FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Calla Wright, (919) 231-9057, or visit  www.cccaac.com for additional information, Founder Coalition of Concerned Citizens of African-American Children

Community Advocates Call on Wake School Board to provide accurate information as it relates to student performance and achievement that impact our present diversity policy.

RALEIGH, N.C. – The Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children, the local NAACP, and the YWCA of the Greater Triangle have requested a formal presentation by the Wake County Public Schools System to interpret recently completed research on student performance as it relates to diversity.

These organizations are calling on citizens, parents and educators who are concerned about the welfare of area students to attend the presentation by WCPSS and participate in a discussion concerning:

*Benchmarking Wake County's performance to establish best practices;

*Recognizing schools that are closing the achievement gap faster than others;

*Highlighting successful students.

WHAT: Community Examines WCPSS Achievement Data

WHEN: February 23rd, 2010

WHERE: Martin Street Baptist Church, Johnson Building, 1001 East Martin Street, Raleigh

TIME: 6:30-8:00 p.m.

WHO: Parents, students, educators, and other interested persons who would like to participate in a discussion on Wake County Public Schools Systems’ achievement.

PRESENTER:  Wake County Public School System

SPONSORS:  Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children, NAACP Local Branch, YWCA of the Greater Triangle

CONTACT:  Calla Wright, (919)231-9057, or visit www.cccaac.com for more information

WE are sponsoring this event in an effort to provide accurate data/information to the community as it relates to student achievement.

This community forum also is sponsored by the YWCA Racial Justice program, which works at a grassroots level to improve race relations in the community. Through small-group dialogue, education forums and taskforces, the YWCA engages citizens in activities that promote equality and diversity.

The YWCA recently asked a volunteer to do a preliminary analysis of existing data from the Wake County Public School System.  Findings include:   

 In 2008-09, Wake County graduated 63.4 percent of its black students and 51.1 percent of its Hispanic students who had entered the ninth grade for the first time in the fall of 2005

The CCCAAC is a community-based organization whose mission is to assist parents in helping their children receive optimal educational opportunities.  The CCCAAC believes that all students benefit when they attend economically and racially diverse schools.

The YWCA of the Greater Triangle unites women and men who strive to improve the social and economic conditions that affect girls, women and their families.  Established locally in 1923, the YWCA promotes peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all people, providing vital programs that span the region to make life-changing differences for thousands of area families.  Through its Racial Justice initiative, the YWCA serves as a community resource for increasing awareness and opening dialog about race and ethnicity. The YWCA impacts individuals’ assumptions and attitudes about structural racism, which can be embedded in unfair housing policies, lending institutions’ practices, legal rulings, employment opportunities, disciplinary actions, educational outcomes and other issues.  http://www.ywcatriangle.org

Coalition Of Concerned Citizens

 For African American Children, Inc.

                                                             FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tel: (919) 231-9057

Email: ccaac_aacca@yahoo.com

CITZEN’S GROUP COMMENT ON

WCPSS Board of Education Meeting

The first meeting of the new Wake County School Board demonstrated just how far the new Board majority will go to push through its ideological agenda to dismantle the nationally-acclaimed student diversity policy and replace it with a plan designed to lead to resegregation and racially identifiable, high-poverty schools.  Despite their campaign rhetoric promising to listen to parents and taking time to gather input and information from the community, the new board majority revealed its contempt for even the most basic due process rights, including adequate public notice and a meaningful opportunity for residents to be heard, when it:.     

·        Introduced resolutions and agenda items that were not previously distributed to the other board members or to the public (in violation of established Board policy, which states that the agenda be made available to the public “at least 48 hours in advance of the meeting” and which prohibits amendments to the agenda “except on a vote of 2/3 of the members.”

·        Met in secret prior to the meeting to develop their coordinated strategy for the board meeting, drafting in advance and without any public input support.  This back room dealing clearly violated the spirit and purpose of the North Carolina Open Meetings Act and its prohibition on exactly what happened here: elected officials creating public policies behind closed doors, hidden from public scrutiny or meaningful accountability.

These due process and board policy violations show that the Board is uninterested in considering the underlying educational impacts and practical implications of tearing down the current student assignment policy, or the broader community’s deep commitment to its goals. No serious consideration has been given to these critical facts:

·        The current policy gives low-income children a much needed chance to succeed in a global and knowledge-based economy. Designed to protect all schools from the challenges faced by high poverty schools, Wake’s diversity policy affords every student opportunities to learn alongside diverse sets of peers. The so-called “neighborhood school” policy favors children from families that can pay the price of high mortgages over schools that can provide the benefits of a better education for all students.

·        Diversity and neighborhood school goals can co-exist: Pursuant to Wake’s existing diversity policy, 86 percent of its students currently attend a school within five miles of their homes; 99 percent attend a school within 10 miles of their homes. Only about one percent of children in Wake are bused to achieve diversity. For those attending magnet schools, Wake attempts to enroll students in schools within 12 miles of their homes.