Way-wrong direction

Danny Coleman has been my friend for more than 20 years, but I do not agree with everything he says about the successes and failures of the Wake County school system' diversity policy ("RWCA head raps diversity policy," Sept. 2).

It is true that Southeast Raleigh has borne the brunt of busing to make the policy work and that the achievement gap has not been closed. But I believe that much progress has been made on closing that gap and that test scores would have been much worse if the school system had not used a combination of magnet schools and the diversity policy.

I agree with N.C. NAACP President William Barber that discarding the diversity policy will lead to de facto segregation and a return to the situation that existed before the merger of the city and county schools.

If the preliminary maps are any indication (news story, Sept. 1) then clearly we are headed in the wrong direction. In the preferred map, Enloe/Southeast Raleigh is 4 percent white, 68 percent free and reduced-price lunch, 46.7 percent passing while Apex is 72 percent white, 11 percent free and reduced-price lunch and 89 percent passing.

What kind of level playing field is that?

Peter V. Andrews, Louisburg