Public response to redistricting options released by WCPS

Some voiced concerns about perceived transportation woes.

Others said they were worried about a potential negative impact on military children.

There were those who accused school officials of “misleading” the public — justifying the redrawing of district lines as a way to better utilize existing Wayne County Public Schools facilities when it is, in the eyes of many who weighed in, really about injecting white students into primarily black, underperforming city schools.

And a few people simply said the redistricting process, which began in February when the county Board of Education unanimously approved Cropper GIS to lead the effort, was a “bad idea.”

Public reaction to the two redistricting options outlined in August during a meeting at Wayne Community College has been overwhelming negative, but some members of the planning committee charged with helping to shape Cropper GIS’ work said during a Sept. 16 meeting that they believe many of those who weighed in don’t have local schoolchildren’s best interests at heart.

Keith Copeland said their opposition was about racial bias.

“These schools were segregated a while back … and when somebody said, ‘No. You’re going to have to desegregate,’ nobody’s making positive comments. So why should we expect there to be positive comments when we’re talking about a change now?” Copeland said. “There are going to be people who don’t want things to change.

“For some, it’s just racial and economic bias and prejudice. And I’m not afraid to say that. So, if you want to talk about it, let’s open it up to all of that.”

Ashely Long argued that the dissension was about fear bred by misinformation about the quality of education offered in underperforming schools.

“The grading systems are inherently flawed, and my children are getting an excellent education at a school that’s a D. I think (the people who don’t want their children attending schools in the central attendance district) are just fearful because they have no good quality information to go by,” she said. “But I think to say that nothing positive comes out of the proposals that we’ve done is to say that increasing utilization at the schools that are underutilized and increasing diversity is not a positive. And I think we have to look that in the face and say that some people value it and feel that it’s essential to their child’s education and some people don’t.”

And Goldsboro/Wayne NAACP president Sylvia Barnes believes there has been too much discussion about putting the needs of military children ahead of those students who were born and raised in Wayne County.

“I want to know why you think that a military child is more important than a child that was born right here in Wayne County. That gripes me,” she said. “For us to sit in this room and think that a child that is a military child is more important than a child that was born here in Wayne County and might live here in Wayne County all of their life, that gripes me to no end.”

But several committee members acknowledged that they did not read through all 91 pages of feedback.

The district recently released all the comments received ahead of that meeting, so residents can make their own judgements about how their neighbors feel and where they are coming from.

You can view them by clicking here or access the complete document below: