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RALEIGH – Tuesday evening, the Wake County School Board is scheduled to vote on the proposed controlled choice student assignment plan. It would completely change the way students are assigned to schools in Wake County, allowing families to pick their school from a list of choices instead of being automatically assigned to a school.

Here's how it works. Based on your address, the school system would provide you with a list of at least five elementary schools near your home. At least two will be traditional calendar and at least two others year-round. As always, families can also choose from the magnet schools and specialty programs.

Families will rank their choices in their order of preference.

“We'll make information available about each of their school choices online so that families can view information about each of the schools,” explained Director of the Office of Student Assignment Susan Pullium.

Each elementary school is associated with a determined feeder pattern. All the students from the elementary school graduate to one preassigned middle school, and all the students from that middle school move up to one assigned high school. Therefore, students who go to elementary school together should be able to graduate from high school together, unless their families choose to change their school preference.

“The district would never reassign the student,” Pullium added.

If there isn't enough room at a school for all the students who select it, the school system will give top priority to those with siblings at the school and students who live closest to the school.

“The majority of our families would be able to get their first or second choice; in the high 80s to low 90 percent would be able to get their first or second choice and we feel confident the plan will be able to do that,” Pullium said.

One of the most important aspects of the proposed plan is that if you're in the Wake County Public School System now and want to stay at your school, you can. When you move up to the next school level, you'll go to the middle or high school in the feeder pattern associated with your school.

The school system held nearly two dozen information sessions to explain the plan to Wake County residents but the school board only held one public hearing to get feedback on it.

Despite controversy about the plan and calls for Tuesday's vote to be delayed until new school board members are sworn in in December, the current board is expected to approve it Tuesday evening.

Vice Chair John Tedesco says he supports going through with the vote, but is concerned that things could change following the upcoming runoff election between Democrat-backed incumbent Kevin Hill and Republican-backed newcomer Heather Losurdo.

That District 3 race will determine who has majority on the board.

"We can approve this plan tomorrow, empowering our parents, and then in a matter of a couple of weeks, if Mr. Hill and his partisan allies are put in charge, they'll very quickly put this to a busing for diversity based on busing for test scores," Tedesco said.

Last week, Hill said he and his fellow Democrats won't dismantle the plan.

"I think the old diversity plan is water under the bridge. I think we've got to move forward," he said.

Other board members have given their bi-partisan support as well.

"We're ready to go and they need to get it ready because we need to start doing student assignment for this next year coming up," Chris Malone said.

"I think all of us agree the old policy and old system needed to be changed," said Anne McLaurin.

The vote is scheduled during the regular school board meeting that starts at 5:30 p.m.

Board member worried election could impact future of assignment plan

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