Overheard: Beverly Perdue

James
07/23 10:36 AM

This is newsworthy?

Richard Slater
07/23 12:06 PM

Regarding James comment “This is newsworthy?”
Yes, James. Like it or not she is the governor of the state.

arthurb3
07/23 02:33 PM

She is doing a great job! She has kept the state afloat during the economic crisis and she is now cleaning house in the corupt/ good ol’ boy government offices!

Joco Jack
07/23 02:40 PM

The comment is newsworthy only because it is the governor commenting on a local issue.  Since BOTH sides are passionate about the issue AND speaking out, the comment doesn’t really stake her out on one side of the issue or the other, and is actually pretty mundane.

JeffS
07/23 06:08 PM

With the video broken, I have no idea what she supposedly said.

smitty
07/23 08:56 PM

Maybe people should actually come out to vote in local elections instead of protesting the results.

JeffS
07/23 09:04 PM

Assumptions…

brian_M
07/23 10:23 PM

Kinda wish she’d taken a side, there. I’m going to be listening out for the next time Wake County school board members are up for election, and BUG THE CRAP out of everybody I know to vote. We don’t need these shenanigans in Raleigh.

Just1comment
07/24 09:24 AM

Ummm - I did vote that day - but my school board district (like most in the county) wasn’t up for re-election - so I wasn’t allowed to vote for or against any of the new board majority. The notion that this is some mishap of voter apathy - as well as the notion that the new majority have a “mandate” from the voters - is COMPLETELY false. Only 11% of the eligible voters in the county voted but many b/c they weren’t allowed to!

and I think Gov. Perdue is being smartly neutral - she has enough to deal with without stirring the pot here!

brian_M
07/24 09:49 AM

How do you vote AGAINST someone? I think you are making stuff up when you say there was no voter apathy. Do you have figures to support that from the districts that were eligible for voting? Yeah, didn’t think so.

Mr. Rob Vious
07/24 06:35 PM

“How do you vote AGAINST someone?”
Ummm…just a guess here, but I’m going to say, by voting for their opponent?

Phillo
07/27 02:27 PM

“Do you have figures to support that from the districts that were eligible for voting? Yeah, didn’t think so. ” 
 
Apparently, he doesn’t like the district system, where some members are up for election when others aren’t and would prefer an at-large system where he votes for everyone at once. 
 
Then he leaps to a disenfranchisement argument because only a portion of seats were up for grabs and he prefers to vote by Party bloc, and not person. 
 
I guess I’m going to be accused of being a Teabagger now.

Joe A
07/27 05:39 PM

This comment was a ‘shot across the bow’ at the new morons on the BOE.

If you don’t think the State of NC can intervene, think again.  All they have to to is ‘stop funding’ to school systems that create an intentional or de facto segregated school system.  The suburbanites will be in an uproar but this time around their votes don’t count as much because it is a sensible election format.  Plus the people in Wayne County, Ashe County, Northampton County, etc also have a vote in who is Governor or in the legislature.  And most of them damn sure don’t like the “yankess’ that have moved down here…..

RG
07/27 06:25 PM

@ Phillo

Ironically, the Cary crybabies were pushing hard for at-large elections a few years ago. Whoops! Maybe we should have let them have that one…

@ Joe A

Unlike Obama, Bev understands how a party machine is supposed to work. I’m waiting to see what she’ll say after the former CEO these mopes hire to replace Del starts axing hundreds of teacher jobs.

in stig a tor
07/28 02:20 PM

just out of curiosity - how many of you people have kids?  and how many of you who do have kids ALSO had these kids spend 45 minutes each way on a bus to the other side of the county to a neighborhood nowhere near your own, in the interest of “diversity”?

150
07/28 03:29 PM

@instigator…

I spent 45 minutes each way on a bus when I was a kid, and it was in the name of diversity.  I support it.

wondering
07/28 04:21 PM

in stig a tor—

are you actually the parent of one of the 3-4 percent of wake kids who were getting bussed against their wishes?

or just trolling, as your username implies?

@150…
i spent half an hour on the bus each way in my small town outside of atlanta, and not in the name of anything. it was just going to school…the one elementary and one middle school in town at the time. funny that it was no big deal to my parents at all, nor to me. it was great fun most days.

150
07/29 09:53 AM

@instigator:  I failed to mention I support the current system for my kids too.  Also, no, I’m not equally concerned about diversity at St Aug’s or Shaw.  They’re both private colleges, not public schools.

mollybrown
07/29 12:19 PM

It’s one thing if you spend 30-45 minutes on a bus because that’s the closest school to you.  But when you pass 3 schools on your way to “your” school in the name of diversity, that’s just senseless. 
I recommend everyone go to Walnut Terrace, in downtown Raleigh, one morning at 6am and wait outside for the bus.  Then take the bus to school in Cary, arrive an hour before classes start and hang out in the lunchroom.  Until you do that yourselves, or have a child that does, you cannot really understand what these 15 year olds in our community are going through each and every morning.  Not to mention, they’re 15!!  Which means, although their bodies need on average 8 hours of sleep, they are probably not going to bed until after midnight.  It’s no wonder our test scores are so low, as a country even.

150
07/29 12:58 PM

@mollybrown.  As I said, I DID do that, from the time I was 8 to the time I was 11.  I sat on the school bus for 45 minutes to go from a suburban setting to get to the school in a downtown setting, and it was because of diversity.  Neighborhood schools had been done away with in that community.
Again, I did it myself, so I know what it’s about.  Is a 45 minute bus ride ideal for a 10 year old?  Absolutely not.  The question for me, however, is if the benefits of being in a diverse educational setting outweighs that inconvenience.  Looking back, the answer for me is, absolutely.  I realized it when I attended a private college with a bunch of people who clearly did not have that background.  Know what I learned?  Those people, almost without exception, lacked social skills (respect for others, ability to “walk in another’s shoes”, world view) that are important in growing a respectable member of society. 
Learning about others who are different from you, and learning how to deal with those differences, is an important part of life education.  A short bus ride, is not.

150
07/29 01:08 PM

Oh, one more thing.  Going to bed at midnight, because of a long bus ride?  That’s a real stretch.  I went to high school.  I attended classes, did my homework, and played sports, and I NEVER needed to be awake until 12.  Linking early morning bus rides to staying up too late to poor test scores is majorly flawed. 
Perhaps the responsible thing to do is to stop complaining and start preparing for life in the real world.  How many of us have 45 minute commutes as adults (although not in the name of diversity)?  How many of us take work home?  How many have children to take care of?  It’s a similar work load if you think about it.  How many are forced to stay up until midnight because of it??  I’ll bet not many.

smitty
07/29 02:38 PM

Integration at Wake high schools is an illusion.  This is what happens when everything is based on free lunch numbers.  The cafeteria is diverse, but the white kids all end up in the advanced classes and the brown kids are in the basic classes.

150
07/29 03:05 PM

@smitty:  That may be true, but it may also be too simplistic. Those same kids mix while walking through the halls, in gym classes, in driver’s ed, etc.  They have lockers next to each other.  They may not sit at the same lunch table, but they stand next to each other in the lunch line.  There is a level of integration.  Perhaps not enough, but still it’s more than if everyone was in their neighborhood school.

150
07/29 04:06 PM

@instigator:
First, yes, I’ve noticed we typically agree, which is interesting, as that puts us at odds with the majority of NR readers. 
Second, regarding the diversity word…I agree with you that it needs to encompass the whole population, not just be limited to whites and African Americans.  That’s part of my point, in terms of preparing youths to be respectful members of society, they need to be exposed to as much as possible.  So, what’s the best way for Preston Montgomery III of Whispering Pines Estates to get that?  At Whispering Pines High, with only other residents from the Estates, or perhaps at Wake Central, with people from other developments? 
That question leads me to your stolen tax dollars.  Personally, I don’t have a big problem with taxes, as I see all of the beneficial services they ultimately pay for.  Yes, you have to pay for WCPSS.  As you have to pay anyway, I assume you want to get the best value for that money.  The question becomes, do you get more value from attending “diverse” schools, or by staying in the school in your backyard?  On a life basis, I vote for the diverse option.  I think it trumps Monty’s desire to go to Whispering Pines High.  I can understand feeling differently on that.
Lastly, of course, there is another alternative…..if you don’t like the public option, you could send your kid to a private school.  You are not “forced” to send your kid to the public one.  That may mean getting a second job at Whispering Pines High’s cafeteria to pay for it, but it’s an alternative. 
I will say, this isn’t a cut and dry issue.  It’s also a very delicate one.  Unfortunately, I don’t know if there will ever be a suitable agreement on what’s best.
Now, can we please go back to making fun of that hobo comic?