The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools District Board of Education met on June 20 to discuss driver's education and athletic game fees as well as an update on the proposed school bond referendum.
What's new?
- The district’s exceptional children department presented an end-of-year update on the department’s demographic information, types of disability, ratio of teachers to students and staffing improvements.
- Some next steps outlined in the report include establishing principal training, creating new systems and structures for data collection and expanding instructional resources.
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Al Ciarochi, CHCCS’ deputy superintendent of operations, and Andre Stewart, CHCCS’ chief operating officer, presented an update on CHCCS’ planned use for the $300 million bond that will appear on ballots for the November election.
- Ciarochi noted that the district would likely only be able to complete half of their goals with the bond money, and there may be another referendum in about 10 years.
- Woolpert, a consulting firm, assessed that CHCCS would need more than $573 million over 10 years. Orange County plans to contribute $187.7 million for new school development and $93 million for ongoing maintenance.
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Some of the goals outlined in CHCCS’ approach include rebuilding schools, creating vibrant learning environments and providing ongoing maintenance to schools.
- “We’re not taking the band-aid approach,” Ciarochi said.
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The first option is to build a new middle school adjacent to Morris Grove Elementary School and relocate McDougle Middle School's student population there. Then, McDougle Middle would be used to combine all Spanish dual-language programs in the district. McDougle Elementary School's student population would be redistributed to nearby schools.
- The unification of the dual-language program would empty out Frank Porter Graham Elementary School, which could then be used as a vessel for the students at schools that are in the process of being replaced.
- Carrboro Elementary School and Culbreth Middle School would also be replaced.
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The second option is similar to the first, but Morris Grove Elementary would be expanded to create a dual-language campus, students would be relocated to nearby schools and Frank Porter Graham Elementary would be taken offline. Carrboro Elementary and Culbreth Middle would both be replaced.
- Estes Hills Elementary School’s student population would also be redistributed and then replaced with money from the next bond referendum.
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Option three would replace Frank Porter Graham Elementary on land near Morris Grove Elementary, allowing the old building to be taken offline. Carrboro Elementary and Culbreth Middle would be replaced, and the plan to redistribute and rebuild Estes Hills Elementary with the next referendum would remain in place.
- Additionally, an alternate version of this option would include tearing down Estes Hills Elementary and building a new Phillips Middle School on the Estes Hills Elementary site.
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The fourth and final option includes building a new Frank Porter Graham Elementary on land adjacent to Morris Grove Elementary, moving Frank Porter Graham Elementary students to a new elementary school, building a new Phillips Middle School on the old Estes Hills Elementary site and, in the next referendum, a new Estes Hills Elementary would be built on the old Phillips Middle site.
- No students would be displaced in this option.
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One impact of options one, two and three is disrupted transportation and walkability.
- “Eliminating the district’s two largest walk zones will strain a bus system that is already strained,” community member Emily Ray said. “The transportation dependency of the original and now revised proposals simply is not feasible with the bus driver shortages that we’re already experiencing.”
- Ciarochi noted that the district would likely only be able to complete half of their goals with the bond money, and there may be another referendum in about 10 years.
What decisions were made?
- The board approved a resolution to enact a fee on driver’s education to help alleviate costs not covered by the state’s allotted $220,000 annually for the program. Additionally, the resolution reinstated entrance fees for high school athletic events. Admission had been free since the COVID-19 pandemic, but the waived costs have impacted athletic budgets.
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Tim Coyne Smith, a Chapel Hill High School sports coach, raised concern about options for students without the financial capability to pay to attend sports games.
- “I don’t think we should be approving a plan until we have something, a plan in place, for those students,” he said. “We can all hope that there will be a plan, but, as I have often been told, hope is not a strategy, and hope is not a plan.”
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Tim Coyne Smith, a Chapel Hill High School sports coach, raised concern about options for students without the financial capability to pay to attend sports games.
- The board unanimously approved Surry Insurance’s risk management portfolio, which outlined insurance costs for the upcoming school year. The costs increased by around $309,500 from the 2023-24 school year.
What’s next?
The board will meet again on July 18 at 6 p.m.
