Union County Public Schools redistricting (Weddington, Stallings: sales, rent, buyer)
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I sympathize with this school board! No easy answers. I don't want my children moved either but I cannot imagine how stressful it must be these days being on any of the UCPS Board these days!
Neither the MS or the HS is "at" capacity in comparison to Marvin Middle and Kennsington. If they shift a number of current Cuthbertson students to Parkwood, that frees up the space needed to accommodate the students from the Marvin cluster.
Why displace a double amount of kids?
It makes no sense plus it will create an island of hoses for sale in the affected area...too many unhappy kids and parents, not good (unless one is a realtor or one wants to move in reduced price houses)...
I know a few families that got fed up with the rezoning of the district lines here and put their kids in private school. They live right near the William Davie Park on 51. One family had three kids that were rezoned three times during their school years before they got fed up and put them in private schools. The last straw was when their then sophomore had to go to South Meck instead of Providence High which is just down the road from them. The board doesn't really care what impact they have on the kids that can't be grandfathered in.
Why displace a double amount of kids?
It makes no sense plus it will create an island of hoses for sale in the affected area...too many unhappy kids and parents, not good (unless one is a realtor or one wants to move in reduced price houses)...
If schools A & B are at capacity or over in this case AND more housing is being built as is going on right now, the only alternative they have is to redistrict. They can only do so much with trailers and there has been some pressure from the feds not to put trailers on sites if redistricting can be done effectively. Then there's the whole pumping up an underpreforming school thing that is also sitting in the background.
The BOE doesn't consider property values when making assignment decisions.
BTW the next phase of Lawson, on the Culbertson side is starting up....
First of all - thank you jlat for taking your own time to keep us informed of what you're seeing and hearing. It is greatly appreciated and I hope you continue to keep us updated.
I find it horribly unfair to put the blame on the BoE or represent them as unfeeling or not caring about the kids. I also find it disingenuous to dismiss the ideas presented as wrong or misguided without providing an alternative... because frankly it stinks of simple whining.
The bottom line is that there are 3 middle schools substantially over subscribed and other schools under utilized - we can debate how that happened (and btw I would love to because that's not solely the BoE's fault - planning is a major culprit, others, etc), but that doesn't address the core problem.
You can't effectively operate schools at 120% capacity... so there is no viable answer that doesn't address that 1 simple fact. Something has to be done.
First of all - thank you jlat for taking your own time to keep us informed of what you're seeing and hearing. It is greatly appreciated and I hope you continue to keep us updated.
I find it horribly unfair to put the blame on the BoE or represent them as unfeeling or not caring about the kids. I also find it disingenuous to dismiss the ideas presented as wrong or misguided without providing an alternative... because frankly it stinks of simple whining.
The bottom line is that there are 3 middle schools substantially over subscribed and other schools under utilized - we can debate how that happened (and btw I would love to because that's not solely the BoE's fault - planning is a major culprit, others, etc), but that doesn't address the core problem.
You can't effectively operate schools at 120% capacity... so there is no viable answer that doesn't address that 1 simple fact. Something has to be done.
I so agree. I don't think the growth UC is experiencing is typical growth! In July alone, 100 new families registered at Weddington Elementary School! I cannot imagine what the other numbers were for the other schools!
I went to the meeting this morning at the UCPS Office. There were only 6 seats available for community members. So, I was lucky to get a seat. There were 9 neighborhoods represented.
The general meeting purpose was, a training meeting for the facilities committee, on how to go about capping and redistricting. There were no decisions made, just how to go about it.
The Facilities Committee will be reviewing several factors and then making suggestions/recommendations to the school board.
They were informed to review current numbers at our schools and determine if any need to be “Capped”. Capping is when they no longer accept “new” students. Capping happens when safety and seats are no longer feasible. This is when core capacity is reached or student seating is no longer available.
Once any school is capped, redistricting follows automatically
Kensington elementary is at 120% capacity. (Cap was set at 1000.)
Marvin Ridge Middle School is at 119 % capacity. (Cap was set at 1300.)
Porter Ridge Middle is also at 119%. (Cap was set at 1300.)
There was a motion to “recommend” capping of these three schools. Motion was approved. So, at the next board meeting on 11/12/13, it will be recommended that the school board cap these three schools with the suggested cap limit. This will initiate redistricting.
Dr Gerry McGibbon is doing a study of the 7 year growth projection. This will be presented and reviewed at the December 3rd meeting. This information will be used to determine which areas will need the most relief.
Factors that the facility committee should to determine where to redistrict are:
· Utilizing under capacity schools
· Transportation efficiency
· Minimizing need to move students again with in 3 year window.
Some additional items that were explained were:
· Seniors would be grandfathered.
· 5th & 8th graders could be considered for grandfathering, along with siblings but NO TRANSPORTATION would be provided. It would only be for that one school year.
At this point, we as a community need to go to the meetings. We can either have a small organized group or go as individuals unorganized.
There were folks there who were angry and started with lawsuit threats and I can tell you it was not received well. The Superintendent basically stopped talking with that individual as soon as the threat was made. So, I suggest a calm and cool approach. She and I had a great conversation and I feel we just need to stay informed at this point.
The next meeting is 11/12/13 at 7pm at Rock Rest Elementary.
The 12/3/13 meeting, at 7pm at Rocky River Elementary, will be important because the McGibbon report will be discussed and it will shed more light on the projected growth.
Followed by a 1/7/14 meeting, 7pm at Sandy Ridge and a 2/4/14 meeting, 7pm at Sardis Elementary.
The next really important meeting will be 3/4/14. This meeting the school board will present the new map and affected neighborhoods. There will be a public hearing on/around 3/13/14 where they will have open community discussion. Then 3/20/14 the school board decides.
Once the decision is made letters will go out to the families.
Thanks so much, jlat... very helpful and nice of you to share... and I'm with you that yelling/becoming irate will certainly not do anyone any good!
Thanks for providing that update. I'm just praying we get to stay with our schools, it really would make no logical sense not to since we are so close to the schools our kids currently go to, but I guess that won't matter.
This is a life changer for us. We get moved to Parkwood and game over, we have to move quick.
This is a life changer for us. We get moved to Parkwood and game over, we have to move quick.
There are a lot of people in the same boat. It's one thing to tell some Marvin kids that they will move from one 10 star school to another. It's a totally different scenario moving Cuthbertson kids to a 6 star school.
I also found this interesting...
Factors that the facility committee should to determine where to redistrict are:
· Utilizing under capacity schools
· Transportation efficiency
· Minimizing need to move students again with in 3 year window.
those things are important but what about the people side of the equation?... family hardship?, diversity?, child welfare?, consistency?, long term vision?
Last edited by WaxhawMike; 11-08-2013 at 08:38 AM..
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Thanks, jlat
