Stay informed, involved with your children

The Wake County schools system has come a long way in the past decade by allowing for community input in its student reassignment plans. Part of this process requires helping the community understand the need for change.

When my children started going to Wake schools, I was frustrated by an assignment process that seemed random. I thought neighborhood schools made sense and placing children closest to their homes should be simple.

It wasn't until my children had been in school and gone through a few assignment changes that I began to better understand that the mission of reassignment is to have all children develop to their full potential.

It has been more than 50 years since Brown v. Board of Education, and many low-income, African-American and Latino youths are not getting the education they need. Leaving no child behind means creating a plan in which all children have the opportunity to experience a diverse learning environment. This happens when a school is balanced and resources are shared.

Although I understand the importance of a balanced school system, it's hard when your child is being moved. Every year, I cringe when the latest plan is made available. My family lives in node 381.3, and in the past decade, seven reassignment plans have affected our neighborhood.

Each time a plan has affected our children, the battle to keep our kids in their current school has begun. (Now that Wake has a "grandfathering" policy that allows kids to stay where they are -- providing that parents can get them there -- I don't think I would fight reassignment.)

The second plan that affected our neighborhood was the one that most knitted our community together. We held an organizational meeting and then broke into smaller committees.

One committee spent long hours studying the charts to understand how our little cluster of homes had become a spot that needed children moved to another school. The committee determined that no matter how the data were analyzed, it didn't make sense to bus our kids past four elementary schools to attend a new one.

Another committee began writing our presentation to the board. Another set out to gather signatures for a petition. The committees reconvened, and someone volunteered to present our case. After we got the news that our kids were staying in their school, we held a celebration bigger than any Super Bowl party I have attended.

Not all of our reassignment battles ended with celebrations. The impact on some families has been great. One neighborhood family has three children who graduated from different high schools. It's hard to root for the home team when it keeps changing.

Wake school reassignment plans affect more than the children. This year, they could affect parents, teachers, administrators, business alliance members and other community members involved at more than 90 Wake schools.

When a new school opens, the administrator is typically hired from an existing school and may take as many as eight staff members. It can take months to rebuild an organizational structure for the school administration, PTA leaders and community leaders who team to help all children develop to their full potential.

After being reassigned to a different elementary school a few years ago, my younger son tried to find the positive aspects, but he didn't care how promising the next school sounded if he couldn't walk down the hall to hug his kindergarten and first-grade teachers.

For me, that meant trying to find a way to serve on my third elementary school PTA board. Finding a way to serve in a leadership capacity with the PTA is perhaps the biggest challenge for parents who may not know their child's school until June. The PTA nominating committees are gearing up for the 2006-07 school year with officers at most schools being installed in May. That process may be completed earlier at year-round schools.

For the parents of children with special medical and academic needs, it can be even more challenging to learn a new school's procedures and meet the staff.

My older son needs a health plan that ensures his asthma medications are available. With one of the reassignments, it meant meeting another school nurse, learning new processes, and helping him feel comfortable getting the medication he needed.

With each assignment change, I spent time researching the new school. I wanted to know the philosophy of the school administration, scores on standardized tests (if available) and PTA goals. While I did my research, I kept my outlook as positive as I could. I wanted to be sure that my anxiety did not affect my children's feelings.

If the new school assignment plan affects your family, look for the positive aspects and find ways you can be part of your child's school community. In the end, what matters most to a child is having parents involved in his or her school.