Wake Schools Face Hostage Situation

Aug. 19, 2010 - PRLog -- The announcement by AdvancED that it will review the Wake County School System's accreditation status reveals a new low reached by the opponents of the new school board. Given that Rev. Barber and the NAACP have failed to win any support for their 1960's-era busing policy at either the ballot box or in the public discussions held since, they have now turned to sheer thug force.

Simply put, the voters and people of Wake County have rejected the arguments of Rev. Barber and his cohorts. So, in a cunning political move, the opponents of the neighborhood schools filed a complaint with AdvancED, which accredits several Wake County High Schools. The move is cunning because it does not directly affect the members of the school board. What it does do is affect the educational futures of the students at those high schools. It is an attempt to exert political pressure on the school board from by way of an unelected, unaccountable accreditation board.

Stephen Farmer, director of undergraduate admissions at UNC noted, "We see very few candidates, other than home-schooled candidates, who don't come from accredited schools." If Barber is successful in having the accreditation of the high schools revoked he will reduce the educational opportunities of Wake County students and place them at a competitive disadvantage to their peers in other school systems. But what Barber has done here is shown his true motivations. He doesn't actually care about the education of the students he purports to defend. If he did care, he would not be risking their futures. Barber and the NAACP essentially have taken the students of Wake County hostage. In much the same way that criminals forever kidnap and threaten Harrison Ford's family in order to get him to perform some action or undertake some policy, Barber is holding the students of Wake County hostage in order to pressure the school board into changing policies. It is despicable. He would rather see those students fail than admit that he has lost in the marketplace of ideas. His latest attempt to use the students of Wake County as pawns against the school board is a new low in his war against the board.

Read more at http://www.marcseelinger.com!

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