By Rose Laudicina
Staff Writer
After postponing decisions regarding overcrowding at Glenwood Elementary School, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education has decided against spot redistricting.
Instead, board members have chosen to relocate the pre-kindergarten program from Glenwood and Seawell elementary schools to create more classroom space, helping to ease overcrowding. The pre-K classes from Glenwood and Seawell will move to Rashkis and Estes Hills elementary schools for the 2012-13 school year.
The board was first presented with plans in December 2011 to alleviate overcrowding in three of the seven schools in the district that are experiencing overcapacity issues.
“We are significantly overcrowded at the elementary school level,†Todd LoFrese, assistant superintendent for support services, said at the December meeting. “We didn’t anticipate the growth across the district, so that really threw us for a loop.â€
Along with Glenwood, Carrboro and Seawell elementary schools are also severely overcrowded and will be way above their Schools Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (SAPFO) capacity.
Carrboro Elementary has a SAPFO capacity of 533 students, but is projected to see enrollment grow to 608 in 2012-13. Seawell’s SAPFO capacity is 466 students and is estimated to have 655 next year, while Glenwood’s SAPFO capacity is 423, but is projected to have 522 students next year.
Originally staff had presented the board with options to wait for elementary school 11 to open in 2013 or to do spot redistricting to alleviate overcrowding at Glenwood and Carrboro.
Possible solutions for Seawell included waiting for elementary 11, relocating the school’s LEAP program – a program for accelerated students – or moving a pre-K classroom to another location.
Initially the board was hesitant to remove the pre-K classrooms from Glenwood and Seawell, but after hearing from parents and School Improvement Team representatives opposing spot redistricting and supporting moving the pre-K classrooms, they changed their minds.
Rashkis is one of only three schools in the district that will be under capacity for next year, and Estes Hills does not have a pre-K program.