The nation's education secretary has lately been ventilating his thoughts on local issues. First he said he wants Kaya Henderson, Washington, D.C.'s interim schools chancellor, to stay on the job for the long-term (an opinion that D.C.'s City Paper thinks Duncan might have kept to himself). And today he said that Wake County's (Raleigh) decision to end busing ?is troubling??so troubling, in fact, that the U.S. Department of Education's newly invigorated Office for Civil Rights is investigating the matter. Duncan wrote, ?I respectfully urge school boards across America to fully consider the consequences before taking such action.??John Tedesco, a Wake County board member, respectfully urges Duncan to next time?fully consider?the facts before sounding off from hundreds of miles away. ?If he actually saw the details of what's going on in Wake County, or had the opportunity to speak to some of the leaders in Wake County, I think he might have had a different tone, and maybe even been more receptive to the message,? Tedesco said.
?Liam Julian, Bernard Lee Schwartz Policy Fellow