By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer
CHAPEL HILL – Though earlier this month school board support for a Spanish dual-language magnet school at Frank Porter Graham Elementary seemed strong, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education on Tuesday stepped back and put other options for expanding the program on the table – creating a magnet school at Carrboro Elementary, or creating magnet programs at several elementary schools throughout the district.
Earlier this year, the district’s dual-language administrative team, comprised of school principals and district administrators, released a report recommending the expansion of the Spanish dual-language program by creating a dual-language magnet school at FPG while maintaining two dual-language classes at Carrboro Elementary School. The FPG community has strongly opposed this recommendation, saying the move would dismantle a community of fragile learners at a time when the school has just begun to make strides toward improvement.
According to the report, creating a magnet school and consolidating the dual-language classrooms would enable teachers to collaborate and share resources more easily, while additional Spanish dual-language classes could be added to accommodate the considerable interest in the program.
The board discussed a number of options regarding the Spanish dual-language program, including creating a magnet at the Lincoln Center (which houses the district’s administrative offices); making no changes to the program; creating a magnet at either the district’s 11th or 12th elementary school; or creating a magnet at Seawell, Glenwood or Morris Grove.
Board members quickly took the options of making no changes or creating a magnet at Lincoln Center off the table.
“I think it’s obvious doing nothing doesn’t say anything to the needs and desires to grow the program,†board member Annetta Streater said. “We know that there’s a demand for it.â€
In addition, the Lincoln Center would require millions of dollars in renovations in order to house a dual-language magnet school, board members said.
Several Carrboro Elementary parents spoke in favor of making Carrboro a Spanish dual-language magnet school, noting the popularity and success of the program at Carrboro.
“The Hispanic community supports the dual-language program at Carrboro,†parent Maria Guadalupe Anza said in Spanish. “We believe that Carrboro Elementary is located in a central location for the entire district and with a good concentration of the Hispanic community.â€
Anza added that creating a magnet at Carrboro would give more children the opportunity to take advantage of the program.
However, some board members expressed hesitation regarding the Carrboro magnet option, noting the school’s large walk zone.
Regarding elementary school 11, which is set to open in the fall of 2013 in the Northside neighborhood, board members said they did not want to consider a magnet school there because of its large walk zone, as well as the history of the school site and the historically black community surrounding the school, which has expressed a desire to be connected to the school.
The timeframe for the opening of elementary school 12 is too uncertain at this point to consider it as the district’s dual-language magnet school, board members said.
The board also came to the conclusion that creating a magnet school at Seawell, Glenwood or Morris Grove would not work well, since Glenwood is limited by size, Seawell would displace about 300 students – twice as many as an FPG magnet – and Morris Grove is not centrally located.
However, the board left open the possibility of creating magnet programs within multiple schools in the district while maintaining those schools’ attendance zones, asking staff to come back with more information regarding that possibility.
Staff will return to the board with more information on the remaining options for the program on June 7, when the board could take a vote on the recommendations.
Any magnet site is a good idea. But the District has budget constraints. The best site for a magnet school is the one where it costs the least to put that in place. Because otherwise, the benefit of the program comes at the expense of other students.