Staff Multi-Year Assignment Proposal Presented to Board

December 16, 2008 - Public input has resulted in changes to the multi-year student assignment proposal presented today to the Board of Education by WCPSS Growth and Planning to fill 10 new schools with 25,486 students over the next three years.

Full Plan Available

The full plan with node-by-node information is now available online.

You can comment on the plan online and sign up to speak at one of the public hearings.

Assistant Superintendent Chuck Dulaney of WCPSS Growth and Planning said information received from the five Community Engagement Meetings held across the county and from online comments improved the proposal presented to the board today.

More than 1,800 people attended the five Community Engagement Meetings held by the school system on the multi-year student assignment proposal. Attendance was estimated at 200 at Knightdale High, 700 at Cary High, 250 at Wake Forest-Rolesville High, 250 at Holly Springs High and 400 at Broughton High.

During the time comments were received online, the proposal received 511,939 page views and visitors have downloaded 43,860 maps and other files. The school system received 4,165 comments.

Staff proposal presented to board
Dulaney outlined the updated proposal for the board at its meeting today. He explained that the primary drivers of the proposal are projected growth, the opening of ten new schools and implementation of the board’s policy on student assignment. He stated the staff’s belief that utilization and comparability of student populations is improved by the recommended changes and stressed that many changes grew from comments and suggestions in the planning and community engagement process.

As a result of changes to the magnet program made last week by the board, the Growth and Planning Department continues working on the detailed node maps that allow families to see how they fit into the proposal. Dulaney said the detailed proposal will be available online at 10 a.m., Saturday, Dec. 20. The school by school changes reviewed with the board today were published online this afternoon.

Growth requires new schools
Ten new schools are due to open over the next three years. Five will be multi-track year-round elementary schools; three will be multi-track year-round middle schools and two high schools.

The draft proposal includes 9,801 assignments in 2009, 11,008 in 2010 and 4,677 in 2011. The Board of Education will determine the use of grandfathering, designating students who may remain in the current school while providing their own transportation, usually determined by grade level and proposed assignment.

A number of the students in the proposal are not currently enrolled in WCPSS. More than 1,400 in the proposal are kindergartners who will enter school over the next three years. The proposal also addresses anticipated students moving into our community over the next three years.

The new schools provide additional space to meet student enrollment growth. Enrollment increased by 3,700 students for 2008-09, 6,400 students for 2007-08 and 7,500 for 2006-07. The new schools provide space for newcomers, alleviate overcrowding and balance enrollment at additional schools. Years two and three of the proposal are dependent on current and future capital improvement funding and student enrollment growth.

Opportunities for public input
The board will now review the staff proposal in work sessions and hear comments on the proposal in five public hearings.

Meetings will be held from 6:30 to 9 p.m. in the auditorium of each high school.

Persons interested in speaking at the hearings may register online. Speakers will be scheduled in the order they sign up. Preregistration is on a first-come, first-served basis. In order to maximize the number of people able to share their thoughts with the Board, you will be allowed to speak at only one public hearing. People who speak at a public hearing will also be able to submit comments online during the online comment period, which starts the morning of Dec. 20 and ends Jan. 15.

Registration will be taken over the phone at 850-1600 during business hours (8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday - Friday). A WCPSS customer service representative will register you. If you need to call outside of business hours, call Customer Service Administrator Jeff Nash at 850-1630 and you leave a message with your name, address, phone number, base school, node, the public hearing location you wish to speak at, a daytime phone number, and (optional) an e-mail address where we can reach you to confirm your registration. Customer service staff will register you during the next business day.

Telephone and Internet sign-ups for the public hearings end at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 14.

You may sign up to speak at any of the public hearings on the day of the hearing from 5:30 p.m. to 6:25 p.m. Speakers who register on the day of the hearing will be scheduled to speak, in order of sign up, after all of the preregistered speakers have finished.

The board will review feedback from the hearings and discuss the proposal in work sessions and will vote on adopting a plan in February.

The board’s goals for the assignment process include:

Policy 6200 is online at http://www.wcpss.net/policy-files/series/policies/6200-bp.html

-wcpss-