2006-07 Growth Management Plan Presented to Board of Education

2006-07 Growth Management Plan

Plan details, public hearing sign up and online comments.

Feb. 14, 2006 - A 2006-07 growth management plan that has 1,200 fewer students and allows grandfathering for up to 3,383 students was presented to the Board of Education this afternoon.

Dr. Ramey Beavers of the WCPSS Growth Management Department said public input led to many of the changes made to the plan that will fill seven new schools opening for 2006-07. As the plan goes to the Board of Education, there will be additional opportunities for public input.

Community input leads to refinements
Growth Management staff reviewed more than 2,000 comments sent Dec. 12-31 by e-mail, phone and mail. Beavers said the concerns voiced in the comments included the impact on sending schools, the impact on receiving schools, travel distance to school, feeder patterns and keeping neighborhood nodes going to the same school.

Growth = New Schools

120,504 - enrollment for 2005-06

127,531 - projected enrollment for 2006-07

students are being assigned to seven new school in 2006-07

Plan based on:

12 community engagement meetings in the fall led to Dec. 12 growth management propsoal

2,000 comments through e-mail, letter and phone calls led to Feb. 14 proposed growth management plan

Public can comment at public hearings March 1, 2 and 6, or by e-mail, letter, online or call. (Hearing Signup and Online Comments)

Ramey Beavers and WCPSS Growth Management staff present plan to board in front of a bank of TV cameras.

The plan involves 10,258 students including 9,195 students who have a change in base assignment and 1,063 students who have a change in year-round transportation area. This is 1,237 fewer students than the Dec. 12, 2005 proposal. Beavers said the plan removes a number of students and adds some students.

Another change that resulted from public comments was the Board of Education's change in grandfathering provisions. The plan requires tenth-graders moved from an existing school to one of the two new high schools to attend those schools. However, tenth-graders who are moved from an existing school to an existing school will be considered for grandfathering.

Of the 10,258 students in this plan, 3,383 could exercise the grandfathering option of staying at their current school and providing their own transportation. If all parents exercised the grandfathering option, the current plan would mean reassignment for 6,875 students.

More than seven out of ten elementary school students reassigned in this plan were moved to a school that is closer to their node. Nearly five out of ten high school students reassigned in this plan were moved to a school that is closer to their node.

Nodes for eight out of ten elementary students in the plan had been at the same school for three years or more. Nodes for nearly all high school students in the plan had been at the same school for three years or more.

Growth requires new schools
The seven new schools are adding space as student enrollment growth has exploded. Enrollment increased by 6,400 students for 2005-06 and is expected to increase by 7,000 students for 2006-07.

Estimates show Wake gaining 40,000 students by the year 2010 and 72,000 students by 2015. This growth requires additional schools where these students can be educated. As new schools open, growth management proposals fill the new schools and ease crowding at existing schools.

Proposal fills new schools
In all WCPSS will open nine schools for 2006-07 including two high schools, an Early College, a second East Wake High Academy and five year-round elementary schools. The Early College will be launched with about 50 ninth-grade students in space provided by Wake Tech on their campus by Wake Med. The East Wake Technology Academy continues the process begun last year with the creation of the East Wake Health Science Academy providing East Wake High students areas of theme-based learning.

This is the first time WCPSS has opened two new high schools at the same time. Panther Creek High in Cary and Holly Springs High in Holly Springs will open with ninth- and tenth-grade students only. As parents attending the community engagement meetings recommended, rising high school juniors are not included in the proposal.

The opening of the new high schools has helped to relieve crowded conditions at existing high schools. It may be 2009 before the next high school opens. The proposed Heritage High School would be funded in the next school construction program. The proposal takes into consideration the future opening of Heritage High and three years of growth before additional high school seats are available.

The five year-round elementary schools include Barwell Road Elementary in Southeast Raleigh, Brier Creek Elementary in Northwest Raleigh, Carpenter Elementary in Cary, as well as two early start schools: Holly Grove Elementary and E19. Holly Grove will start in an unused wing of the new Holly Springs High while the new permanent school is built on adjacent property. E19 will move into the temporary modular campus on Spring Forest Road in North Raleigh. All of these schools are opening as multi-track, year-round schools, which provide space for more students.

Harris Creek Elementary will leave the modular campus and move into its permanent building on Forestville Road near Mitchell Mill Road.

Cap continues for two schools
The Growth Management plan recommends continuing a cap on Brassfield and Pleasant Union elementary schools. Caps were approved to help crowded schools in fast growing parts of the county. The cap means families who move in after May 1 will be required to attend schools that are farther away until space opens up for them. Brassfield was capped at 675 students with Lacy, Lead Mine and Lynn Road serving as overflow schools. Pleasant Union was capped at 720 with Forest Pines Drive serving as its overflow school.

Opportunities for public input
Months of hard work have gone into Beavers's presentation to the board today. A series of 12 community engagement meetings were held across the county last fall. Input was used to draft a growth management proposal published Dec. 12. Comments from more than 2,000 people received Dec. 12-31 were used in developing the plan for the Board of Education.

The board will continue to seek community input in six public hearings over three nights. The sessions will be held March 1 at North Garner Middle School and Wakefield High; March 2 at Green Hope High and Sanderson High; and March 6 at Middle Creek High and Knightdale High.

Persons interested in speaking at the public hearings can sign up online from 5 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 14 until 5 p.m., Friday, Feb. 24. The WCPSS Customer Service Center can assist persons without a computer in signing up to speak at the hearings. Just call 850-1600.

Persons unable to attend the public hearings can submit comments by e-mail, mail or phone.

The board will hold a work session to discuss the growth management plan 9 a.m., Wednesday, March 8.

The board is expected to approve the final plan March 21.

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