RALEIGH -- U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has been a critic of the Wake County school board's decision last year to drop its diversity policy, which used socioeconomic data as a factor in student assignment.
When asked about it Tuesday, two weeks before a runoff election that will decide the political tilt of the school board, Duncan didn't shy away from the topic.
He said the election results, which included four Democrats taking seats on the nine-member board, were positive. He said he'll be watching the runoff "very closely," adding that the result could lead Wake in a more positive direction.
He said he didn't know the details of the new school-choice assignment plan recently adopted by the board but said students gain an advantage in diverse environments.
"It's so critically important that our nation's young people be able to grow up around students who look different from them, grow up in a different community and to be comfortable and confident in that environment," he said.
"One of the things I was so lucky to have as a child was to grow up in a very diverse community and a very diverse school. Far too few of those opportunities exist.
"Our country is actually becoming more segregated, not less." When school systems back off diversity, it is not in the best interests of students or communities, he said.
"These are sometimes skills that are hard to learn as an adult. They're actually hard to teach in school. But in recess, and before school and after school and playing on sports teams together and just being friends in the community, I think you can cross bridges and build bridges that will help to give you a lifetime of opportunity of being successful in an increasingly diverse world."
Duncan made his remarks as the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights is still conducting its investigation into the school board's elimination of the use of socioeconomic diversity in student assignment.
The investigation was launched following a complaint by the NAACP.
John Tedesco, a Republican who is vice chairman of the Wake school board, said he didn't think it was a coincidence that Duncan visited Wake County this week, in the midst of a heated runoff election. "To see himself insert himself in this matter is kind of disappointing," he said.
Tedesco said he had been supportive of Duncan on many of his education initiatives.
But he said it's inappropriate for a sitting education secretary to try to influence a local issue. "He should leave it up to the citizens of Wake County to decide the values of the community," Tedesco said. "That is what democracy is all about."
Staff writer T. Keung Hui contributed to this report.
