary to the general decline in child poverty in recent years in Wake County as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau. As the percentage of school-aged children living in poverty has dropped, the percentage receiving free and reduced-price meals has surprisingly increased. Currently nearly 30% of all school children in Wake schools are qualified for free and reduced-price meals; however the U.S. Census Bureau reports only 10 % of children between the ages of 5-17 living in poverty. Please explain the significant difference in these percentages, since the Federal meals program is intended only for children living in poverty.
2. In 2007, the high school cohort graduation rate in Wake County reached its lowest point since 2000, the same year that the WCPSS began its policy of socioeconomic assignments. Please explain why, despite assignment policies aimed at increasing academic performance and graduation rates, combined with significant increases in per-pupil funding since 2000, the percentage of children graduating from Wake public high schools has decreased, in particular among minorities and the poor.
3. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) abolished socioeconomic assignments in 2001 in favor of policies supporting community schools. Since then, the academic performance of CMS students has improved significantly, rivaling that of students in Wake County, despite a larger percentage of poor students in CMS schools. How then can WCPSS continue to claim advantages to its current socioeconomic assignment policies?

Respectfully yours,

Kent P. Misegades.
Cary
[email protected]

Editor's Note:

Misengades is a founder and chairman of the Board of Trustees of Thales Academy in Apex. 

Thales is a low-cost private school, created to provide parents with an alternative to the government-run, poorly managed school system.  Misengades is a leader who has put his money where his ideas are and your blogger will proudly enroll her son in the Thales kindergarten class of 2010.