Thousands of Wake students could change schools next year. Are your kids being moved?
Thousands of Wake County could be reassigned to different schools in 2025 in what the district says is meant to ultimately provide more long-term stability.
Wake County school administrators presented Tuesday the first draft of a student assignment plan for the 2025-26 school year that fills four new schools and moves students at other schools. Most of the plan impacts southern and southwestern Wake, where the new schools will open.
Student reassignment has historically been a contentious topic drawing complaints from families who don’t want to be moved. But student assignment staff said Tuesday that they’re proposing moves that they hope will last for several years.
“I appreciate the forethought into hearing, ‘Yes, this is a big shift but we’re hoping not to touch these areas for a while,’” said school board member Lindsay Mahaffey, whose district is heavily impacted by the plan. “That is really important because this is really hard.”
View the assignment plan
In total, the plan calls for moving students out of 26 different schools. The exact total on the number of students who could be reassigned usually isn’t provided until later versions of the assignment plan.
The public can view the plan at wcpss.net/2025enrollmentproposal. People can see whether their address is affected by searching osageo.wcpss.net/enrollment-proposal-lookup.
People can provide feedback at an online forum (wcpss.net/initialdraft1feedback). School officials say they use the feedback to decide whether to make changes for the second draft, which will be released Oct. 15.
Under the proposed timeline, the school board will hold a public hearing in late October or early November. The final plan is presented to the school board for a vote Nov. 12.
Filling new schools
In 2025, Wake is opening Felton Grove High School in Holly Springs. The district will also open Bowling Road Elementary in Fuquay-Varina, Pleasant Plains Elementary in Apex and Rex Road Elementary in Holly Springs.
All three new elementary schools will open on a multi-track year-round calendar because of overcrowding in those areas. They are slated to get some students coming from traditional-calendar schools.
Students are also being moved into Baucom Elementary School in Apex and Fuquay-Varina Middle School because recent renovations have increased how many students they can hold.
Some of the proposed moves include:
▪ Some students from Buckhorn Creek and Holly Grove elementary schools could move to Rex Road Elementary. This would have a “domino” impact as students are moved at other schools in Holly Springs and Fuquay-Varina.
▪ Some students could move from Buckhorn Creek, Fuquay-Varina, Herbert Akins Road, Lincoln Heights and South Lakes elementary schools to Bowling Road Elementary.
▪ Fuquay-Varina Middle will share the same campus with Bowling Road Elementary. Some students from Holly Grove Middle could move to Fuquay-Varina Middle.
▪ Some students from Apex, Apex Friendship and Scotts Ridge elementary schools could move to Pleasant Plains Elementary. This will result in some Olive Chapel Elementary students moving to Scotts Ridge.
▪ Some students from Olive Chapel and Scotts Ridge elementary schools could move to Baucom Elementary. Some students from Baucom Elementary would move to the closer Penny Road Elementary.
▪ Some students from Apex, Apex Friendship and Holly Springs high schools could move to Felton Grove High. It will only open with ninth- and 10th-grades and add a grade level a year over time.
Impact of bus driver shortage
Student assignment is based on a combination of four factors: operational efficiency, proximity, student achievement and stability. Student achievement is part of Wake’s longstanding efforts to try to balance school populations.
Wake has more bus drivers than it did a year ago but is hundreds of drivers short of how many it would like to have. As part of the ongoing shortage, the assignment plan calls for continuing the trend of moving students to closer schools to reduce the number of bus routes needed.
For instance, the plan calls for moving some students from Oak Grove Elementary to the much closer Powell Elementary in Raleigh.
“This will provide proximity and transportation efficiency,” Susan Pullium, senior director of student assignment, told the school board.
Stability transfers
Once the plan is approved, Wake will open a “stability transfer period,” or what used to be called “grandfathering.” This is an option that allows some students who are being moved to stay at their current school in exchange for losing bus service.
The proposed stability rules will vary depending on whether a student is being reassigned to a new school or an existing one. The newly renovated Baucom Elementary and Fuquay-Varina Middle are treated as existing schools under the stability rules.
“We do believe it’s important to provide families with stability,” Pullium said.
▪ Current students rising into fourth- and fifth-grades who are reassigned to Bowling Road, Pleasant Plains or Rex Road elementary schools can stay at their current school. In addition, their younger siblings will be able to stay with them at their current school.
▪ Rising freshmen and sophomores who are reassigned to Felton Grove High can stay at their previously assigned high school as long they’re together with an older sibling who will be a rising junior or senior. Those students will be able to ride the bus with their older sibling.
▪ Current students rising into grades 1-5 who are reassigned to an existing elementary school can stay at their current school. Their younger siblings who are entering kindergarten next year can stay with them.
▪ Current students rising into grades 7-8 who are reassigned to an existing middle school can stay at their current school. Their younger siblings who are entering sixth-grade next year can stay with them.
▪ Current students rising into grades 10-12 who are reassigned to an existing high school can stay at their current school. Their younger siblings who will be rising freshmen next year can stay with them.
This story was originally published September 3, 2024 at 4:31 PM with the headline "Thousands of Wake students could change schools next year. Are your kids being moved?."
