I'm looking at their test scores right now (don't ask).

For a school that's supposed to have a focus on science, their science test scores are pretty awful

http://www.greatschools.org/modperl/achievement/nc/1983#from..HeaderLink

1/12/2011 2:18:40 PM

I remember my middle school principal @ Daniels (Mr. Modest) went to Southeast Raleigh to be their principal when they first opened

1/12/2011 2:24:49 PM

I'm not surprised. You went there too right? In 2002 it was definitely on a steep decline.

1/12/2011 2:25:12 PM

I didn't go there but my fiance did. He definitely has told me stories of its steady decline though

1/12/2011 2:26:16 PM

modest left between my sophomore and junior years, and it really took a nose dive after that.

1/12/2011 2:28:54 PM

I'm assuming Southeast has a fairly high amount of low socioeconomic kids... I don't know much about their particular issues, but I worked in a low socioeconomic status school before and science is one of the hardest areas to teach because it always plays third fiddle behind english and math.

That doesn't mean it can't be done though, and there are plenty of examples of success.

[Edited on January 12, 2011 at 2:30 PM. Reason : ]

1/12/2011 2:29:39 PM

my boyfriend went there and he says it wasn't what it was cracked up to be.

1/12/2011 2:30:24 PM

I graduated SRHS in 04 and it was in decline. When it first opened lots of people were excited about the magnet aspect, but the lower class aspect and gangs began to outweigh that. When I was there it was definitely like half poor and black kids who didn't give a shit, and the other half well off white kids from cary/north raleigh who went for the science/tech aspect.

1/12/2011 2:40:23 PM

I want to say they have something like 60-70% free/reduced price lunch. I have a few friends that work there, and there seems to be a lot of infighting among staff/administration.

1/12/2011 2:41:43 PM

how does it compare to the student divisions in Enloe?

1/12/2011 2:45:38 PM

Quote :

"I'm assuming Southeast has a fairly high amount of low socioeconomic kids... I don't know much about their particular issues, but I worked in a low socioeconomic status school before and science is one of the hardest areas to teach because it always plays third fiddle behind english and math. "

True, but Southeast is a magnet high school with a focus on science and technology. So you would think their students would do pretty well in that area of study.

1/12/2011 2:46:54 PM

Quote :

"True, but Southeast is a magnet high school with a focus on science and technology. So you would think their students would do pretty well in that area of study."

yeah except they're not true "magnet" schools because if you live within the school district, then you automatically go there. if you don't live in the district, then you have to apply to get in. so half the kids want to be there and half are there because that's what their district is. that's how it is at Enloe (and was at Broughton before they took away the magnet status).

the only true magnet school is Raleigh Charter. It doesn't matter if you live next door to the school, you have to apply to get in. It's privately funded and not part of Wake County public schools.

1/12/2011 2:51:48 PM

Raleigh Charter is not the only school in Wake County without a base population. Off the top of my head Partnership Elementary and STEM are also that way. There was an elementary school in Morrisville that also operated that way but not sure if it still does.

But regardless of that, there are plenty of other magnets in the area where all of the students do well overall, not just the ones whose parents applied to get them in there. Combs Elementary is a good example of that.

1/12/2011 2:57:08 PM

Quote :

"CassTheSass:yeah except they're not true "magnet" schools because if you live within the school district, then you automatically go there. if you don't live in the district, then you have to apply to get in. so half the kids want to be there and half are there because that's what their district is. that's how it is at Enloe (and was at Broughton before they took away the magnet status)."

This. The majority of SRHS's base population is not there for the magnet status; they're there because it's the nearest high school. Couple that with magnet parents that remove their children from the school once they realize tits status, and the problem just gets worse.

1/12/2011 3:00:53 PM

Quote :

"the only true magnet school is Raleigh Charter. It doesn't matter if you live next door to the school, you have to apply to get in. It's privately funded and not part of Wake County public schools."

private does not equal magnet.

1/12/2011 3:05:59 PM

^ Raleigh Charter is not a private school though. My brother went there. My parents didn't have to pay for him to go. It's considered magnet/charter because they don't use wake county funding and instead get their funding from private entities (mostly donations and grants).

Quote :

"Raleigh Charter is not the only school in Wake County without a base population. Off the top of my head Partnership Elementary and STEM are also that way. There was an elementary school in Morrisville that also operated that way but not sure if it still does. But regardless of that, there are plenty of other magnets in the area where all of the students do well overall, not just the ones whose parents applied to get them in there. Combs Elementary is a good example of that."

sorry, i should have clarified. i know of those schools too - i meant high school

[Edited on January 12, 2011 at 3:10 PM. Reason : ^]

1/12/2011 3:10:31 PM

Combs was awesome when I went there.

1/12/2011 3:10:47 PM

^^ STEM is a high school as well.

1/12/2011 3:11:43 PM

where is STEM? i've never heard of it before. is it a newer school?



[Edited on January 12, 2011 at 3:13 PM. Reason : edit]

1/12/2011 3:12:58 PM

Yeah I think it started 1 or 2 years ago. Don't quite remember now. It's a partnership with NCSU. Pretty cool concept. You basically go there and once you graduate you have up to 2 years worth of coursework credit should you decide to continue on to NCSU for college.

Wish I had had that option back in the day.

1/12/2011 3:17:27 PM

oh wow that is awesome. i've heard of other cities having schools that do this - it's definitely great for kids who want to get a leg up on college.

i wish i had this option too! i went to crappy wake forest-rolesville because of "districting" (i lived in Raleigh)

1/12/2011 3:20:13 PM

Yeah Wake County has a couple of pretty awesome magnet programs now. I remember when I was in school the offerings were so so for the most part so my parents never bothered to try and get me in. I think the whole magnet concept was pretty foreign to them anyway since they didn't have anything like that in New Jersey at the time.

I wonder how much the new school board will screw up the magnet system if they get their way

1/12/2011 3:23:06 PM

Quote :

"I think the whole magnet concept was pretty foreign to them anyway since they didn't have anything like that in New Jersey at the time."

i went K-8th grade in NJ. i went to one school for 5 years and then we moved to another part of the state to a specific town because of the schools. they paid taxes out of the ying yang but i got a great education. and because you paid such high taxes, the schools had the proper funding so there was no real need for magnet schools or charter schools. kids still went to private schools but most kids went to public schools since you were pretty much paying a private school tuition in taxes

1/12/2011 3:39:11 PM

Yeah that sort of crap was why my parents' moved away from NJ hahaha. My elementary school up there was great from what I remember but my parents could afford to pay their taxes and that was about it. Forget about having food on the table or clothes on your back

1/12/2011 3:45:41 PM

Quote :

"yeah except they're not true "magnet" schools because if you live within the school district, then you automatically go there. if you don't live in the district, then you have to apply to get in"

As far as Wake County is concerned, this is the very definition of a magnet school. The whole concept is to build a school in a poor neighborood and attract more afluent kids with special programs.

Quote :

"because you paid such high taxes, the schools had the proper funding so there was no real need for magnet schools"

The whole point of magnet schools has very little to do with proper funding of otherwise traditional schools. The primary purpose is to promote diversity in our schools while providing challenging programs for the brightest students that wouldn't be cost effective if offered in each school in the district.

1/12/2011 4:17:03 PM

Class of '01 here. I became an engineer because of Mr. Geraghty who taught auto CAD at srhs so... it's sciency enough

1/12/2011 5:11:08 PM

^one of my favorite teachers ever

1/12/2011 8:04:28 PM

Quote :

"the only true magnet school is Raleigh Charter. It doesn't matter if you live next door to the school, you have to apply to get in. It's privately funded and not part of Wake County public schools."

Charter schools are publicly funded. Basically the dollars that would have gone to public schools to educate those students are redirected to the charter school. Why do you think kids can go there without paying tuition? They are just privately run (although they still have to meet certain state standard and reporting requirements).

As has been pointed out, magnet schools are public schools that exist to promote voluntary diversity while offering certain special curriculums that aren't offered Countywide.

1/12/2011 8:21:30 PM

Quote :

"The primary purpose is to promote diversity in our schools while providing challenging programs for the brightest students that wouldn't be cost effective if offered in each school in the district."

No, the primary purpose of magnet schools is to get rich and middle class kids to go to schools populated primarily by poor and minority students.

1/12/2011 8:49:00 PM

CassTheSass, do you have a link to support this notion of a "'true' magnet school"? I've never heard of what you're talking about.

^That would fall under the "promote diversity" portion of his post.

[Edited on January 12, 2011 at 8:54 PM. Reason : ]

1/12/2011 8:54:33 PM

public schools suck

1/12/2011 8:56:19 PM

^^^ what part of diversity does that not fall under?

1/12/2011 8:58:34 PM

I don't think they suck. In fact, I'm very pleased with Wake County's public schools.

1/12/2011 8:58:48 PM

BridgetSPK I was always under the assumption a true magnet school would be 100% of the population had to apply to get in but there was also equal diversity. True equal diversity is obviously nearly impossible but I'm sure there are schools where something close to this is achieved.

I could be wrong - I went to Wake Forest due to districting. My brother applied and went to Raleigh Charter. I always considered his school more of a magnet than other schools but it seems I was incorrect earlier in what I thought a magnet school meant. My bad. I hadn't heard of magnet schools until I moved to Raleigh when I was 15.

1/12/2011 9:01:34 PM

i went to a magnet school here in fayetteville, it was basically all just military kids whose parents didnt want them to go to the shitty high school they were suppose to go to, it was labeled "A school within a school" b/c yes, the kids that lived around the school still went there

1/12/2011 9:06:04 PM

^^It's an interesting idea though! We'd have to use SES instead of race these days. But, yeah, an application-only school where 30-35% of slots were saved for students receiving free/reduced priced lunch.

I wonder if it would work.

[Edited on January 12, 2011 at 9:07 PM. Reason : ?]

1/12/2011 9:06:16 PM

i trolled you brigit

1/12/2011 9:08:01 PM

AHA, I welcome any and all opportunities to rep WCPSS!

1/12/2011 9:09:51 PM

I was SRHS c/o 2002

1/12/2011 9:42:54 PM

SRHS c/o 2004

the whole "voluntary diversity" thing with magnet schools is a joke because you still had a huge divide academically between the base population and the middle/upper class kids. our senior class had 400+ but half of them I never met because they were in remedial classes

1/12/2011 11:06:32 PM

1/12/2011 11:28:12 PM

dang look at Enloe's Algebra scores!?

http://www.greatschools.org/modperl/achievement/nc/1969#from..HeaderLink

Maybe the "smart kids" are taking that class in middle school so we're left w/ the rest to take it in High school.

1/13/2011 1:11:19 AM

wake county schools are fucked up as a can of worms

you cannot dilute students who's parents do not give a fuck if their child gets an education amongst children who's parents DO give a fuck it their kids get an education and try to give some bullshit reason why your school system is better than any other county

it is merely a cloaking agent

1/13/2011 1:28:06 AM

Quote :

"what part of diversity does that not fall under?"

because diversity is more than just having x number of white kids to every y number of minorities

1/13/2011 6:59:12 AM

^^ wat

1/13/2011 11:14:09 AM