By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education next week will take another look at redistricting plans to ease overcrowding at district elementary schools.
At a December work session, most board members indicated they were likely to choose a spot-redistricting approach that would move a limited number of students, over an approach focused on balancing student achievement levels. The spot-redistricting approach focuses on Morris Grove and Glenwood elementary schools, which are 55 and 42 students over capacity, respectively.
If the board votes for the spot-redistricting approach, several neighborhoods assigned to Morris Grove would be reassigned to other schools to reduce the school’s enrollment to within 40 students of capacity. In addition, a mobile classroom would likely be added to Glenwood’s campus.
Based on the initial spot-redistricting scenario, as many as 360 students in 16 neighborhoods could be moved, affecting all 10 elementary schools. Percentages of not-proficient students would range from 2.2 percent at Glenwood to 13.7 percent at Carrboro Elementary, while percentages of somewhat-proficient students would range from 5.7 percent at Morris Grove to 35.7 percent at Frank Porter Graham. Student proficiency levels are based on end-of-year reading and math, and sometimes science, assessments.
“It’d be very difficult to do really any type of student achievement balance with what we have right now,†said Kevin Fuerst, coordinator of student enrollment. “It would involve moving a huge number of fragile students. We’d be doing a full redistricting to do that and we may not even end up where we want to be.â€
The redistricting plan that prioritizes balancing student achievement levels would move 971 students in 35 neighborhoods, with percentages of not-proficient students ranging from 4.8 percent at Glenwood to 10.6 percent at Scroggs Elementary and the percentage of somewhat-proficient students ranging from 9.8 percent at Morris Grove to 27.9 percent at Frank Porter Graham.
Most board members said they preferred an approach that moved as few students as possible.
“No one wants to move, and schools don’t want to lose their populations, especially their fragile populations,†board member Mike Kelley said. “In the past, everyone has said ‘don’t move me,’ ‘don’t take my kids,’ and I suspect that would be the case again.â€
Board member Jean Hamilton agreed, adding that she would support putting a mobile classroom at Glenwood in lieu of moving students.
“Redistricting is really a very blunt instrument to get better achievement,†she said. “It just doesn’t seem to work.â€
However, Hamilton added that the board should consider how to allocate district resources.
“No matter what we do, we need to think about how to allocate our financial resources to get more to the schools that need it,†she said.
However, board members Michelle Brownstein and Jamezetta Bedford said they would prefer an approach that balanced student achievement levels.
“This is really what you want when you populate a school … you want to distribute the achievement levels,†Brownstein said. “That takes away the issue of race, it takes away the issue of poverty and it really gets at what you need to do for the school to be successful if we don’t want any of the schools to be overloaded with children that need extra tender loving care.â€
Bedford agreed.
“I would argue that South Estes hasn’t been moved in 18 years and that you cannot say that there the achievement is higher because they haven’t been moved. It’s comparable to neighborhoods that have been moved every few years; so on the achievement level, I don’t see any difference. Where I see it is with the classroom teachers,†she said, stressing that teachers should not be overburdened with large numbers of high-needs students.
The board will review the redistricting plans during a work session on Jan. 20 at 7 p.m. at the Chapel Hill Town Hall, and is likely to vote on a plan at its meeting on Feb. 3.