Here's the most dismaying graf in the story, I think:
"The Wake County School Board has voted multiple times over the last several months to scrap the district's diversity policy, which distributed students based on socioeconomics and for years had been a model for other districts looking to balance diversity in schools. Several school board members elected last year have built a majority in favor of focusing on neighborhood schools."
I was heading into the ninth grade when Charlotte adopted a court-ordered busing plan. In the short run, chaos ensued, complete with a boycott and riots. By the time I graduated high school, though, I think very many of us had come to the conclusion that there was a lot of value in schools that represented every segment of society. It was a valuable experience, and the plan quickly ended differences in curriculum between "black" "white" and "upper class white" schools that had developed over the years.
The busing plan in Charlotte was blown up years ago, and the schools there now pretty much suck, for lots of reasons. Raleigh seems to be heading down the same path.