ROLESVILLE -- Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata marked his one-year anniversary Tuesday by urging parents to be patient with the new student assignment plan while also saying plans are being developed to change school bus service.
Some families, such as those leaving charter schools and magnet schools, have complained that the new plan lists few seats at the schools they're considering requesting. But Tata said that it's expected more seats will open up once the choice application round now under way ends Feb. 24. "Let's wait until the choice process plays out," Tata said at a news conference.
Under the new choice-based plan, once families get into a school, they're guaranteed seats at specific schools through graduation - what Wake calls a feeder pattern. Families can leave the feeder pattern if they can find a different school that has space.
Previously, families were given a specific school based on their address. Charter school families are complaining that the loss of base schools means they're being treated as newcomers who get a seat at a specific school only if students in the feeder pattern don't take up all the spots.
Magnet school families who had planned to leave the program have complained that not having a base school means they might not get into the school they had expected to attend. Other families who don't like their feeder are also concerned about getting into the school they want.
Tata has repeatedly defended the use of feeder patterns as a way to provide stability, which he says will lead to increased academic achievement.
Also on Tuesday, Tata said staff will present to the school board next week a new model that would "transform" how school transportation is provided. He declined to give details, saying he wanted to present it to the board first.
Wake provides bus service to more than 75,000 students daily. School officials have said transportation costs will increase in the short term under the new assignment plan but would drop in the future as more students pick schools close to where they live.
Critics of the new plan have said school officials underestimated transportation costs.
Tata also answered numerous questions Tuesday about his anniversary as superintendent. He was at Rolesville Elementary School to complete his goal of visiting all 165 Wake schools in his first year.
"The overarching theme for me after being in all 165 schools, in some form or fashion, is the passion that our parents, our teachers, our educators have for education in Wake County," Tata said.
Tata said he was pleased with how in the past year Wake adopted a new assignment plan and moved closer toward regaining full accreditation for its high schools.
"I feel like we've come a long way since last year," Tata said.
