Yesterday evening members of the Cary Council and town staff, Morrisville Commissioners, and Fuquay Varina Council met with WCPSS officials for a presentation and update related to facilities and the Wake County Board of Education work plan. I went into this meeting expecting it to be all presentation, and little discussion. I was wrong. In fact, it turned out to be mostly discussion, and very little presentation.
We discussed at-large elections, taxing authority/taxes, bonds, capacity, busing, renovations and future planning/funding.
Cary Councilman Erv Portman, the most outspoken of the group ;-), spoke to his concerns regarding capacity and trailers. He made many good points, and I mostly agreed with him. Where we disagreed however was with how much of a problem is a result of capacity, and how much of a problem is a result of the school board's policy of busing for socioeconomic diversity.
Don't get me wrong - I hate trailers as much as the next guy. But there is no data that shows a child actually learns less in a trailer than in a brick and mortar building. None. What's really important is what's going on inside that classroom. "Most" Cary families I have spoken to have no problem with their child sitting in a trailer - so long as their child doesn't have to give up their seat at their "neighborhood school" so someone from 45 minutes away can sit in it.
Makes sense to me.
All in all it was a good discussion, and it is my hope that we have many more meetings like this one in the future.
