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The reassignment was considered because of growth. Creekside Elementary is located in a part of Durham that has seen a great deal of growth in recent years. The studnet population has grown so much that they began to run out of classroom space. The school board is dealing with this with addition classrooms - first with trailors, but eventually with permanent buildings.
I understand what is going on MrsSteel. What I dont understand is how they pick the kids and to what schools? Normal intelligence would think it should be based on a hiearchy sysytem; the people who have lived there first/longest get the local schools and the newcomers get placed in other schools. Right?
With the growth in Durham and the growth in Johnston County, its just a matter of time before new schools are necessary. As these new schools are built, they will need students to fill them. Some students will be re assigned. Its inevitable. Wake County began the same way. The problem is that its difficult to keep up the building of new schools with the growth. Hopefully, Durham County will see what Wake County has done right and done wrong and will prepare now. Johnston County is already building new schools as fast as possible.
As in WAke County, when you buy your house, your kids will go to the school that they are assigned THAT YEAR. There are no promises that they'll go to that school the next year. Typically, neighborhoods are re assigned not individual students.
Its just something we have lived with for YEARS AND YEARS!
I understand what is going on MrsSteel. What I dont understand is how they pick the kids and to what schools? Normal intelligence would think it should be based on a hiearchy sysytem; the people who have lived there first/longest get the local schools and the newcomers get placed in other schools. Right?
Actually, I think that idea sounds much too complicated. The kids on one little cul-de-sac could be assigned to multiple elementary schools under that plan. Can you imagine the bussing? You might have 2 or 3 busses for the elementary students on that one cul-de-sac. That sound ridiculously & unnecessarily complicated.
No, the length of time you have lived here has absolutely no influence on where your kids go to school. Most kids in Durham end up assigned to the school closest to them.
And yes, Durham is building new schools, too, just like the other districts in the area. Just give them time.
The reassignment was considered because of growth. Creekside Elementary is located in a part of Durham that has seen a great deal of growth in recent years. The studnet population has grown so much that they began to run out of classroom space. The school board is dealing with this with addition classrooms - first with trailors, but eventually with permanent buildings.
The comprehensive enrollment study that DPS is conducting will look at growth issues in all of Durham, not just the Creekside area. So HOPEFULLY we are better prepared to prevent over crowding in other areas of Durham as well as fixing the issue in South Durham.
The study will be complete next November. I would expect that next January the office of student assignment will make several redistricting recommendations, as all South Durham elementary schools are currently either over capacity, at capacity, or very close to capacity. As I understand all the elementary schools in Durham outside of Central Durham are at or above capacity. So this is not a unique issue, but just extreme in the cases of Oakgrove (which will be relieved by new elementary B in Aug) and Creekside.
Anyone got some land in South Durham they want to give to the district for another school site? It sure would help.
PDXmom, thank you so so much for providing more info. I was having a really hard time finding news coverage of this story. The Herald Sun had and article but you have to be registered user to read their articles.
I'm glad they came up with a solution that doesn't involve moving the kids next year, but yes, the problem is not going away any time soon. They need addition schools all over town. I have read elsewhere about plans to build additional middle and high schools in southern Durham, too, but I have no idea if they have any particular pieces of land in mind yet or when they hope to open those schools. Do you know anything about this?
PDXmom, thank you so so much for providing more info. I was having a really hard time finding news coverage of this story. The Herald Sun had and article but you have to be registered user to read their articles.
I'm glad they came up with a solution that doesn't involve moving the kids next year, but yes, the problem is not going away any time soon. They need addition schools all over town. I have read elsewhere about plans to build additional middle and high schools in southern Durham, too, but I have no idea if they have any particular pieces of land in mind yet or when they hope to open those schools. Do you know anything about this?
Per Hugh Osteen from DPS ( I think I got his name right??) he has said yes, the want and need to build new schools in South Durham, including middle & high schools. Jordan had been over crowded for years now. I think the middle schools have not been as crowded because several families in South Durham opt of public schools during middle school and come back for high school.
Osteen has talked about building and land at previous school board meetings. I'll give you an idea of what he's discussed. When Creekside was built the original plan was suppose to include 8 more classrooms than it currently has and it had extra land where they would build a middle school. Creekside opened w/ 8 less classrooms due to budget / construction issues. So the bond passed November in 07 that funded the 8 extra Creekside classrooms are a bit of catch up to what was suppose to exsist back in 2003.
No bond has actually been presented for a middle school at Creekside, thus the district can and is planning to scrap the Creekside middle school idea and in 09 ask for bond money to build another elementary school at Creekside. One will house k-2 & the other 3-5. The reason they are doing this instead of looking for land else where is because the district can no longer afford land in South Durham. They've been looking since right before Southpoint opened and they've been priced out. So unless someone generously donates land or a developer uses it as a carrot it will be VERY difficult for the district to afford land in this area.
Currently they feel they are ok on middle school seats. Dr. Harris mentioned that they just added a middle school to WG Pearson. But I'm not 100% sure how many families that will help. And currently WG Pearson elementary students have first shot at the middle school and then everyone else is lotteried. I would think many elementary families would choose to stay on for middle school.
BUT the district realizes they need to add middle schools and are planning to look at this as part of the comprehensize plan that is being commissioned. They know since they need more elementary seats here that very soon they will need more middle school seats. They did not discuss high school specifics but that they needed to look at the number of seat there too.
The district can identify the needs but it's up to the voters to pass the bonds to meet the needs. And usually about 50% of the needs get on a bond at one time as to not scare off voters. So it's a delicate balancing act.
What I would like to see happen is changes to our city and county laws to make developers more responsible for impact fees. It's illegal in Durham Co to charge a developer an impact fee for schools. I've heard that Orange Co charges developers. And I don't think it should be just homes that are charged... all new buildings should pay something.
I haven't lived here long enough to determine if the BOE has done a good job of forcasting or not. I do know several residents in South Durham who are frustrated because Creekside was opened to relieve over crowding at Parkwood & Forestview. When Creekside opened, Parkwood & Forestview went back down to about 100% capacity. Creekside was over capacity on day 1 and has continued to grow. But it's taken 3 years to get the ball rolling to get a study done. Since I was not here I don't know of the issues on either side (parents or DPS). But the reality is that for 3 years everyone (DPS, Teachers, Parents, City & County) has seen the train coming.
Just a little more background information on the Creekside overcrowding issue. DPS used to own the land at the corner of Alston and 54 across from the Lowes Grove Middle. In 2001 they declared it surplus (if I remember correctly this was the same year Southpoint Mall opened and it was becoming obvious that South Durham was going to boom.) In 2003 the Board of Commissioners instructed the DPS to look at that land as a location for a new elementary school and DPS came back with multiple reasons it wasn't suitable including being located by a busy intersection, not enough houses nearby and near commercial development. And while I can't find evidence of this in any articles I researched I seem also to remember there being some discussion of the fact that the land there was a premium piece so they could use the money to buy a larger plot of land elsewhere in South Durham. Perhaps that was part of the 2001 decision to make it surplus. In any case DPS wound up selling the land to the county for $1 million which was no more than half its appraised value. The rationale for selling it so cheap was that it was going to another government entity (which is the same entity that provides school funding so it really was more of an internal transfer). However instead of taking that money and buying land to hold for when a new school was needed they used the money to expand the band room at Hillside High. Futher the bond with money to buy the land for a new elementary school for South Durham was passed in 2003 so the money was there. Now some would argue that DPS couldn't know that land prices would skyrocket. However they did have some insight as DPS had some difficulty in locating land for Creekside. Originally the location of Creekside was somewhat controversial because it was larger than what was needed and too close to the county line. However it was approved because a better parcel was not available at a cost DPS could afford. So DPS was aware that land in South Durham would be difficult to procure. Further in 2003 Parkwood was almost 400 students over capacity meaning that 2/3's of Creekside's seats were spoken for just from Parkwood so DPS also knew that any growth in South Durham was going to increase overcrowding.
Now to be fair I need to point out that only one of the current BOE members (Steve Martin) was on the BOE at that time and Carl Harris was hired as an asst superintendent in 2003 after these decisions were made. Hugh Osteen does appear to have been around. But the fact remains; DPS has been guilty of poor planning in South Durham for years and isn't doing much to correct it.
durhammom, thanks for the background info!! I have not been here long enough to know all this. So it's good to know. I really wonder what was the motivation to throw out the baby with the bath water in the case of the Lowes Grove Land Sale. Then again maybe it was just bad judgement.
durhammom, Thanks for the information. I like living in Durham, but unfortunately elected officials here (at all levels) have shown poor judgement time and again. It would be interesting to know whether they send their kids to private schools. It is one thing for officials to acknowledge the need for more elementary, middle , and high schools in South Durham. It's another thing to actually take the necessary steps and decisions needed to make that happen. We'll see what happens after the next report.
Thanks for posting these updates PDXmom. While it's never a pretty subject, as an outsider, it seems to me that at least DPS is thinking about reassignments based on need and population and not just trying to spread the diversity around with a nebulous F&R statistic.
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Creekside & over-crowding
