Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Wake County Now that the rabid-right Republicans run the Wake schools, will they wreck them?
Posted by Bob Geary on Wed, Oct 7, 2009 at 2:18 PM
- Paul Coble
If I have the math right, John Tedesco was within 50 votes of finishing off a Republican takeover of the Wake school system last night. GOP-backed candidates won three seats outright; their fourth candidate, Tedesco, got 3,247 votes out of 6,576 cast in the five-way District 2 race. With 50 percent plus one, he'd have been elected. Some provisional ballots must still be reviewed and, if legit, counted, so the exact numbers will change a bit. But Tedesco came very, very close.
Now the runner-up, Cathy Truitt, is reportedly talking about a runoff against Tedesco in which she would present herself as the Olympia Snowe to Tedesco's Mitch McConnell. In other words, elect Truitt, and she'll be the heroic voice of moderate Republican reason in the center of the culture wars over Wake's schools in the same way that Maine's Sen. Snowe can negotiate with the other side in the U.S. Senate -- and maybe find a compromise on health care reform? -- where rabid Republicans like McConnell, the Republican minority leader, can't. No, won't.
So the question progressives are asking themselves today is, should we mount a campaign behind Truitt in a last-ditch effort to keep the rabid Republicans of Wake from wrecking the schools? And/or find some other way to stop them from doing what they are so clearly bent on doing, which is splitting off the suburban schools in Wake from Raleigh's inner-city schools?
Meanwhile, you can almost hear the emails dinging onto the screens of Raleigh's and Wake County's business leadership. They're not all Republicans, but a lot of them are. But whatever their stance on other issues, they are not rabid-right Republicans when it comes to the schools -- quite the opposite. They've always supported the policy mix of diversity, magnet schools and (lately) year-round schools that has characterized Wake's system for 30 years, for the obvious reason that a healthy school system was good for bidness.
That policy mix was brought to you by a coalition of Democrats on the school board (e.g., John Gilbert, Beverley Clark, Susan Parry, Rosa Gill) and Olympia Snowe-type Republicans (Judy Hoffman, Roxy Cash, Bill Fletcher, Patti Head). It was opposed, for as long as I can remember, by rabid-right Republicans like Jesse Helms, Gary Pendleton, Tom Fetzer, and Paul Coble, who never missed a chance to denounce it with the single word "busing."
Or busin' -- never a "g".
And let's not forget what happened when the rabid-right Republicans, in '93 and '94, took over the county and cut school budgets mercilessly. The answer: 2,000 trailers instead of the new schools that were needed but not built. But even in this period, the R-R Republicans never got control of the school board, so their recipe of "neighborhood schools" to smash the diversity/magnets mix was never followed.
But after last night, Coble -- the one-term Raleigh mayor who is suddenly controlling things on the Wake County Board of Commissioners despite the fact that he's supposedly in the minority on a 4-3 Democratic board -- and Fetzer, the newly installed State GOP Chair, hold the future of Wake's schools in their hands. Theirs' and Ron Margiotta's.
Margiotta, who before last night was the dissenter on a school board that was 8-1 in favor of the diverrsity mix, will be the new board chair unless somehow Truitt can overcome Tedesco in a runoff and become the board's version of Snowe.
The chances of that happening are awfully remote, imho. True, the November runoff will coincide with municipal elections (Garner, Fuquay-Varina) in District 2, bringing out a whole new set of votes on top of the ones who went to the polls there yesterday. Still, Tedesco starts far ahead, and with an enormous GOP-generated head of rabid-right steam behind him. No to mention that neither Garner nor Fuquay is friendly territory for a Democratic counter-campaign.
Should progressive try anyway to elect Truitt? It seems their only course is to rebuild the old coalition of Democrats and Bidness Republicans in a big, big hurry and throw in in the path, not of the Tedesco-Truitt race so much, but the Coble-Fetzer-Margiotta machinery that, unless it's slowed down, can undo 30 years of hard school-board work in a single meeting.
We saw the beginnings of that effort on Monday, when Jim Goodmon (the Republican CEO of Capital Broadcasting/WRAL) and Charles Meeker, the Democratic mayor of Raleigh, fronted a too-little, too-late press conference to warn about the consequences of a rabid-right Republican victory. Too late to stop Tuesday's sweep, that is. Maybe not too late to stop the victors from smashing their prize, but only if the that effort is magnified by a factor of about 10.
If it is, it could help Truitt close the gap against Tedesco and prevent a landslide which, if it occurs, will embolden the Coble-Fetzers even more than they are now -- if that's possible.
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You know what, Rivlax? I get that. I'm glad somebody's smiling.
Alas, Loony Left: Grow up and learn to live with the school board election. The GOP victory in Wake County is just a start. The real house-cleaning will come in next year's general election We in the silent majority have had enough socialism crammed down our throats, and we're gonna kick some butt!
Its time to move forward, spend less money on moving kids around as a social experiment and more on teachers and supplies. I don't know if you consider that a crazy right wing idea or not. But it just makes sense, with Wake having 30+ kids in a classroom because they can't afford teachers at the same time we are all paying for hundreds of buses to pollute the air carrying our kids all over the county because we want to pretend that the poor and rich are treated the same is just nuts. So, I guess it's time for us crazy republicans to come in and shake things up.
I think this election may be a sign of what's ahead nationally.
"And let’s not forget what happened when the rabid-right Republicans, in ‘93 and ‘94, took over the county and cut school budgets mercilessly." So you'd have no trouble then quantifying how much this merciless cut was then? How much did they budget decrease by? Because you said lets not forget, so you must have the number handy. And when you use "rabid" nine times in one article- you are probably the one who is rabid.
let me guess... these brilliant minds are going to make our schools better by: - cutting school budgets - increasing the salaries of central office staff - cutting the remaining extra programs - diverting all saved money into building extra-wide SUV loading lanes in front of all of their "neighborhood schools". The problem with county-wide systems. You have people hiding out in the suburbs who will gladly drive themselves 45 minutes to work every day, but pretend to complain about busing. It's annoying that new school building is encouraging sprawl. Poor zoning allows people to keep building out in the middle of nowhere, then we come along with higher-cost infrastructure, road widening, and new schools to reward them. Then, that new school sitting down the road becomes part of the reason they become neighborhood school advocates. That and the unspoken fear of melanin.
This article was a school assignment for how many times you can use the word "rabid" in a sentence. This is truly hilarious, maybe it comes from overdosing on the kool aid.
Please. Not to pour any cold water on your Chicken Little-esque howls of impending doom but this is good news. Wake Schools have staggered forward and backwards as the idiots that run the school-board try every fad of the week. What a blessing to have some results oriented board members in place of the social experimenters.
Bob: We can help WCPSS if you and I sit down and discuss what we think about changes that need to be made. We have three things that have to be done,Prior to making any changes, In WCPSS reguardless of what people think of me, They still will not return most calls or agree to a debate on issues, on what is needed to make WCPSS operate smoothly,As usual i will not hear from " BOB THE MAN GEARY' My phones are never cut off. Cell 818-8082 Home 772-6949. Have a nice day.Phil
Bob, I have this crazy idea. Why don't you actually meet me, talk to me, share coffee with me before you tag me. Even Democrat consultant Perry Woods has come out and acknowledged I was good for district 2 and our system. Let me tell you about me before continue to just make things up. I AM my own man. I am human and make mistakes. I am stable in my convictions and do not waiver like Ms. Truitt for political gains. I was a child of extreme poverty. I have dedicated my life to helping other children of poverty. I have helped 10's of thousands of children who have been abandoned, abused, neglected, or in other wise need of positive mentors. I just finished building the Mentoring Children of Prisoners Initiative in NC helping over 3,000 kids in NC. While I do not always agree with him politically, I am actually a graduate of Jim Goodmon’s Leadership Triangle and a Goodmon Fellow. I am reasonable. I, like the others just elected, are not looking to make our problems worse with reactionary decisions. I will be looking to engage our community in a dialogue about a unified vision for the long term. One that is respectful of all stake holders (as opposed to the current group that ran rough shot over parents). I have from DAY 1 had on my web page and in my platform the Obama Administration's Education Plan as my model. Sec. of Ed. Arne Duncan is calling for Community Schools that are integrated with broader resources. My Web page has a section tabbed School System and then a link there titled Brand New Thinking - try actually reading it. Let's have dialogue. Or do you have to hide behind sensationalism? Wrecking ball? Mitch McConnell? Come on man. You clearly do not know me. I am a progressive conservative. I am asked by my republican friends all the time, "Why are you promoting the Obama plan for Education?" My answer has always been, "because it is the right thing to do!" Political Machine? Truitt and Tart out spent me 4-1 and I still beat them both 2-1. I ran my campaign on my own sweat and commitment to the people of District 2. People actually met me and Cathy - and all the money in the world cannot buy her and ounce of sincerity. This week alone she was all over the map. Cathy was on stage with the Friends of Diversity press conference on Monday as they declared the policies success. Tuesday she was against the policy and was going to end bussing. Wednesday she was stopping segregation, and in Thursday’s paper she declared bussing is dead and that she was more like me on the issue now?? After a 6 month campaign even Keith Sutton said, “We know where Tedesco stands, but we are not sure where Truitt stands. ” Because Truitt stands with her best chance at winning votes stands. And voters saw the truth. Bob – if you actually want to get to know me before you write about or share in the dialogue about how we strengthen our schools, then I extend an opportunity for coffee. I go to the Bee Hive routinely for a cup of Joe, and even a Coffee beer once in a while when they have it (but I think they have been out of it for a while). Feel free to call me 701-9253 – first cups on me – next 2 on you! Thanks, John Tedesco My commitment has always been to our most at risk kids, the ones I work for every day with Big Brothers Big Sisters.
"I will be looking to engage our community in a dialogue about a unified vision for the long term. One that is respectful of all stake holders (as opposed to the current group that ran rough shot over parents)." (John Tedesco -- above) John -- Thanks for writing. Did I say wrecking ball? I had in mind the very strong strain of Republican thinking in this county (and elsewhere) which holds that the public system of education is a monopoly that must be broken, and vouchers for private and parochial schools are the way to go. I attended a Catholic school, btw, in my early grades, and brag about it. But still, I support the public schools model on equity grounds.) When I heard you say during the campaign that you're a politician and know how to make change happen, I took you at face value. You were part of a slate -- the WSCA-GOP endorsed slate. In my experience, politics is a team sport, and your team has very definite views about the desirability of neighborhood schools, or as you put it, community schools. Truitt wasn't on a slate; and yes, she did express, and continues to express, ambivalence about the diversity-neighborhood schools issue, which is a sentiment that I think a lot of people share. Especially if we grew up in the North or Midwest, we remember our neighborhood schools fondly. Now that we're down South, we also recognize the desirability -- the necessity, in my mind -- of diverse student bodies. Where I grew up, diversity wasn't possible. My hometown in NJ had exactly two resident African-American families. Black folks lived in the next town over, which had its own, very separate, school system. I think we should avoid at all costs letting that happen in Wake County. I'm interested to hear you say that you'll engage the community in discussions about our collective vision and next steps -- is that a commitment not to act precipitously to overthrow current reassignment policies? Those of us who endorsed other candidates are wondering what your group -- and you, if you win the runoff -- will do when you take office. Will you move swiftly, as I know some of your allies are counseling, to enact a neighborhood schools policy first and study the fallout later? (Someone on your side said the other day that the powers of an elected official are never greater than the day they take office.) Or will you take some time and weigh your positions, before acting, against whatever data the school administration and others in the community may want to present? I saw an interesting bumper sticker this morning. It said, Don't believe everything you think. I'm going to try and remember that good advice myself. Again, thanks for writing and for the invitation. Coffee it is.
"John — Thanks for writing. Did I say wrecking ball?" - yes, you did: "The question of the hour is, does Cathy Truitt have a chance against John Tedesco in the District 2 Wake school board runoff? Because if she doesn’t, if it’s a lock for Tedesco, then there may be no stopping the Republican right from rolling their wrecking ball over 30 years worth of successful school policies." I think you'll find out who has been using the wrecking ball once you have that coffee with John. You'd better bring along a mirror.
So how long before the minutes of today's meeting are online? Did they do anything other than reverse the decisions of the last couple of years? So the strategy is to fix the system by reverting it to the system of two years ago, which was also broken? I shouldn't expect much from the guy living on "secluded acres rd".
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