The Wake County school system should revise its proposed student enrollment plan for next year to keep some families from having to change calendars or go to schools farther from their current ones, families told the school board Tuesday night.
More than a dozen parents whose elementary school-age children would be moved to schools farther away or on different calendars spoke Tuesday, representing neighborhoods in western Wake County and in Garner. Some would have their children’s school calendar change.
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“This proposal inexplicably shifts kids from year-round to a traditional-calendar school,” said Matt Arnold, a parent whose child would be reassigned to Pleasant Grove Elementary. “It puts a lot of stress on families.”
The proposed enrollment plan from the Wake County school system would reassign students at 21 schools to different schools next year. The system will release a second draft of the enrollment plan Oct. 17 to the school board before a Nov. 8 public hearing and a likely school board vote Nov. 21.
The proposal affects fewer schools than in recent years, although it’s likely to affect a similar number of students — about 3,000 to 5,000, or 2% to 3% of the system’s roughly 161,000 students.
Families affected would be able to apply to stay at their current school through a stability transfer, but most would not receive any bus transportation if they transferred.
Families spoke during the public comment period Tuesday, although no decisions were set to be made on reassignment. Some board members responded to concerns parents have already raised to them.
Board member Chris Heagarty said that state law places a limit on the maximum number of students who can be in a kindergarten through third grade classroom. When a school overcrowds, and adding trailers on campus isn’t an option, the school system must reassign students to another school, Heagarty said.
The fast-growing county faces this issue a lot, as it struggles to build enough schools in fast-growing areas, forcing enrollment caps or reassignments.
“We know reassignment is disruptive,” said Heagarty, before adding that he shared some fo the parents concerns and planned relay all of them to the system office.
The proposed student assignment plan for next year would, for the most part, move students out of overcrowded schools or into schools closer to them.
But some families who would move out of overcrowded schools would move to schools farther away from them.
Families affected by two of those plans comprised those who spoke Tuesday.
Many acknowledge that their home schools are overcrowded and the communities are growing fast.
“We’re all trying to solve a problem that none of us created,” said Jennifer Therrien, who lives in the Kitts Creek neighborhood that would be reassigned to Pleasant Grove Elementary.
Pleasant Grove Elementary in Morrisville would be the focal point of several changes. Families whose children would move to the school from Alston Ridge or Parkside elementary schools in Cary and Morrisville, spoke out against the proposal Tuesday. The changes would reduce some overcrowding at the schools, although they would require some calendar changes for families to or from multi-track or traditional calendars.
Families of children who will be in fourth or fifth grade next year could apply to stay at their school instead of moving to Pleasant Grove, and they could apply for any younger siblings who will be kindergarten or older to stay, as well. They would not have busing.
Affected families said Tuesday the calendar change put some of their children on different calendars from one another. Further, they said they’d have to cross a railroad and highway to get to Pleasant Grove Elementary.
Therrien and other neighborhood leaders are meeting with school officials and others to find a solution. But in the fast-growing part of the county, many families are frustrated at having been reassigned multiple times already.
“Instead of uprooting thousands of children,” the school system should assign students with longer-time planning in mind, Therrien said. “Not on a two-year to three-year basis.”
Other families said they didn't have family in the area to handle childcare needs that could arise with calendar changes.
That’s the case for Prathibha Ayyappan, who lives in Kitts Creek.
“My situation is not unique,” she said. “There are a lot of immigrants who live in this area.”
Heagarty, who represents the area, said one of his biggest concerns is the calendar change. Some families’ proposed new elementary calendar wouldn’t align with their assigned middle or high schools that their other children may attend.
“For families with multiple children, that can be extremely disruptive trying to get children on the same schedule,” Heagarty said.
Hap Atwal, a parent of a kindergartener, echoed that concern to WRAL News.
“We change everything around the trackout schedule, and if they do switch us … we’ll have to change our plans again,” Atwal said.
Portions of Bryan Road Elementary’s assignment zone would be move to Aversboro, Rand or Vance elementary schools, reducing some overcrowding. Families affected by the move to Aversboro Elementary have said their children would no longer be able to walk to school and that the area — Oak Park and Magnolia Park neighborhoods — doesn't have the infrastructure to handle increased school traffic in and out of their neighborhoods.
“Please don’t break up the Oak Park and Magnolia Park family like this,” said Sana Hadley, a parent.
Board Member Monika Johnson-Hostler, who represents Garner, said families need continuity and stability. But some factors that affect the school system are out of the school system’s control, she said.
“Student enrollment is not anybody’s favorite job up here,” Johnson-Hostler said.