Instead of recognizing the cause of the frequent student reassignments - the high growth rate of Wake County - the new school board members insist on chasing a red herring. Diversity is not the problem.
I heard John Tedesco say that he doesn't support diversity for diversity's sake. This one statement says it all. Neither he nor any of the other new board members understands the value that diversity brings to our schools. He also said that economically disadvantaged students hear only 200 different words a day, compared with 2,000 for non-"ED" students. His plan is to get private donations to fund special teachers to build the vocabulary of ED students.
Using his own assumptions, Tedesco fails to recognize that ED students would learn better and for less money by hearing the 1,800 extra words from non-ED students. This peer-to-peer interaction is more effective because it engages students in actual conversation, not just students getting bored listening to teachers.
