2004-05 Student Assignment Plan Parent Information

Introduction * School Construction And Assignment * New Schools: 2004 - 2009

Community Priorities and Plan Response * The Long View * Glossary

Wake County's constant, dramatic population growth forces the School System to constantly build new schools to provide safe, welcoming and effective educational environments for children in all parts of the county.

In 1985-1986, student enrollment in Wake County was 57,268. This year, 108,970 students were enrolled on the 20th day of school. The Wake County Planning Department projects student enrollment at 130,000 for 2010-2011 and 160,000 for 2020-2021.

One of the most visible effects of this growth and construction is the need to regularly readjust school assignments to fill new schools and reduce overcrowding at existing schools. On January 21, 2004, the Office of Growth Management will release its draft student assignment proposal to fill seven new schools and reduce overcrowding for the 2004-05 school year.

Student assignment planning is a complex and demanding task that requires balancing many goals:

Providing every student a safe, welcoming and academically healthy environment.
Making the most effective use of our school campuses.
Accomodating community priorities such as minimizing travel times and distances, assignment stability, keeping neighborhoods together and providing grandfathering exceptions for certain types of students.
Complying with Board of Education policies designed to maximize student performance.
The impact of future growth and school construction.

The school system is making a concerted, continuing effort to open the student assignment process to greater parental scrutiny and input. Parents played an important role in shaping the student assignment proposal for 2004-05 through a series of 11 Community Engagement Meetings held around the county in September, October and November of 2003.

This section of the Website is designed to give the community an overview of the factors driving the student assignment proposal and explain how the school system has worked to meet community priorities and suggestions obtained from the Community Engagement Meetings.