Claude E. Pope Jr., Wake County Republican Party chairman, used the words "forced busing" four times in his July 24 Point of View piece. Pope follows the strategy that if you repeat a slogan, people believe it, even if the idea is not true. Forced busing has been used as a code word to oppose efforts to desegregate schools, but there is little forced busing in Wake County.
Only 3 percent of Wake County students are bused for diversity; most students are shifted to new schools because of enrollment growth and overcrowding. Busing will continue in Wake County, even if the current school board majority rams through its plans for neighborhood schools, another code for segregated schools whether consciously intended or not. We do not have enough schools in safe walking distance from most neighborhoods.
Let's keep all the facts straight: Wake County does not have many integrated neighborhoods, despite assertions to the contrary. If you design a school assignment policy that tracks neighborhoods, you will end up with schools that are increasingly segregated by race and class. And there is considerable evidence that segregated school systems do a grave disservice to all their students, failing to prepare them for an increasingly diverse world.
