As you may know, the Wake County School Board has abandoned the “zone” student assignment proposal that was being developed last year. The Board is now considering a new plan known as the “Wake School Choice” plan, which was commissioned by the Wake Education Partnership and the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce. The plan was developed by a team led by Michael Alves, a professional who has developed assignment plans for many other school districts. Programmers at the SAS Institute provided the data analysis. The plan has been praised by board members from both political parties, so it looks like some version of it will be our new assignment plan.

Since there are SO MANY choices, it is hard to know whether the results will be good or bad, but after examining at the plan I am optimistic. I believe many community leaders and even board members are feeling relieved that we have a plan worked out by some intelligent professionals! This is looking MUCH better than the ideas I was hearing a few months ago.

The Wake School Choice plan is based on the “four pillars of stability, choice, proximity and student achievement.” The current magnet system would remain largely intact. All students would be grandfathered into their current schools if they wish to remain in them. No student would have a “base school” but would have a number of choices of schools. It is estimated that 80% of students would get their first choice, and 93% would get either their first or second choice. If too many students choose a particular school, priorities are granted in the following order: current school (for grandfathered students), siblings, proximity, students who want to attend a non-magnet school, and the overall achievement mix of the receiving school, so that no school should have too many low-achieving students.

If you google “Wake School Choice” you can go to the web site for the plan. There is a page of FAQs. You can also download an “Executive Summary” of the plan, or even download the whole plan. You can also see what school choices you will have, based on your address.

I looked up the school choices for the nodes near Oakwood and Mordecai; the results are at the end of this message. It looks like most of the choices are very similar to the choices we have now, except that there are no “base schools.” Since proximity is one of the factors in reassignment, you will be more likely to get your first choice if you choose a school near your home.

Keep in mind that this is just a draft; it is likely to be “tweaked” before being adopted. But Superintendent Tata and several board members want to have a plan in place this spring, so it is not likely that they can do much tweaking, much less ditching this plan and starting over again.

By Matthew Brown

Node 83.0 (All of Oakwood and Oakdale up to but not including Glascock St.)
Elementary Schools
CONN ES
EAST GARNER ES
GREEN ES
HUNTER ES
JOYNER ES
OLDS ES
PARTNERSHIP ES
POE ES
POWELL ES
UNDERWOOD ES
WASHINGTON ES
WILEY ES
Middle Schools
CARNAGE MS
DANIELS MS
E CARY MS
LIGON MS
MARTIN MS
MOORE SQUARE MS
N GARNER MS
High Schools
ATHENS DR HS
BROUGHTON HS
ENLOE HS
SOUTHEAST RALEIGH HS
WAKE EARLY COLLEGE

Node 86.0 (Mordecai Proper, west of Wake Forest inclusive, north of Poplar exclusive, up to and including Sycamore, and all of Pilot Mill)
Elementary Schools
CONN ES
GREEN ES
HUNTER ES
JOYNER ES
OLDS ES
PARTNERSHIP ES
POE ES
POWELL ES
TIMBER DR ES
UNDERWOOD ES
WASHINGTON ES
WILEY ES
Middle Schools
CARNAGE MS
CARROLL MS
DANIELS MS
E CARY MS
LIGON MS
MOORE SQUARE MS
N GARNER MS
High Schools
BROUGHTON HS
ENLOE HS
MILLBROOK HS
SOUTHEAST RALEIGH HS
WAKE EARLY COLLEGE

Node 85.1 (Peace St. and north incl. Capital Park, Person St. & Wake Forest Rd. west, Mordecai from Poplar south.)
Elementary Schools
CONN ES
GREEN ES
HUNTER ES
JOYNER ES
OLDS ES
PARTNERSHIP ES
POE ES
POWELL ES
TIMBER DR ES
UNDERWOOD ES
WASHINGTON ES
WILEY ES
Middle Schools
CARNAGE MS
DANIELS MS
E CARY MS
LIGON MS
MARTIN MS
MOORE SQUARE MS
N GARNER MS
High Schools
ATHENS DR HS
BROUGHTON HS
ENLOE HS
SOUTHEAST RALEIGH HS
WAKE EARLY COLLEGE

Node 82.0 (East Mordecai from Wake Forest Rd. exclusive to Brookside Dr. inclusive, from Glascock St. inclusive, plus Mordecai proper northeast of Sycamore.)
Elementary Schools
BRENTWOOD ES
CONN ES
EAST GARNER ES
GREEN ES
HUNTER ES
JOYNER ES
OLDS ES
PARTNERSHIP ES
POE ES
POWELL ES
UNDERWOOD ES
WASHINGTON ES
WILEY ES
Middle Schools
CARNAGE MS
CARROLL MS
DANIELS MS
DURANT RD MS
LIGON MS
MOORE SQUARE MS
N GARNER MS
High Schools
BROUGHTON HS
ENLOE HS
MILLBROOK HS
SOUTHEAST RALEIGH HS
WAKE EARLY COLLEGE

Node 80.0 (Idlewild: East of Linden Ave exclusive, to Heck St. inclusive, Jones between Linden & Seawell, Edenton between East & Seawell, all of Moseley, and the parts of Cooke, Seawell & Swain north of New Bern.)
Elementary Schools
CONN ES
EAST GARNER ES
GREEN ES
HUNTER ES
JOYNER ES
OLDS ES
PARTNERSHIP ES
POE ES
POWELL ES
UNDERWOOD ES
WASHINGTON ES
WILEY ES
Middle Schools
CARNAGE MS
DANIELS MS
E CARY MS
LIGON MS
MARTIN MS
MOORE SQUARE MS
N GARNER MS
High Schools
ATHENS DR HS
BROUGHTON HS
ENLOE HS
SOUTHEAST RALEIGH HS
WAKE EARLY COLLEGE

Node 81 (Oakwood Park and Capital Heights)
Elementary Schools
CONN ES
EAST GARNER ES
GREEN ES
HUNTER ES
JOYNER ES
OLDS ES
PARTNERSHIP ES
POE ES
POWELL ES
UNDERWOOD ES
WASHINGTON ES
WILEY ES
Middle Schools
CARNAGE MS
CARROLL MS
DANIELS MS
E WAKE MS
LIGON MS
MOORE SQUARE MS
N GARNER MS
High Schools
BROUGHTON HS
ENLOE HS
MILLBROOK HS
SOUTHEAST RALEIGH HS
WAKE EARLY COLLEGE

Node 78 (Belvidere Park, Bennett Woods, Bennett & Ben Lloyd Sts.)
Elementary Schools
BRENTWOOD ES
CONN ES
EAST GARNER ES
GREEN ES
HUNTER ES
JOYNER ES
PARTNERSHIP ES
POE ES
POWELL ES
ROOT ES
UNDERWOOD ES
WASHINGTON ES
WILEY ES
Middle Schools
CARNAGE MS
CARROLL MS
DANIELS MS
DURANT RD MS
LIGON MS
MOORE SQUARE MS
N GARNER MS
High Schools
BROUGHTON HS
ENLOE HS
MILLBROOK HS
SOUTHEAST RALEIGH HS
WAKE EARLY COLLEGE