WakeCARES (They Really Do)

Now that their lawsuit has been filed, Wake County residents have run to their computers to send letters condemning this group's actions and mischaractarizing them generally along the following lines:

1. The are a bunch of soccer moms with too much time on their hands that should just run to Starbuck's for another Latte instead.
2. They are selfish people who are upset that they won't be able to spend 2 months at the beach in the summer.
3. They can't think beyond their own self-serving needs, and are exposing the rest of Wake County's children to further educational turmoil.
4. This lawsuit will only consume taxpayer dollars which could be used for education.
   
5. They should just shut up and get along.

I'm not on the WakeCARES membership rolls, but do support them any way I can including financially. I know some of the people who run the group, so I'll comment here on how wrong the above arguments are...

1. [Soccer moms with too much time]. Wrong! These people put in 50-60 hours a week working on this cause, and have spent thousands of dollars of their own money. They probably wish they had too much time on their hands and could run up to Starbucks for a latte.
2. [Shortened beach week]. Wrong! The people who believe this is the basis of the lawsuit are just plain stupid, and have not thought out how deeply MYR can affect a family. It takes ten minutes to write a critical letter to the N&O. It takes a lot longer to fully understand the subject. Children and families suffer under MYR. Students in extra-curricular activities like band, sports and science club are either left out of key events, or must attend them while they are on break (Instead of going to all those great enrichment programs which are going to be available in January?). Special needs children who suffer with transition will have their problems multiplied by four. Families who cherish together time will find half as much to enjoy. One blogger on the N&O went as far as saying her kids were happier to be on different schedules so that her kids did not have to spend as much time together. That person should know that family counseling services are only a phone call away.
3. [These people are selfish]. Wrong. A number of WakeCARES members do not even have children who have been sentenced to MYR. They are not fighting against the rest of Wake County parents, they are fighting FOR them. We live in the most affluent county in the state. If our town/city/council government did their jobs, there is no reason we cannot afford a traditional school solution for all students. Instead, our government's collective inattention and ineptitude has led us to MYR. Do you really think that MYR is done after this year. Until the system is fixed, look for more MYR redistricting every year. Not all, but a lot of the WakeCARES critics are in the camp of lucky ones not affected by MYR, and just want this to go away. To those people, I'd suggest they not delude themselves -- MYR will find you. Other critics are people who are voluntarily in YR schools because it works well for them, or people who have learned to live on a MYR schedule. We can do better than 'learning to live' with MYR.
4. [Legal costs]. Wrong. If a judge finds no basis in the lawsuit, then it will quickly be dismissed at little legal expense. When the BoE submits a budget with $11M worth of overstated project management cost and rounding errors, I'm less worried about their legal fees than their fiscal competence.
5. [Shut up and row]. Wrong. Taking no action would condone the BoE's actions. Aside from the fact that the BoE has been in love with YR calendars for 15 years, they now are caught up in the Wake County Money Grinder. We all (I hope) understand how this works...
1. Developers buy large tracts of land.
2. Developers contribute to grow-friendly candidates' campaigns.
3. Thousands of homes get built, without enough schools to go with them.
4. Towns issue the building permits, and the mayors say schools are a county problem.
5. County commisioners don't want to raise tax rates.
6. BoE's need for money is not taken seriously, their credibility is low given the amount of waste and fraud.
   
7. Developers pump money into funds to promote issue of $1B bond for schools.
8. Tax rates go up anyway and we still don't have enough schools
9. Repeat as necessary.

By attacking WakeCARES you are giving your approval of the way our county's development chain is run. Think about it.