"All That Noise in Wake and Nary a Peep in Moore" by About Town

All That Noise in Wake and Nary a Peep in Moore

Blog: About Town

March 24, 2010

If you pay any attention at all to statewide news, you have certainly heard about the controversial new Wake County Board of Education majority and their actions to end the school system’s diversity policy. The policy in part bases attendance districts on socioeconomic factors of the students. The intent was to ensure that no school would be a “high-poverty” school as indicated by having no more than 40 percent of its students receiving free or reduced lunch.

Why is it important to avoid having high-poverty schools? Study after study has shown that high poverty schools make it more difficult for teachers to teach and students to learn. It is not clear exactly where the tipping point is, but evidence of a disparity in performance between schools can be seen right here in Moore County.

Let’s take a look at the North Carolina School Report Cards for two middle schools here in Moore County that are just a few miles apart. As defined by the State, “economically disadvantaged” (E.D.) students are those who receive free or reduced lunch.

West Pine Middle: -24% of the students at West Pine Middle are considered economically disadvantaged -Of the E.D. students, 61% pass both of the reading and math end-of-grade tests -Of the non- E.D . students, 92% pass both tests

Southern Middle: -52% of the students at Southern Middle are considered economically disadvantaged -Of the E.D. students, 39% pass both of the reading and math end-of-grade tests -Of the non- E.D. students, 77% pass both tests

What we see here are two Moore County schools just a few miles apart but with greatly differing performance on state tests. What’s the biggest difference between the two schools? Clearly, it is the fact that the MAJORITY of the students at Southern Middle are considered economically disadvantaged. It is not the purpose of this blog to get into the reasons why economically disadvantaged students typically perform lower than non-disadvantaged students, but I want to be clear that the research points to many factors such as nutrition, home environment, parental involvement, preschool education, etc. and NOT because of intelligence.

Let’s get back to the comparison. Notice how ALL students, regardless of income, perform better at West Pine than they do at Southern Middle. Unless you just want to assume that the students at West Pine are smarter than the students at Southern Middle, you have to look for other reasons. Ask the experts, including those in our own school system, and they’ll tell you the difference in performance between the schools is due to the differing student bodies.

(Blog Continued Below)

CSmithson 3 years, 1 month ago

(Continued) So, if high-poverty schools make for lower performance across the board, what can we do (or what should we have done) to ensure we avoid creating them?

As in Wake County, the buck stops with the Board of Education. This elected body chooses school locations and attendance district lines. Thus, they have created our current situation. They also have the power to fix things.

How can they address this situation? They can do it by making good decisions on how attendance districts are set and where new schools go. Because we in the Southern Pines, Pinehurst, Aberdeen, Whispering Pines area are in a relatively compact ten-mile by ten-mile area, we don’t need to have some convoluted system of busing kids all over the place. All we need to do is to have schools that are reflective of our overall community.

Current district lines ensure that the primary, elementary, middle schools in our area are segregated. A Board of Education with an ounce of guts and a willingness to do the right thing could redraw attendance district lines that could go a long way towards making ALL our schools high-performing and ALL our schools reflective of the overall community we live in. They could also do so while not making rides to school any longer than they already are. In fact, a number of homes could be closer to their assigned schools if line s were redrawn to show some equality and common sense.

We would need to rid ourselves of the notion that if one lives in a certain municipality, they should expect to go to “their” schools. While that was the expectation back in the 1960’s before the County forcibly annexed the city schools of Southern Pines and Pinehurst, we now have a COUNTY school system, which renders municipal borders moot. Besides, the Board of Education already has students in Southern Pines going in all directions to three different elementary/middle school districts and two different high schools. This silly justification mainly comes up when someone tries to explain why many Pinehurst children are mysteriously assigned to “Pinehurst” schools even when they live closer to “Southern Pines” schools.

This is not an issue of “bad” schools or “hiding” underperforming students by averaging their test results with those of higher-performing students. It is about ensuring the best outcome for ALL students by avoiding the creation or perpetuation of high-poverty schools in our area.

CSmithson 3 years, 1 month ago

Our elected Board of Education knows about these issues and has known for years. Unfortunately, they have failed to act and have even done some things, such as choosing poor locations for new schools, which just make things worse. They haven’t done the right thing because they have not heard from voters and taxpayers. They know that if they start messing with districts, they’ll hear from some angry parents but probably won’t hear from many others. Without a big public demand for equitable school performance, they know doing the right thing might be risky to their political futures.

Whether or not you have children in our public school system, you are paying your share of the $90 million Moore County Schools budget. Shouldn’t we all demand that the $8,000 or so we spend educating each student every year be used as effectively as possible to provide the best possible outcomes for ALL students?

If we don’t speak up and demand that our Board of Education members do their jobs and provide the best outcomes for ALL students, we get what we deserve.

Chris Smithson Southern Pines native, resident, and Councilmember

trod2009 3 years, 1 month ago

A teacher at Southern Pines primary and I had this exact conversation a few weeks back, why is it ok to enroll your kids in a school that is not in your district if you are willing to take them. That is what is throwing off the numbers, it is causing West Pine to be over crowded and seperating the rich from the poor. In previous cities I have lived in, you went to the school that was in your district point blank and period. CCNC residents should not be driving their children to WEST PINE they should clearly be at Southern Middle.

CSmithson 3 years, 1 month ago

@exp

I don't think any significant level of gerrymandering would be necessary. It should be noted that the CURRENT districts look pretty fishy. I'll admit it certainly would have been easier if they had not stuck the brand new West Pine Elementary way out on 211 next to West Pine Middle.

Not that there are a ton of kids from there attending public schools, but one of the most interesting attendance district configurations has kids from CCNC going to West Pine Middle. Southern Middle is adjacent to CCNC- literally a stone's throw away. The other interesting thing is that I recall from my years at SP Elementary (now "Primary") and SP Middle (now "Elementary") back in the 70's and 80's that CCNC kids went to the schools in SP. SP Elementary and Primary are also closer to CCNC than PH Elementary.

Making ALL our schools in the area high-performing will only benefit property values.

We all need to keep a close eye on what happens with the new high school. Where will it be and how will it affect feeder patterns? How the high school pans out could have huge positive or negative effects on all the towns and schools in the area.

the1 3 years, 1 month ago

Moore County does not care about the the "lower class" citizens. They only care about golf. Does anyone pay attention to how the "low class" citizens are treated by the "high class" citizens? They do not recognize them as people, so, why would they want their kids in the same school with them? The parents put their kids in other schools so they can be with other kids like them. I teach my kids to treat everyone the same, no matter their skin color or their address. If more parents took the time to attend the school meetings and voice their opinion, something can be done. Education should not be based on race or address. It should be equal for all. Why are this kids at SMS not passing? What extra steps are they taking to help the students that need help? They contact the parents at the end of the year to express their "concern" for your student. I just received a letter telling me that they want to make a plan to help my child. The funny part is they said they have made several attempts to reach me about this. NO ONE at that school tried to reach me. This school system only cares about the non-ed students.

CSmithson 3 years, 1 month ago

@exp

No, I don't necessarily expect any school board member to do anything other than what is politically expedient, but I must endeavor to fight the good fight. There's always at least a faint hope that people will look deep inside themselves and choose to do the right thing.

CSmithson 3 years, 1 month ago

@exp

As far as numbers go, CCNC is irrelevant-the numbers of public school students are just not there. It's value is in highlighting how the Board of Education, over the last 10-15 years has made decision after decision that have led to stark contrasts between neighboring schools. To assign the CCNC neighborhood to overcrowded schools that are also farther away than another option is at best poor planning at at worst evidence of some much deeper social ills.

elguapo9 3 years, 1 month ago

the1 says...

_ I couldn't agree with you more. If you remove the retirees from this area, you have yet another poor, rural North Carolina county. Even sadder is that the typical retiree could not care less about improving the schools in this county ("I gave my tax dollars back home in Syracuse"), but then are the first to complain when the guy working at Wendy's can't make change.

Uniblogger 3 years, 1 month ago

Thank you for this very informative and FACT written blog. I have children in Elementary, Middle and High school. I did not really understand the how and why these decisons are made. I have watched the Wake County unfold over the last few months with complete ignorance. I would also like to ask (again in my ignorance) where/what is CCNC?