
{"id":27916,"date":"2012-09-20T10:01:37","date_gmt":"2012-09-20T14:01:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=27916"},"modified":"2012-09-20T10:01:37","modified_gmt":"2012-09-20T14:01:37","slug":"county-and-boe-discuss-pre-k-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2012\/09\/20\/county-and-boe-discuss-pre-k-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"County and BOE discuss pre-K concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Rose Laudicina<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Staff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n<p>With budgets shrinking and enrollment on the rise, both the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and the Orange County Schools districts are encountering problems with where to house students in their aging facilities.<\/p>\n<p>One of the biggest groups they are having trouble finding space for happens to be their smallest learners, the pre-kindergarten classes. <\/p>\n<p>Both boards shared their concerns regarding space for pre-K classrooms and their districts\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 aging schools and facilities with the Orange County Commissioners at a joint meeting last Thursday. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We are really struggling with our old buildings,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Superintendent Tom Forcella said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We need pre-K programs, and it is important that they have the right kind of space,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he added. <\/p>\n<p>Currently, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools (CHCCS) serves 222 pre-K students in 18 classrooms, with at least one in each of their 10 elementary schools. Orange County Schools serve 189 students in nine classrooms. <\/p>\n<p>Both districts also currently have waiting lists for their pre-K classrooms, and while school officials say they would like to accommodate everyone, there is simply no more room and not enough money. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It would be wonderful if we could serve more [pre-K students],\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Orange County Schools Superintendent Patrick Rhodes said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153But the funding is not there at this time to do that.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>And just as the funding isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t there, the space isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t either. Having pre-K classrooms in an elementary school requires outfitting the classroom space to meet specific standards for a younger age group that typical elementary school classrooms do not have to meet. <\/p>\n<p>While new schools are being built with designated pre-kindergarten classrooms, Todd LoFrese, assistant superintendent for support services for CHCCS, explained to commissioners that in order to create a pre-K classroom, which older schools in both districts weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t originally built with, requires age-appropriate items such as in-class restrooms, smaller furniture and a separate playground. <\/p>\n<p>In addition to the high cost to retrofit a classroom, removing a classroom and designating it as pre-K can negatively affect the school\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s capacity. <\/p>\n<p>Pre-K classrooms, and therefore their students, do not count in the Schools, Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (SAPFO) overall enrollment numbers. This means that while an elementary school in the CHHCS district might be sitting right at its SAPFO cap of 105 percent enrollment, they would actually be over that cap due to the pre-K classrooms at the school. <\/p>\n<p>SAPFO is measured in November. CHCCS\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 SAPFO cap of 105 percent capacity is 5,506 students. However, LoFrese told the commissioners that by November, CHCCS is projected to have 5,520 students enrolled. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It shows there is more need then we can serve,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d county Commissioner Pam Hemminger said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There is not enough funding, and there is not enough space.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>The board of commissioners told the two school boards that while they understand and are sympathetic to their capacity problems and how that affects their ability to provide access and opportunity for Orange County children, they also are operating on a tight budget and have obligations to serve Orange County residents beyond just the schools. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We are all very supportive of education,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Commissioner Bernadette Pelissier said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153but we also have other needs [in the county] as well.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Pelissier, along with other board members, shared some of the county\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pressing issues that require significant funding. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153While we always hear your budget needs, you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always know what our big-picture budget needs are,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Pelissier added. <\/p>\n<p>In addition to looking into how to finance the two school districts\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 needs, the county is dealing with possible expenses for projects such as revamping the EMS and 911\/communications systems, constructing a new jail and building a community center for the Rogers Road neighborhood. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Both the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and the Orange County Schools districts are encountering problems with where to house students in their aging facilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27916"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27918,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27916\/revisions\/27918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}