Public to share thoughts about reassignment

After identifying its top five criteria to consider in school reassignment, the Orange County School Board is now turning to the public for feedback.

County schools are undergoing the reassignment process due in part to the construction of the district’s third middle school — slated to open in Efland in 2006.

A public hearing on the criteria will be held at 6 p.m. Monday at A.L. Stanback Middle School.

Residents also can respond to the reassignment criteria online at http://www.orange.k12.nc.us.

“I’m eager to hear what students and parents have to say,” said board member Liz Brown.

The criteria identified by the board include students’ proximity to schools, the socio-economic and ethnic balances of schools after reassignment, the need to minimize the number of affected students, and allowing students to progress easily from elementary to middle to high schools.

“We want to have a cross-section of students in the new school,” said board member Delores Simpson.

Board member Al Hartkopf said that while he wants to achieve socio-economic and ethnic balance at the schools, he does not want to break up communities or force children to attend schools where they do not know anyone.

“I think we have a moral mandate to teach children no matter what building they’re at,” he said.

Both Hartkopf and Brown also said they want to make sure students’ trips to school are kept short.

“Some of these children are expected to go five hours or better between getting on the bus and lunch,” Hartkopf said. “You can’t teach a hungry child.”

Brown added that the board wants to spread out the free and reduced lunch population so the district doesn’t end up with a school like Central Elementary — where 70 percent of the student population receives free and reduced lunches.

Chairwoman Libbie Hough said the board has not yet started looking at the specific numbers of students or neighborhoods that will need to be reassigned.

“We’re just trying to determine how to make those decisions, not what those decisions will be,” she said. “We’re a year away from a final decision.”

The district undertook its last reassignment process because of the construction of Cedar Ridge High School, which first opened its doors in 2001.

The unintended outcomes of that reassignment included growth in some areas of the district and a lack of growth in others, Hough said.

Some schools in the district are now over capacity and others are under capacity, she explained.

The board wants to use this reassignment opportunity to rebalance all of the district’s schools.

“We’re looking at all 11 schools,” Hough said.

Though it is not one of the board’s top five concerns, Hartkopf said he also wants to expand the district’s year-round program and offer it to more children.

Hillsborough Elementary School is the district’s only year-round elementary school.

Other criteria the board is considering include geographic continuity within the district and developing a plan that is sustainable for five to 10 years. The school board will approve its final reassignment plan in February 2006.

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.