By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer
After hours of heated discussion, tears and pleas for equity across the district, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education postponed a decision on a redistricting plan and instead voted to rework one of the four proposed plans while rejecting the other three.
The board is redistricting in order to move students to a new elementary school when it opens in the fall of 2008. School officials had recommended a plan that would move 1,095 students to different elementary schools, including 481 to the new school, which has yet to be named but has been dubbed Elementary No. 10. The new school will be located at the corner of Dromoland Road and Eubanks Road.
Board members Jean Hamilton and Mike Kelley, who served on the redistricting committee, will work with assistant superintendent for support services Steve Scroggs to revise the recommended plan.
Frank Porter Graham Elementary School parents, teachers and students – including one representative dressed as a lion, which is the school’s mascot – begged the board for more resources and equitable socio-economic balance in the district. Clad in Frank Porter Graham school colors, school supporters stood as each speaker from the school approached the microphone.
“Stop treating little FPG like the district’s faithful pack mule,†said Bridgitte Araba, Frank Porter Graham PTA co-president and parent of three students at the school. “We will break.â€
“We are tired of bearing the burden for the rest of the school district,†she continued. “We deserve equity at FPG just as much as any other school in this district.â€
Frank Porter Graham has the highest percentage of students receiving free or reduced-cost lunches of any elementary school in the district – 31.1 percent. Seawell Elementary School has the lowest percentage, with 15.7 percent.
At the board’s March 15 meeting, board members reviewed the four proposed plans, each of which had a particular focus, and asked school officials to revise the plans in order to balance criteria including school capacity, student proficiency, the number of students receiving free and reduced-cost lunches and socio-economic status. The board also asked school officials to try to preserve Carrboro Elementary’s dual-language program, which uses a model that requires 50 percent of the enrolled students to be native Spanish speakers.
School officials said they would allow the number of students receiving free or reduced-cost lunches at Carrboro Elementary to remain higher than other schools in order to maintain the number of native Spanish-speaking students. However, board members said they would like to explore other means for preserving the program outside of redistricting.
With the revisions made to plan 9D – the recommended redistricting plan – Seawell Elementary would have the lowest percentage of students receiving free or reduced-cost lunches, 17.1 percent, while Carrboro Elementary would have the highest percentage with 28.9 percent. The disparity is slightly lower under the original plan 9D, with the lowest percentage at 17.4 percent and the highest at 27.3 percent.
Several speakers from Frank Porter Graham criticized the revised plan 9D because of the increased number of Frank Porter Graham students receiving free or reduced-cost lunches. Under the original 9D plan, 24.1 percent of Frank Porter Graham students would receive free or reduced-cost lunches compared with 26.3 percent under the revised plan 9D. Judy Giguerre, a teacher at Frank Porter Graham for the past 21 years, said schools need an increase in resources to match an increase in the number of students receiving these lunches.
“Equity is having the resources to effectively teach all children the six hours of the instruction day,†she said. “We must have this available in order for equal growth to occur for all students.â€
Several board members expressed concern regarding equity across the district.
“Many children do need more, and it is our goal that each child be served,†board chair Jamezetta Bedford said as she fought back tears. “I think that balance is critical, but I do think that some children take more money and take more resources.â€
Bedford added, “Equal is not necessarily equitable or fair.â€
“We have always provided for the haves in this district, and when it comes to the have nots we … drag our feet as we are doing tonight,†board member Elizabeth Carter said.
“We’re experiencing some white flight from schools,†she continued. “We already know that there’s been white flight to Rashkis.â€
Board member Annetta Streater said she worried that minority and majority schools would develop in the district.
“It’s frightening to me to see that we may be … moving toward urban and suburban schools,†she said. “When that happens, at a slow pace or at a fast pace, it is not productive in any way.â€