Six years ago, Joyner Elementary School PTA leaders unsuccessfully lobbied to block the reassignment of students from Washington Terrace, a complex of weathered town house rentals where most families receive federal housing assistance. The PTA leaders said taking the children held the "potential for reduction of property values in this neighborhood."

Fast forward to 2006 and a proposed reassignment that would send Washington Terrace children to Leesville Road Elementary: Now a group of Leesville parents is lobbying school and county leaders to keep out about 67 children from the community and a few nearby homes.

They say not reassigning the students from Washington Terrace -- as well as dropping plans to move a separate group of poor children from Brentwood Elementary -- is in the best interests of the poorer families.

Having them stay put will "allow minority students to benefit from a stable environment with comprehensive programs and funding to serve their needs," according to an e-mail message circulated among Leesville parents.

Washington Terrace parents aren't happy about the reassignments, but they don't agree with Leesville's logic.

"It's a racial thing, even if they don't want to say that," said Washington Terrace parent Kuwanna Sanders. "It's the same thing they were saying when my mom was in school."

The fight at Leesville illustrates how challenging it is for Wake County and districts across the country to garner public support for diversity. Most have abandoned diversity as a goal; Wake, which uses family income to sort and re-sort its students, is one of the few systems that still makes the effort. It also is contending with growth that in November required a referendum on a $970 million construction bond to build 17 schools to relieve crowding.

Wake reassigns students annually. The Leesville moves are part of a draft plan released last week that recommends moving 10,788 students to different schools next fall.

Washington Terrace is in east Raleigh, next to St. Augustine's College. Most residents in Washington Terrace are black.

The Leesville parents, most white, deny that they oppose the reassignments for racial reasons. They say a big increase in high-needs students could overcrowd the school, one of 98 that would be affected by the reassignment proposal. They say the ability of teachers to work with all children would be strained.

"We gave them everything they wanted," said Leesville parent Lisa England. "We passed their bond and now they're doing this to us. Some parents are more ticked off about the low-income students. I just don't want any more students."

Leesville parents will meet today to discuss ways to get the student reassignment proposal changed.

Joyner is packed

Chuck Dulaney, assistant superintendent for growth and planning, said Joyner Elementary is so crowded it might need modular classrooms on the playground. That's why he recommended that the 67 Joyner students be sent to Leesville Road Elementary.

Dulaney said overcrowding at Brentwood Elementary, where no more trailers can be added, led him to propose moving 128 students to Leesville.

The moves would lower the percentages of students receiving subsidized lunches at Joyner and Brentwood. It would raise the percentage at Leesville Elementary from 14 percent to 26 percent, still below the district average of 31 percent in elementary schools.

But Dulaney said the primary reason for the moves was growth. He said Leesville will be able to handle more than 1,100 students next year when it becomes one of 22 schools switching to a year-round calendar.

Leesville parents don't believe the school has that much room.

"It's not because we don't want them," England said. "We just don't have a square inch of space to handle that many more kids."

Who gets attention?

Other criticism has focused on the students.

In an e-mail message to the school district, parent Leigh Magee said the new challenges will result in "children who will be overlooked at Leesville because they're not high-need and are 'at-grade-level.' "

England said they may try to forge an alliance with parents at Wakefield Elementary, which is also converting to a year-round calendar and could see its percentage of poor students rise from 18 percent to 33 percent.

Diane Michaud, a Leesville parent, noted the school doesn't get federal money to help teach reading to poor children as Brentwood and Joyner do.

Dulaney acknowledged that Leesville won't get money next year, but he said many schools that don't receive the federal funds still provide good services to poor students.

An anonymous e-mail message being circulated among Leesville parents claimed the moves were proposed so the students' "poor scores can be lost in the overperformers at [Leesville]."

The sender, who is only identified as "concerned parent," then urges parents to contact commissioners and the news media to protest the reassignments.

The anonymous e-mail message offended Leesville parent Rex Dwyer, who said it was an "attempt to arouse racial tension by pointing to 195 (presumed) minority students from Brentwood and Joyner as little more than problems."

He sent his own e-mail message to commissioners saying "concerned parent" didn't speak for him.

Parents respond

Some Washington Terrace families say they want to stay at Joyner largely because it's closer. Joyner is three miles away while Leesville is 12 -- a much longer bus ride.

Donna Sorrell, whose son attends Joyner, said many Washington Terrace parents don't have cars. "If my child is sick, I can't get to him at Leesville," she said.

Sanders said she also wants her children to stay at Joyner, but resents the insinuation that the children of Washington Terrace would bring down education at Leesville.

"They're prejudging us," Sanders said. "They don't know about our kids."

(News researcher David Raynor contributed to this report.)