So....has anyone looked at the new maps on WCPSS? (Cary: house, neighborhoods) - Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary - North Carolina (NC) -The Triangle Area - City-Data Forum

annesg · 10-05-2010, 11:53 AM

On 9/29 WCPSS posted some new maps with revised information on them. I looked at them and noticed that despite the school board's pledge to 1) establish neighborhood schools and 2) stop bisecting neighborhoods, they had done NEITHER of these in my case. Our base elementary is in the Panther Creek zone (West Region); our base middle is in the Cary High zone, and our high school is Panther Creek. Thus, kids will spend 3 years in a different zone. Furthermore, my subdivision is STILL divided in half for elementary and middle schools.

Has anyone else noticed this? I'm not particularly in favor of the neighborhood schools plan (I would prefer they hadn't outright ditched the diversity plan), but it strikes me as pretty annoying that they haven't even done what they said they were going to do. As far as I could tell we're the only elementary in the West region that doesn't stay in zone.

FVmommy · 10-05-2010, 12:26 PM

My understanding is that as of now, there won't be base schools, and your kids will go to the middle school in whichever zone your home address is in, not the zone where they currently go to school.

It's a big mess and I think it's only going to get messier before all is said and done. I'm all for transparency, but I think letting all us parents see the process in bits and pieces from the beginning without explaining to us how assignments are going to be made, choices granted, etc., is creating more problems than solutions. Maybe I'll be happy with the final product, maybe I won't, but I think it's better to not look until they have a plan they're actually proposing to the entire board.

lunadesign · 10-05-2010, 12:37 PM

Annesg, how were you able to tell that your subdivision was cut in half? I'm not sure if I'm reading it correctly, but I just saw a list of schools that go with each region, not a specific node to school list. Maybe I missed that list?

bcattwood · 10-05-2010, 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lunadesign

Annesg, how were you able to tell that your subdivision was cut in half? I'm not sure if I'm reading it correctly, but I just saw a list of schools that go with each region, not a specific node to school list. Maybe I missed that list?

You can find "Base Attendance Maps with School Locations and Zones" here .

annesg · 10-05-2010, 12:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FVmommy

My understanding is that as of now, there won't be base schools, and your kids will go to the middle school in whichever zone your home address is in, not the zone where they currently go to school.

Yes. you are right. EXCEPT in my current kids' elementary. Let's put it this way: our house is in the Panther Creek Zone. Our elementary school is in the Panther Creek Zone. Our middle school? In the Cary High zone. Seriously.

As for my 'hood being bisected, our n'hood currently is divided--some go to Cedar Fork, some go to Carpenter (as their base--this is NOT a calendar choice but a BASE ASSIGNMENT issue). That divide has continued. The middle schools are also different--one half to W. Cary Middle (in the Panther Creek Zone) and one half (mine) to E. Cary Middle (in the Cary High zone).

Have I explained it clearly? What I'm saying is that they have made two promises but haven't delivered. So my kids will go to middle school in a different zone with the small handful of at most the 19-20 kids they've known on their track during elementary. They will surely make new friends, but won't be going to high school with those friends--they'll be going to Panther Creek where all the kids have gone through elementary and middle school with a large cohort. Their middle school friends will all go to Cary High except for whomever is left from elementary school.

Our middle school assignment was always idiotic to me, a CLEAR case of just shoving kids wherever they would fit, but the so-caled neighborhood schools plan does nothing to help that.

lunadesign · 10-05-2010, 01:00 PM

Thanks!

LARRY2CARY · 10-05-2010, 01:48 PM

I can not figure these maps out! Can someone PLEASE tell me if my node is 398.4 what will be my base elementary, middle, & high school would be according to the new maps. I would really appreciate it!

HollyVilla · 10-05-2010, 01:59 PM

Actually no...your kids will go to the school in your zone. They will be grandfathered if they are currently attending...but if your zone is Panther Creek - your elementary, middle and high school will be in Panther Creek. The only guaranteed assignment is your High School. Every thing else with this plan will be lottery based.

Not exactly what we had in mind with community schools?

SaucyAussie · 10-05-2010, 02:02 PM

I would it expect it to take several years for the neighborhood school plan to take shape.

NewUser · 10-05-2010, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LARRY2CARY

I can not figure these maps out! Can someone PLEASE tell me if my node is 398.4 what will be my base elementary, middle, & high school would be according to the new maps. I would really appreciate it!

It's not really that difficult. . . . .

Find your node on the map. That node will be in a colored region called your zone. Now, open the document which lists schools for each zone. You should see a number of elementary schools. My understanding is that you would have a choice of any of those schools. How they decide who gets a particular school when one of them fills up. . . I don't know.

For example, my node is 447.1. It is in the Middle Creek zone. The elementary schools assigned to this zone are Banks, Middle Creek, and West Lake. Unfortunately, these are all YR schools. My understanding is that they need to provide a calendar choice for each zone, so perhaps I can expect more changes.