Updates for WCPSS (Wake County Public Schools) this week include the board complaining about charters again, waning district enrollment, Green Hope High is fighting to keep dance classes and Bill Fletcher gets caught on camera lying about charter schools.

Also, WCPSS’s Office of Equity Affairs used its front group to wave their Social Justice Warrior flags at this year’s EdCamp Equity. Plus, what is WCPSS hiding? (MVP math related)

Previous installment: #WCPSS Updates: District won’t turn over MVP Math docs, Enrollment estimates drop, and magnet priorities

Quick Hits: 

• 16 Wake County Schools have fire hydrants deemed “deficient”
• How do school districts decide when to close?
• Parents, activists petition Wake County for fewer officers in schools
• OPINION: What’s wrong with Wake County’s schools?

What is WCPSS hiding?

#1 – Waning enrollment

Projected enrollment numbers showing a decline, or at least the board has reported them that way perhaps to avoid the embarrassment of estimating thousands and having 42 show up.

There’s been a drop in young child enrollment, but a jump in middle school-aged kids.
By the time the board opens any new middle and high schools, this bump will be gone.

Don’t forget, the board is still tinkering with the idea of assigning your child based not on their neighborhood school, but on a socioeconomic index.

#2 – WCPSS Board complains about public charters again, one member gets caught lying on camera

To put that in perspective, eight percent of $1.9 billion is $152 million following children attending 24 public charter schools. But that eats into the money the district can sling at the Office of Equity Affairs staff of eight, which last year was costing Wake taxpayers over $650,000 a year but is probably closer to $700,000 by now.

1. Rodney Trice: Oficial title of “Assistant Superintendent.” Original salary in 2014: $125,000.00. A year later in July 2015, his salary was increased by the Wake County School Board to $130,038.00. He now makes $137,638,44.

2. Lauryn Mascarenaz: Title “Director of Equity Affairs for Coaching and Leadership.” She previously worked for SPLC’s Teaching Tolerance. Salary at the date of hire: $85,000. She now makes $86,708.16.

3. Teresa Bunner: Title “Director of Equity Affairs.” Salary at the date of hire: $87,120.00. She now makes $88,862. 40

4. Christina Spears:  Hired as the “Special Assistant” to Rodney Trice. Salary at the date of hire in 2018: $67,670. Her current salary is unverified.  A spreadsheet sent to me in 2019 lists her as a “coordinating teacher” with a salary of $58, 915.20. This is incorrect based on what the WCPSS first sent me in 2018 and WCPSS has responded to my request for verification.

5. Dr. Teresa Rangel: Title “Family and Community Engagement in the Office of Equity Affairs.” She was promoted from a Senior Administrator level to Director. Salary at the date of hire in 2019: $88,862.40.

6. Pam Gales: Title “Senior Administrator, Equity Affairs.” Gales has been with WCPSS since 2014 is currently making $78,932.40 a year. Gales previously was the “WCPSS HUB Program Manager.” HUB stands for “Historically Underutilized Business.” The HUB makes sure that certain “equal access to information and opportunities” go to minority and/or woman-owned businesses.

7. Cecelia Green: Hired in March 2015 to support Trice as a “Secretary” to the assistant to the superintendent. The salary at the date of hire was $39,000.84 and she is currently making $43,682.16 a year.

8. Granvel Johnson: Hired Nov. 8, 2019, as a “Senior Administrator” making $68,000.04 per year. This salary is unchanged.

NC School Choice caught WCPSS Board Member Bill Fletcher lying about charter schools. Yes, there’s video, but turn up the sound:

#3 – Green Hope High fights to save Dance class

Parents and students from Green Hope High protested and spoke out at the Wake County School Board meeting on Feb 18, asking that their dance class not be cut.

# 4 – Edcamp Equity time again

I reported earlier this year that another “Edcamp Equity” was scheduled by Equity4Wake, a front group for the WCPSS Office of Equity Affairs.

Feb. 22, 2020 – WCPSS Supt. Cathy Moore speaks at “EdCamp Equity” held at E. Millbrook Magnet Middle School. Image: EdCamp Equity on Twitter

Equity4Wake was clearly set up to be a firewall between the public and WCPSS’ Office of Equity Affairs (OEA). By organizing it through Edcamp Foundation, the OEA  is not officially tied to the radical agenda items these camps cover and can theoretically be shielded from public records requests. Having said that, WCPSS turned over links to last year’s Edcamp Equity materials when I asked for them.

The original venue was Heritage High School, but that changed after parents complained about the left-wing content of the event. It was moved to East Millbrook Magnet Middle School instead. And there are pictures.

The Equity4Wake website says they are “a grassroots collective of passionate interrupters committed to providing equitable experiences for all.”  The group was formed by the Office of Equity Affairs’ Christina Spears and is run and staffed by WCPSS employees – there is nothing “grassroots” about them.

Spears, who is paid close to $68,000 a year, has taken to blocking ‘racist trolls’ on Twitter, which in reality is anyone who criticizes her – including district parents.

Just imagine having a taxpayer-funded job where you get to make that kind of money – far more than the average classroom teacher –  to ‘blow something up’?

There are 15 other Wake County teacher “interrupters” listed on their site along with their Twitter handles. Here is the list with their schools matched up:

• Jennifer George, Wendell Middle School teacher
• Kristen McCollum, Assistant Principal at West Cary Middle Schools
• Michael Parker West, Wendell Middle School teacher
• Terrance Hinnant, Zebulon Middle School administrator
• Daniel Gridley, Washington Magnet Elementary teacher
• Sean Hines, Carroll Magnet Middle School teacher
• Jan Mitchell, Dillard Drive Middle School, 8th-grade assistant principal
• Kristopher Graham, North Garner Middle School (Name spelled Kristofer)
• Ryan Williams, East Millbrook Magnet Middle School, 7th-grade assistant principal
• Roxann Sykes, Dillard Drive Elementary School, principal
• Bonnie Mwanda, Heritage High School, assistant principal of instruction
• Jennifer Bell, WCPSS Technology Services, “Digital Learning Coordinator”
• Delaine Machado, Wendell Middle School, ELL teacher

The platform they use comes from EdCamp Equity’s EdCamp Foundation, a 501(c)3 Non-Profit organization. This non-profit pulls in a lot of money and has already received a total of $3.9 million in just two grants from the Gates Foundation alone.

The materials from last year are likely to be similar this year. Each agenda item has a hyperlink with “session notes.” Parents may find the resources being suggested for use in the classroom rather disturbing. Thes materials are in line with the OEA’s “call to action” for the district that includes social justice standards and white privilege training.

Under just the ‘Teaching history’ section, materials from the far-Left Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance are included, such as “Teaching Hard History Teacher Resources,” the Teaching Tolerance YouTube Channel and the book White Fragility – Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism. 

Last year’s Edcamp Agenda can be viewed and downloaded here.

Parting Shot: 

Don’t believe WCPSS teachers will use “Social Justice standards” and ‘disrupt whiteness’ in the classroom?  Here they are, with a panel of students.