Wake County approves new student assignment plan. Is your child affected?
Hundreds of Wake County students will change schools over the next two years, despite the objections from some parents who said the move will hurt their children.
The Wake County school board approved a new assignment plan Tuesday that school leaders say is needed to fill new and under-enrolled schools and to reduce crowding at existing schools. Before the vote, school board members said they realize the moves will be difficult on families.
“This is not something that we take any enjoyment or pleasure from,” said school board member Lindsay Mahaffey. “We know that these are families that have built communities where they are.
“We know that they are going into communities that are just as wonderful, but leaving a community that you know and are connected with and have relationships with is a difficult thing.”
Beginning Wednesday, parents can go to wcpss.net/2020enrollmentproposal to see if their address is affected. The school district will also send notices to families who face being moved.
School officials say the majority of the moves are associated with filling South Lakes Elementary, which opens in Fuquay-Varina in 2020, and Willow Spring High, opening in 2021.
Officials did not provide a specific number of students who could be affected in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years. But they estimate it will be less than 1 percent of the district’s 161,917 students, or 1,500 students.
Grandfathering option
The number of reassigned students will drop after eligible students use the grandfathering option that allows them to remain at their current school, even though their neighborhood is being switched to a different school. But those students will need to provide their own transportation, which will prevent some families who rely on bus service from being able to use grandfathering.
Students who are eligible for grandfathering will automatically have their requests approved. They can apply beginning Dec. 11.
School board member Monika Johnson-Hostler tried unsuccessfully Tuesday to expand the grandfathering option to include rising seventh-grade students. But student assignment staff said middle schools would remain crowded if too many students stay.
Instead, board members said they will consider parents’ hardship reasons when they submit transfer requests to explain why their children shouldn’t be moved.
”At the very least, I walk away from the table, knowing that the board heard my concerns about the disruptions that we will be causing in District 2 and the impact that it will have on families,” Johnson-Hostler said.
Parent complaints
The plan has drawn complaints from some parents about their children being moved to schools that are further away, on a different calendar and potentially also have lower test scores. School officials told parents not to judge schools based on a single letter grade or test scores.
Some changes have been made since the first proposal was released in October, including on Tuesday. During a work session, the board agreed to make Baucom Elementary School as the traditional-calendar option for families being reassigned from Highcroft Elementary School.
More than 30 parents pleaded at last month’s public hearing for their children not to be moved. Some parents renewed their requests on Tuesday, saying the school board should slow down before making the final vote.
“You’re not moving numbers around,” said Pete Bley, a Holly Springs parent. “You’re moving children around, and you’re impacting their social and emotional welfare.”
New school board chairman Keith Sutton said their options are limited by growth, which is bringing around 1,400 new students this school year to Wake.
“This is a challenging reassignment plan for us all,” he said.
This story was originally published December 3, 2019 at 8:44 PM with the headline "Wake County approves new student assignment plan. Is your child affected?."
