School leader from 1970s helps Wake Schools remember 25th anniversary
August 3, 2001 - A pivotal school leader from the 1970s addressed
the Wake County Schools Team Leadership Conference Wednesday
(August 1) to mark the Wake County Public School System's
25th anniversary. Former state lawmaker and school board chair
Casper Holroyd discussed the challenges school officials faced
and encouraged today's educators to meet today's challenges
with the same bold leadership.
 Former Raleigh City School Board Chair Casper Holroyd talked with school principals and administrators about the merger that created the Wake County Public School System 25 years ago. |
Holroyd remembered attending a conference in Florida in 1965
where he met a gentleman who challenged him to get involved
with his school board. As service on the board changed from
appointment by city council to election, Holroyd became one
of the City of Raleigh school board's first elected members.
In 1969, he became the board's senior member.
"I could just close my eyes, and I could remember that day so well," Holroyd said. "I was elected the chairman of the city schools, and the telephone rang in Mr. Sanderson's office. They said the new chairman needs to come in and talk to someone on the telephone. I thought it was the newspaper or something, so I went in. It was the Justice Department, Civil Rights Division requiring that we be in Washington to start a desegregation of our school system. That was a very major thing."
In 1969, the Raleigh City schools had 23,000 students and
14 buses. Holroyd said the discussions with the Justice Department
led to a court case and eventually a hearing before a federal
judge in New Bern, NC.
"I'll never forget, the school board went down there
and sat in the courthouse for two days and gave him our plans,
which we thought were pretty good," said Holroyd. "And
he said I approve it, and you have to put it in this year.
That was about August 1, and in two weeks time we had to implement
the desegregation plan we had given him."
School officials got to work fast. In the days before computers,
Holroyd said they used a large map and stuck in a pushpin
to represent each of the 24,000 students. Their plans resulted
in the development of sixth-grade centers.
"We designated six schools where all the students going
into the sixth grade would be sent to these schools,"
said Holroyd. "That would cut out a lot of the busing
and that opened up areas in our elementary schools so that
we could bring in the minority students who were having to
carry the heavy load of the busing."
Implementing the plan required 200 school buses, and the
school system only had 14.
"There were no 186 buses around," said Holroyd.
"We had to go to other school systems and take over their
dead buses. Those buses had been in service 14 years or longer.
We ended up with 186 dead buses."
Holroyd said it was a difficult time, but they got through
it. In the early 1970s, he said discussion began about merging
the Raleigh City and Wake County school systems.
"The county system and the city system used to swap
lands as new schools were developed," said Holroyd. "When
the city would want to build a school, like when we wanted
to build Athens, there was a lot of concern in the county
about which students would be sent to Athens. As a result,
the majority of the people would opt to stay in their own
school system. So we came up with a plan to merge the school
systems."
Voters defeated a referendum on the merger by six to one.
When school officials sought voter approval of school construction
bonds, Holroyd said bonds were rejected because of their link
to merger.
"We had one whale of a time trying to get them to merge,"
said Holroyd. "We came up with the idea that if we could
merge the school systems without a vote of the people that
would be the best way to go. North Carolina had a law then
that if you could get the county commissioners of the school
systems involved to vote for it and then you went to the State
Board of Education, you could actually approve a merger without
the vote of the people."
The merger created the school district that today is the
Wake County Public School System, one of the most successful
school systems in the nation. Today's educators credit the
school leadership of the 1970s with taking the steps that
brought the community together. Wake County Superintendent
Bill McNeal has called on educators to remember the 25th anniversary
of the school system and the bold leadership that created
it. McNeal said bold leadership is needed to meet today's
challenges, to meet Goal 2003 and to help all students succeed.
"Back when I met that gentleman in Florida, he said, 'If you want to do something important, save public education'" Holroyd told the educators. "You folks have been given the opportunity and the responsibility to save and to continue to save public education. I along with the county board and the city board and the administration at that time, we carried the torch. It makes my heart feel good to come here and see you folks willing and able to carry the torch of public education today."