At a recent meeting held on March 2, the Wake County Board of Education approved a preliminary version of a community-based school assignment resolution. This decision will overturn a diversity policy regarding bus routes in place in the county for the last decade. The current policy’s main objective, enacted in 2000, was to help desegregate schools by busing children from wealthy areas to poorer schools and vice versa. The policy is based on income and is designed to promote economic diversity.
Wake County has been nationally recognized for its innovative plan, and many praise the policy for its racial awareness. The county gauged the average income of a certain district by considering how many students needed government lunch programs.
Yet when some students began being bused far from home – up to 20 miles – parents voiced concerns. For the families that moved to the more affluent districts of the county, attracted by the prospect of the benefits of a prestigious school district, the diversity-based program became increasingly unpopular.
Concerns climaxed last fall, according to The New York Times, when despite holding a long-standing majority in the area, the county elected four new Republican board members, giving Republicans deciding power. In an attempt to make good on their campaign promises, these board members have started chipping away at the current busing policy.
In their latest session, the Wake County Board of Education approved the beginning of the end for the old busing policy. Their substitution, called the “community assignment zone resolution,” will do just what many families are calling for, reducing the distance that Wake County’s 140,000 students must travel to school.
While some parents in Wake County are celebrating, critics call the reversal racist. The superintendent of the district, Adelphos John Burns, announced his resignation last month, according to the New York Times, saying that he could not “in good conscience” continue.
In addition, the NAACP has threatened legal action, calling the new plan “re-segregation.” The North Carolina NAACP filed an official complaint against the board of education majority on March 12, according to the Wake County Public School System Web site, accusing the newly elected members of secret meetings and pushing for a racist change in policy.
Supporters of the old busing policy further note that research has proven diversity in classrooms raises average test scores.
“Diversified schools typically have higher graduation rates, more college acceptances and fewer students in the criminal justice system,” said Roslyn Mickelson, a sociologist at UNC Charlotte, to The New York Times.
“Diversity in the classroom is crucial,” said senior and education studies major Zack Pinsky. “It makes students more comfortable with other cultures and ultimately, more accepting.