Wake school plan looks to boost immersion programs at Broughton, Daniels

A plan to expand Wake County’s magnet school program is drawing complaints that the development is a case of school leaders favoring older, established neighborhoods in Raleigh.

School administrators want Jeffreys Grove and Stough elementary schools in Raleigh and Hodge Road Elementary School in Knightdale to become magnet schools so that families across the district can attend the language immersion programs at the schools. But administrators also want Daniels Middle School and Broughton High School in Raleigh to become magnet schools to create a K-12 immersion/global studies theme.

Critics question magnetizing Broughton and Daniels, both of which are located near Cameron Village and serve some of Raleigh’s most affluent neighborhoods.

“Wake County is pandering to the wealthy inside-the-Beltline families,” said Allison Backhouse, an Apex parent and critic of the school board. “They’re going to use taxpayer money to keep the children of the wealthy.”

Administrators say there are multiple reasons to magnetize both schools, including helping to draw neighborhood children who have a choice of attending private schools and charter schools. Magnet school supporters say that the state’s largest school district has a vested interest in making sure that all schools are efficiently used.

“You can’t let your inside-the-Beltline schools be empty,” said Yevonne Brannon, chairwoman of the Great Schools in Wake Coalition. “If you do, what are you going to do? Let them close like in Charlotte?”

Administrators say it would cost an additional $180,959 a year to magnetize the five schools, beginning in the 2015-16 school year. A school board committee will discuss the proposal Monday, with the board vote potentially coming Oct. 21.

While there are questions about which schools to magnetize, there’s less dispute about the value of immersion programs, in which students spend half or more of their school day taking their classes in a foreign language.

“Immersion as a program is something that I believe we’re going to see more demand for across the district, so we need to look at that as a program option and offering as another element of choice for our families,” Cathy Moore, Wake’s deputy superintendent for school performance, told the school board last week.

Colleen Parrish, a North Raleigh mother whose daughter, Ella, is a kindergarten student at Jeffreys Grove’s immersion program, said, “We know that learning a second language at a young age helps them do better in school.”

Administrators told the board that magnetizing the three elementary schools would expand who could apply.

Administrators also said that magnetizing Daniels and Broughton would allow the 30 to 50 fifth-graders in Jeffreys Grove’s and Stough’s immersion program to continue their studies through graduation.

Moore said staff had recommended Daniels because it’s near Jeffreys Grove and Stough. She also said Broughton was proposed because it’s the only nonmagnet school in Wake that offers the International Baccalaureate program.

The proposal revives the debate about which schools should be part of the magnet program.

Since 1982, Wake has used the program to diversify school enrollments, fill under-enrolled schools and provide educational opportunities. Magnets now make up 35 of Wake’s 171 schools.

In 2008, the board voted to demagnetize Daniels and Broughton, saying both schools would still be healthy as nonmagnet schools. Some families had lobbied for demagnetization to avoid being reassigned out of Broughton to create more space for magnet applicants.

Last week, administrators presented figures to board members showing that the percentage of students receiving subsidized lunches has increased, and test scores and graduation rates have declined since demagnetization.

Administrators also presented statistics showing Broughton and Daniels have seen a decrease in the percentage of students in their attendance areas going to the school. Administrators noted there are seven private schools and charter schools in Broughton’s attendance area.

“When it was demagnetized – similar to Daniels – enrollment declined,” Beth Cochran, Wake’s senior director of magnet programs, told the board. The school is “losing students to charters, privates and other magnets, so magnetizing Broughton would help stabilize its base.”

School board Chairwoman Christine Kushner, who was not on the board in 2008, said demagnetizing the schools was not a wise strategy. Kushner noted that Carroll Middle School, which is about 3 miles from Daniels, is now a magnet school.

“Once you add Carroll as a magnet, to make sure we have fairness in how these schools are made up, Daniels makes a lot of sense to remagnetize,” Kushner said in an interview. “It’s been up and down, and it needs stability.”

Administrators had pointed out that student populations at Broughton and Daniels are slightly above the district average for students receiving subsidized lunches. But Jennifer Mansfield, a North Raleigh parent and former school board candidate, said there are needier schools with much higher percentages of low-income students that could have been recommended.

Federal tax records show that a private foundation that supports Broughton had $738,167 in net assets as of June 30, 2013. Tax records also show that the parent-teacher associations of Broughton and Daniels had net assets of $97,358 and $59,002, respectively.

“It’s ridiculous,” Mansfield said. “They have money so they’ll leave, so we have to spend more money on them to keep them and to hell with everyone else.”

This story was originally published October 12, 2014 at 2:32 PM with the headline "Wake school plan looks to boost immersion programs at Broughton, Daniels."