By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer
This Thursday, for perhaps the final time this year, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education will revisit redistricting and consider a plan that would move nearly 500 students to a new elementary school when it opens in the fall of 2008.
The board is redistricting in order to move students to the new school, which will be located at the corner of Dromoland Road and Eubanks Road. School officials have recommended a revised plan that would move 1,078 students to different elementary schools, including 474 to the new school, which has yet to be named but has been dubbed Elementary No. 10 by school officials.
Steve Scroggs, assistant superintendent for support services for Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools, said that for the most recent revisions staff tried to address certain issues raised by the public — in particular, concerns of isolating small segments of students by moving them to new schools, as well as high numbers of Frank Porter Graham Elementary School students receiving free or reduced-cost lunches.
School officials originally presented four redistricting plans for the board to consider in March. All four plans were revised, but the board postponed a decision on a redistricting plan at their April 12 meeting and instead voted to rework the plan recommended by school officials.
At the meeting, the board created a subcommittee to look into and tweak issues with the recommended plan, which has been labeled plan 9D.
Frank Porter Graham parents, teachers and students had criticized the revisions to plan 9D as it was presented April 12 because of the increased number of students at that school who would receive free or reduced-cost lunches. Under the original plan 9D, 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 presented April 12.
Under the new revised plan, the number of Frank Porter Graham students receiving free or reduced-cost lunches would return to 24.1 percent.
The recommended plan attempts to balance criteria including school capacity, student proficiency, the number of students receiving free and reduced lunches and socio-economic status. According to support staff, of all the previously proposed plans, 9D has the shortest driving distances, with most students attending the school closest or second-closest to them.
Scroggs said that while the recommended plan is not perfect, it is “by far the best balanced plan.†He added that the plan reserves room for growth at certain schools where growth is predicted and ensures that all the children at any given elementary school will attend the same middle school.
Segment movement changes under the latest revisions to plan 9D include:
- Segment 52 – Damascus Church Road from Jones Ferry Road to Meacham, Ridgewood, Springhill Forest, Wolf’s Pond and Preston Springs – would return to Frank Porter Graham;
- Segment 83B – Royal Park Apartments – would move from Frank Porter Graham to McDougle Elementary School; and
- Segment 74B – the older section of Northwood and Eubanks Road from the UPS facility to Highway 86 – would return to Seawell Elementary School from the new elementary school.
The board will consider the plan at 7 p.m. on Thursday at the Chapel Hill Town Hall.