Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools is redrawing the school district lines because of the creation of the system's ninth elementary school, slated to open in Meadowmont in August 2003.
Elementary-school-student parents who live in Lake Hogan Farms, a neighborhood that has been redistricted twice in the past three years, constituted about half the audience at a forum Tuesday night. More than 80 people were in attendance.
After being redistricted in 1999 because of the opening of Mary Scroggs Elementary School, Lake Hogan Farms also was partially redistricted in 2001.
Steve Scroggs, assistant superintendent for support services, said enrolled students were unaffected in 2001 because the school system only redistricted unoccupied homes in the neighborhood.
Representatives from the Lake Hogan Farms group asked the committee to consider allowing all of the children in the neighborhood to go to the same elementary school. "Our ideal outcome is to have all our children at McDougle (Elementary School)," said Lake Hogan Farms resident Luke Prussa.
McDougle Elementary was one of the schools faced with overcrowding before redistricting in 1999 sent some to Carrboro Elementary School.
"We are a growing neighborhood, and they were trying to find a way to deal with growth in that part of the district," said Lake Hogan Farms resident Kelly Wayne, who has two children at McDougle Elementary.
Chapel Hill resident Mark Smith said he is worried about potential redistricting and the effects of changing schools on children. "Transition and change create stress and anxiety in children," he said. "Anxiety and apprehension interfere with learning."
The building of a ninth elementary school was not the only cause for the possible redistricting -- Wayne said overcrowded schools also are a concern.
