#WCPSS Updates: A petition, busing to the polls, achievement and grievances

This edition of Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) Updates includes a Petition to remove Green Hope High principal, busing kids to the polls, student achievement issues and some gaffes from Wake Board member Jim Martin.

Author’s Note:
Please pardon the high level of snark in this edition. The materials demanded it.

Quick Hits:

#1 – Parents at Green Hope High have started a petition to remove their principal

“Since Camille Hedrick has been assigned as Principal of Green Hope High School in 2019, she has an established pattern that is damaging to students and to the overall health of the school environment,” the petition reads in part.

Green Hope High families are still suffering through the MVP Math fight, have fought reassignments and now are having their dance class electives stripped from them. The burning question now is what parent from that school is going to say ‘enough is enough’ and challenge Bill Fletcher for his board seat this fall?

#2 – Busing Kids to the Polls

The Wake County School Board are perpetual complainers about the district being cash-poor or underfunded and they are especially whiny when it comes to busing.

Last year, they asked for $5 million in additional funds from county commissioners for transportation issues and repairs. As a point of fact, over the last six months, several buses have exploded into flames. Now factor in that the district barely has enough drivers to handle current schedules and still isn’t properly serving all of its special needs students busing needs.

So, of course, the board is now considering busing kids to the polls like Guilford County did. Because, hey, why the Hell not? It’s a civics field trip! It’s not like the WCPSS board would be using taxpayer-funded resources to give some voters and not others a lift to the polls…oh, wait…they would.

#3- WCPSS needs “success centers”

Keith Sutton says @WCPSS should have student success centers to help students academically. He says schools need more counselors to help students, which gets affirmation from staff.

— Keung Hui (@nckhui) February 24, 2020

Wait. What?

Is Mr. Sutton claiming that students in Wake County, which boasts the most Nationally Certified teachers in the country, are not succeeding academically? But we’ve been told that all Wake County schools are all successful – particularly the board’s prized Magnet schools.

#4 – Jim Martin’s gaffes on parental involvement

Apparently, the WCPSS policy for a parent to file grievances is so bad, Jim Martin has to suggest a flow chart to understand it:

Jim Martin suggests developing a formal grievance form as well as a flow chart showing the differnt steps & timeframes to help make the grievance process more understandable for parents & students. #wcpss

— Keung Hui (@nckhui) February 25, 2020

If you need a flow chart to figure out how to handle parent complaints, you either a) have a lot of complaints coming in, b) your complaint policies and procedures are a mess or c) the school district and certain board members treat parents like garbage. Just a guess, but maybe it’s all the above.

Have you met Martin? pic.twitter.com/2bK0WM67oX

— Allison Backhouse (@ajbackhouse) December 3, 2019

But wait, there’s more, reported Keung Hui tweeted that “Jonathan Blumberg says staff considering developing a general complaint policy where a staff member would determine where the complaint would go. He says grievances are meant to deal w/ violations of law & not just general complaints.”

So where do the general complaints from parents go? Schools forward them to a black hole in the communications department, that’s where.

Another Jim Martin Gem:

Jim Martin suggests modifying wording about reporting to law enforcement agencies in child abuse policy to make it clear that it's not referring to ICE. Staff suggests copying wording from law saying law enforcement agency where child is located. #wcpss

— Keung Hui (@nckhui) February 25, 2020

To be fair, this comment was linked to conversation about training teachers to spot abuse and neglect. This was also prior to the announcement by Education Secretary Devos that the Dept. of Education would be starting a nationwide review of sexual assault in K-12 schools.

Having said that, it wasn’t enough to espouse protecting criminals here illegally that might be preying on students. Martin one-upped himself because everything with this board boils down to race: