Parents, board member 'blindsided' by Wake Schools decision

Some parents said they've been blindsided by Wake County Schools and at least one board member agrees.

This week, the school board voted to lease a building at 3700 Pleasant Grove Church Road in Morrisville to be the new ninth grade center to ease overcrowding at Panther Creek High School in Cary starting next school year.

"There was no opportunity for parents. We were blindsided by it,” said Cindy Sinkez, whose son, Paul, will enter ninth grade next year.

"I'm a board member. I felt blindsided,” said Debra Goldman, who broke her 16-month silence to the media by speaking out to NBC 17 about what she says is part of a larger issue.

"I think there's a lot happening that may or may not be in the best interest of the people of Wake County,” she said.

"I think there are examples of quite a few things happening that are not examples of good governance,” Goldman said.

She said school system staff presented the board with two options, either send ninth graders to the Morrisville location in the 2012-2013 school year or a site with modular units closer to the high school in the 2013-2014 school year.

“So, as a parent I'm thinking, 'where would I rather have my child go to school every day?' I'm thinking about the faculty and staff that are going to be in those buildings every day. Brick and mortar seemed like the obvious choice,” Goldman said.

She said the board and community members were not given enough time to consider the options.

"We've had no opportunity for public comment. We've had no opportunity for feedback from our leadership team, from the principal,” she said.

So why vote at all?

"The board chair said, 'We're required to do a vote now and if you abstain from a vote, it counts as a 'Yes.''"

Two of the big concerns for some parents are distance and transportation. The mobile units option is three miles from Panther Creek. The brick and mortar is eight miles, but mostly highway and includes a trip along the new toll road.

Goldman said there are questions about how that would work

“How do they get back and forth without losing valuable time out of their day,” she said.

“I think it needs to be a lot closer than what’s probably going to end up being a 30 minute bus drive,” Sinkez said.

Her son plays trombone and she worries about how he will remain involved in things such as band if he’s at another school.

"They can't offer the entire breadth of classes in a ninth grade center,” she said.

Goldman said she has received reassurance from the school system staff that it would work out.

"They would try to work the schedules so that anything that the kids needed to attend at the high school would either be at the start of the day or the end of the day,” she said.

Goldman and fellow board member Deborah Prickett said land transfers are often confidential in early stages.

“When they’re negotiating on a lease or a land deal, it has to all be handled very privately otherwise other people start getting involved. There’s public persuasion. Once word gets out which way the board is going, it can affect negotiations,” Goldman said.

Prickett said the board has talked the possibility of a ninth grade center for months as part of discussions on how to ease overcrowding and spend money for school projects.

And while Sinkez said she had heard rumors, she doesn’t like how she found out after the decision to lease the facility was made.

“At this point in time, we parents really have more speculation than answers and it’s really unfair to us that this hasn’t come out in the open and they haven’t publically stated what they’re going to do,” she said.

Goldman agrees.

“That’s not acceptable. That’s not good governance. That is not good process. And it’s certainly not fair to our constituents,” she said.

Both Goldman and Sinkez would like the issue revisited.

 “It would be nice if the school board would take a step back, say ‘Let’s give this a year. Let’s figure out what our options are,’” Sinkez said.

Goldman said she talked with Superintendent Tony Tata about bringing the issue back up for discussion.

“He shared that he remains open to whatever direction the board would like to take. We as a board need to figure that out,” she said.

Prickett said she would also be open to revisiting the issue, but said as with any real estate transfer, the board would take a risk on losing the site.

Wake County Commissioners must approve the funding for the ninth grade center before any contracts are signed.

Each of the two options the school board considered for the Panther Creek ninth grade center cost roughly $11 million spread over a six-year period, according to Don Haydon, chief facility and operation officer for Wake County Schools. He said there was about a $1 million difference between the two options.

Goldman said, “If there’s more discussion to be had on a topic to make sure that we are really doing the right decision, and making the best decision we can with our tax dollars, then we need to be accountable for those dollars, accountable to our parents, accountable to our staff and our leadership. Overall, our stakeholders deserve that.”

Goldman said she is trying to remain neutral and would like a third option to consider. Prickett said school system staff spent months evaluating viable options before presenting to the board Tuesday.

The school board also voted in favor Tuesday of a 9th grade center for Garner Magnet High School. It would go in an old movie theater across from the school. As part of the motion to approve the site, school system staff will look at what can be done to put windows in the building.