RALEIGH -- School board chairman Ron Margiotta is trying to reassure parents and teachers that the new board majority will not eliminate the magnet school program in Wake County.
Magnet supporters are concerned about what will happen to the program now that the new board majority wants to end busing for diversity in favor of neighborhood schools.
In a letter sent Tuesday to magnet school principals, Margiotta seeks to assure staff members and parents that "magnet schools serve as an integral piece of educating children in Wake County." He also said the board will involve parents and staff in discussions about the magnet program.
"It's an attempt to quell rumors," Margiotta said in an interview Tuesday. "There's going to be a review of magnets, like everything else in the system. But we're not going to eliminate it."
Since 1982, Wake has used magnet schools to promote diversity. Most of the magnet schools are in downtown Raleigh and Southeast Raleigh. Their unique academic programs were set up to lure suburban, affluent students to the schools.
Wake also promotes diversity by assigning students to balance the percentages of low-income students at individual schools.
But four new board members elected this fall have joined Margiotta to form a new majority that is critical of the effectiveness of the diversity policy. Last week, they introduced policy changes, which have been referred to a board committee, that call for making neighborhood schools a priority while eliminating references to keeping schools diverse.
Margiotta said it's likely that some changes will be made to the magnet program. But he noted that the old board had already been making changes in recent years as it added programs to some schools and removed them from others.
A vocal group of magnet supporters attended last week's board meeting to lobby the new board.
Margiotta's letter was met with skepticism by some magnet supporters.
"I don't believe them one minute," said Vickie Adamson, a North Raleigh parent of a magnet student. "My personal opinion is that they've encountered more resistance than they expected from magnet parents, so they're trying to appease us."
Dhruv Jain, 14, an Enloe High School freshman from Cary, thinks the new board won't eliminate the magnet program. But he's worried that the board will weaken it at places such as Enloe.
"We want to keep a strong magnet program, not just to have a magnet program," said Jain, who has organized a Facebook page that has signed up more than 1,700 people in support of the diversity policy.
Adamson and Dhruv plan to attend the school board meeting Tuesday to continue lobbying the new board. Supporters of the new board will stage a rally at the meeting. They are being organized by the state chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a conservative-leaning advocacy group.
