Wake parents initially prefer Blue school plan, but ask about middle and high schools

First responses from Wake County parents  to the  county school board's assignment proposals  showed a strong preference for the Blue plan over the Green, but tempered that with hundreds of questions about why middle and high school assignments had not been included.

Many parents also raised questions about how much the Blue plan would cost and how the system would handle busing children under that plan.

The Wake County Public School System released the two assignment plans on Monday at 4 p.m. Thousands of parents logged on  to wcpss.net to enter their addresses and see how the two proposals would affect their children.

The Blue plan gives parents  the choice of 4-to-6  elementary schools, with traditional calendar and a year-round options.

The Green plan gives parents a base school and then allows them to request a move to another school, similar to the current system.

NBC-17 reviewed the comments the system received in the first 24 hours after posting the options. Of the 654 comments reviewed, 143 clearly preferred the Blue plan and only 23 the Green plan. Supt. Tony Tata said Monday that the Blue plan is the one the system believes is the best fit.

But hundreds of parents complained that the website only showed elementary schools and not middle schools and high schools.

“Useless to me,” wrote one parent.

“Stop wasting our time,” said another.

“I am completely caught off guard that you would ask parents to comment without providing any information about the feeder patterns for middle or high school,” said another.

And one parent, commenting on the fact that Tata is a former general, said, “If Gen. Tata proposed a tactical plan in Afghanistan that included, TBD,’ I dare say he would never have made it past 1^st Lieutenant.”

Still, of those expressing a preference, Blue was the clear winner.

“I very strongly support parent choice the Blue Plan. I am tired of my children being bused all the way across the county. My little one is exhausted from the bus ride,” wrote one parent.

“Love it, finally we could walk to a nearby school instead of taking a bus and passing 3 schools along the way!!!” said another parent.

“AMEN! Finally a plan that makes sense!” wrote another.

Green was preferred by some, many of whom said they liked it because their child could remain at their current school.

“I think the Green plan will provide families the most stability,” a parent wrote.

One major issue for the Blue plan – as many parents noted - could be busing. In theory, children on the same street could be going to multiple schools. “How in the world are you going to pay for transportation for all these options?” wrote one parent.

The  school system, on its website, said the staff has begun to research costs for the Blue plan and a more detailed cost analysis for each plan is still being developed.

Several other trends were evident in a review of the first 24 hours of comments:

• Very few parents raised the issue of diversity in schools, although those  who did did so forcefully.
• Several parents raised specific questions about how children with special needs will be affected.

Tata said Monday that middle schools and high schools were not included yet because the plan is not complete, but the system wanted to start getting feedback on the proposals.