RALEIGH -- With federal Department of Education investigators converging on Raleigh to probe accusations of racial discrimination, Democrats on the Wake County school board succeeded Tuesday in stalling Republican-backed plans to reassign thousands of minority students next year closer to their homes in Southeast Raleigh.
School board chairman Ron Margiotta, a Republican, missed Tuesday's meeting because of a family illness, and Democrats used their temporary advantage to block discussion of the student reassignments proposed for the first time last week.
"For us ..., in the face of this investigation, to move 6,000 African-American kids, not knowing what the impact will be on integration or segregation would be totally irresponsible and downright stupid," said board member Keith Sutton.
Sutton and the other Democrats on the board passed a motion 4-3 to exclude more than 60 moves proposed by parents but not recommended by school administration. Vice chairwoman Debra Goldman, acting in Margiotta's stead, was unable to vote on the motion.
School staff will instead continue with plans introduced Tuesday to reassign more than 3,200 students as they wind up the last of a three-year plan begun by the previous school board.
GOP school board members argued that the larger plan should at least be discussed.
"These nodes, these families, these recommendations at least deserve the consideration of the elected officials," said GOP school board member John Tedesco.
Last week, three community members of the school board's student assignment committee proposed adding the reassignment of more than 6,000 students to next year's plan. Many of those moves would result in Southeast Raleigh students going to schools in their neighborhoods instead of to schools in North Raleigh, Garner and western Wake.
Goldman, who has split from her fellow Republicans on several reassignment votes, expressed concern that some recent moves for low-income students had been proposed, not by their own parents, but by parents at the suburban schools the low-income students are currently attending.
"It's not saying, 'Will you move our kids?' It's 'Will you move their kids?'" Goldman said.
Allowing some moves
School board member Kevin Hill, a Democrat, said those Southeast Raleigh moves should be part of a long-term plan to be developed by the board.
After prodding, the board passed another resolution to allow additional moves to be considered if they would help fill schools with 75 percent or less enrollment.
Administrators said they didn't recommend most of the larger moves introduced last week because they believed doing so would go beyond the scope of a Oct. 5 board resolution that directed staff to only make adjustments for 2011-12, the final year of the three-year plan.
"We adhered to the scope of the directive on Oct. 5, and the third year of the three-year plan," said Don Haydon, Wake's chief facilities and operations officer, who oversees the office in charge of student assignments.
A plea from students
A public comment period was dominated by opponents of the Republican leadership of the board. Montserrat Alvarez, one of several young speakers, said she had collected more than 100 signatures outside Southeast Raleigh High School opposing proposed changes. She angrily challenged Republican members to change course.
"You need to listen to the students - you are ignoring us!" said Alvarez, who now attends Meredith College. "Enough is enough. I just want to let you guys know that we will not go back..." Earlier Tuesday, federal education officials met privately with Wake school leaders to discuss a civil rights investigation over the elimination of the diversity policy. For most of the 2000s, Wake officials used economic background as a key factor to ensure balance in school populations.
The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights is investigating a complaint from the state and national NAACP alleging racial bias in Wake's student assignment and discipline policies.
