Wednesday, Feb. 03, 2010

Some say magnet schools can't go

Victoria Ragan was drawn to Garner High School for its magnet program.

Her base school is Knightdale High, but the 16-year-old has attended Garner since her freshman year. She hoped the school's International Baccalaureate magnet would teach her time-management and analytical skills.

"It puts you in a classroom full of students who want to do well," Ragan said.

For the past 28 years, Wake County schools have used magnet programs to draw affluent suburban students to low-income schools. The magnet program has gone hand in hand with the school system's diversity policy, which buses students in hopes of balancing the number of poor students at each school.

With a new school board majority that favors neighborhood schools over busing for diversity, some parents and students across the county have said they're worried about the future of magnet schools. John Tedesco, who represents District 2, which includes Garner, said magnet schools aren't going away.

But that doesn't mean Garner's magnet schools -- Smith Elementary, East Garner Middle and Garner High -- won't see changes down the road. Tedesco is chairing a student-assignment committee that will evaluate the school system's policies.

Tedesco, who is part of the board majority, said he wants the magnet application process to be fairer for poor and middle-class families. "If we have great programs, every family should have an opportunity to take part in these programs," Tedesco said.

Meanwhile, some say having magnet programs at three Garner schools has been beneficial.

"We've actually been able to expand course offerings," Garner High Principal Drew Cook told prospective students and their parents at an open house last week.

Cook said Garner High's magnet program, put in place five years ago, had given the school an identity. Last year, more than 120 students who live outside the school's attendance zone applied for the magnet program.

Fewer than 80 were accepted though. School leaders consider each applicant's socioeconomic status and the percentage of poor students at the applicant's base school. The goal is to maintain socioeconomic balance.

While it hasn't solved all of the schools' problems, the magnet programs at three schools have been good to Garner, said Amy White, chairman of the Garner Educational Foundation and a former Wake school board member.

"It's built public confidence," White said.

But Tedesco said the magnet program has been a "double-edged sword" for Garner. As schools like Enloe High attracted magnet students, the school system had to bus non-magnet students to Garner, Tedesco said. Garner schools became crowded and had high numbers of poor students. Many Garner families chose to send their children to schools outside of town.

To help fix the problem, Tedesco said, the school system put magnet programs in Garner to lure students.

That's what Garner High was trying to do last week. The magnet-application process begins Feb. 8 and ends Feb. 28.

Cheryl Vetter and her husband accompanied their son, Noah, to the school's open house. Vetter said she likes magnet schools; Noah is an eighth-grader at Centennial Campus Middle School in Raleigh. The family hopes he will get accepted to Southeast Raleigh High School's magnet program, but Garner High is their second choice.

Cook, the Garner High principal, said he wants his school to maintain its magnet status, but he's not worried about changes that might take place. "We're gonna be fine either way," he said.