Recently two Raleigh residents, each of whom graduated from high school in 1965, got together with N&O President and Publisher Orage Quarles III to talk about the schools. Mel Lewis and Bruce Lightner share a longstanding interest in the Wake County Public School System. As frequent online commenters on stories about the schools, they do not share similar views - but they think they detect some elements of common ground (see Executive Editor John Drescher's July 24 column). Here are opinion articles that Quarles invited Lewis and Lightner to submit.
These are one man's opinions. I am not a spokesman for any faction in the Wake County Public School System's "glorious mess."
For the past month, Bruce Lightner and I have shared many hours of animated conversation over the WCPSS conflict. Bruce and I attended segregated schools in the South during the early '60s. We have lived through the same periods of socio-cultural transition in America. I as a white man, Bruce as a black man.
We are simply two men talking and listening. The race issue in America is 300-plus years old. Bruce and I will not resolve it over Brunswick stew and pickles at The Pit. A functioning sense of humor helps a great deal in such a dialogue.
The WCPSS controversy has seen participants, regardless of their point of view, broad-brushed into demographic pigeonholes, each clearly labeled "Demonize" or "Deify." While amusing for fans of provocative confrontation, this silly stereotyping serves no good purpose for our community.
The easy assumption is that there are just two sides in this debate:
1) Supporters of the current school board majority,
2) Opponents of the current school board majority.
I maintain there is a third side:
3) Wake County families, repulsed by the name-calling and demagoguery, who simply want an efficient and effective public school system. This silent frustrated majority of families, covering the ethno-economic spectrum, are stuck in limbo, while the two warring factions debate the shape of the debating table.
Public education in America has long been a pawn in a larger ideological war. Like genital herpes, school board controversies are never "cured," just randomly dormant - if a community is lucky.
Three factors matter in this controversy:
Words matter. When the current school board members were sworn in, certain demonstrative statements were made. In hindsight, perhaps word choices could have been more judicious. Words are inflammatory. They burn. Some words are like flares, burning bright and hot and not easily extinguished.
The news media play a role in any public controversy. The media do not light fires, but the media can certainly fan a fire once it is lit.
Elections matter. There is considerable grumbling about the results of the most recent school board election. If we can randomly invalidate elections we disagree with, where do I submit November '08 to the list? Once elected, school board members (and mayors) represent all their constituents, not simply their partisan supporters. Officials with the Solomon-esque wisdom to do so are rare.
Every one of the 140,000 schoolchildren in Wake County matters . Surveys revealed that a significant majority of Wake County families are pleased with their current school assignments. That leaves a modest percentage that might have legitimate complaints about their assignments. Any changes to the current system should reduce the size of that group, whether they live in Wakefield or Chavis Heights.
As I understand the long-term objectives of the current school board, how can anyone be opposed? Each of the 140,000 students is to be within walking distance of a first-class elementary school, within a bike ride to a first-class middle school and within a 15-minute drive to a first-class high school. Neighborhood schools are the only practical solution for meaningful parent-teacher interaction. Without parent-teacher interaction, no child can receive the maximum benefit of his or her K-12 experience. The adjective "first-class" is the reality fly in this soup.
Is it financially and logistically practical that there can be equal facilities in all neighborhoods staffed with equally adept teachers and staff? Adjusting the neighborhood school concept to accommodate logistical reality is the chore facing those charged with the task.
With all the negative comments aimed at "newcomers," "black people," "rich people," "liberals," "conservatives," Pope, Meeker, the media and "people not from around here," does anyone wish ill on a 5-year-old on his or her first day of kindergarten?
To quote a line from the Statler Brothers: "Life gets complicated when we get past 18." In today's crazy world, our children lose their innocence way too early and way too easily. Can't we, the good citizens of Wake County, come together to uncomplicate the lives of our children? Be it Cary, Garner, Southeast Raleigh, inside the Beltline, Wake Forest and every neighborhood in-between.
Words matter ... elections matter ... and every child matters.
