By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer
CARRBORO – The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education voted 4-3 last week to approve a plan that reassigns 33 students and several new developments from Morris Grove Elementary School to other district elementary schools, but would keep students from the neighborhood north of Weaver Dairy Road at Morris Grove.
Over the past several months, the board has been reviewing plans to ease overcrowding at Morris Grove and Glenwood elementary schools and previously decided on a spot-redistricting approach focusing on the two schools, rather than a plan that attempted to balance student achievement levels across district elementary schools.
District support staff had recommended reassigning the 25 students from the Weaver Dairy Road neighborhood, which includes Lakeview Mobile Home Park, Kensington Trace, Essex and Weatherstone, to Estes Hills Elementary School, warning that enrollment at Morris Grove could reach 650 to 660 students next year without the move. Morris Grove’s capacity is 627.
However, board members pointed out that some of those students were redistricted when Morris Grove opened in 2008, and that their neighborhood had been reassigned several times in recent years.
“This group has been moved before, and I don’t think this is in their best interest to move them to Estes Hills,†board member Jean Hamilton said.
Board member Michelle Brownstein agreed.
“This fragile community has been moved so many times,†she said. “I can’t support moving that segment.â€
Staff, though, stressed their concern that Morris Grove would become overcrowded.
“I don’t know that Morris Grove could handle it if they experienced additional growth,†said Todd LoFrese, assistant superintendent for support services. He added that staff would need to look for another neighborhood to reassign from Morris Grove before the start of the 2011-12 school year.
Board members Mike Kelley, Jamezetta Bedford and Mia Burroughs voted against the plan.
“Certainly all of the prior students at Morris Grove were redistricted to Morris Grove,†Bedford said, adding that students at Morris Grove have continuously met federal achievement guidelines. “Moving them I don’t see as much of a hazard as others do.â€
Burroughs said that she was confident in Estes Hills’ ability to meet the needs of the students, adding that she felt that staff had already looked at all of the options for Morris Grove.
“We have a very qualified staff who worked through this in great detail,†Burroughs said. “I feel comfortable that they have turned over every stone.â€
Under the approved plan:
• students in Winmore and Claremont I will be reassigned to Seawell Elementary School;
• new developments Claremont II and Litchfield will be reassigned to McDougle Elementary School; and
• Homestead Twins, another new development, will be reassigned to Seawell.
Rising fifth-graders in those areas will be offered the option to remain at Morris Grove, but transportation will not be provided for them.
Plans for Glenwood
The board also voted 5-2 to approve a plan to ease overcrowding at Glenwood Elementary by allocating $100,000 for the installation of a mobile classroom and limiting the number of non-Glenwood seats in the school’s Chinese dual-language program. Under the plan, eight of 12 English-speaking slots will be reserved for Glenwood students, with the remaining four reserved for non-Glenwood students. Eight of 12 Chinese-speaking slots will be reserved for Glenwood students, with four reserved for non-Glenwood students.
The current program does not reserve seats for Glenwood students. According to administration, the change could reduce Glenwood enrollment by 40 students over six years.
“I would love for this to be a district-wide program, as I would love for the Spanish dual-language program to be district-wide, and I think that we can go there eventually,†Hamilton said. “But I think right now my highest priority is to save the seed corn and make sure that we keep this program in a way that it’s sustainable and that we can build later when the economy is better.â€
Board members Mike Kelley and Annetta Streater voted against the plan.
“I am a little bit disappointed that we would be moving in the wrong direction in terms of making this less of a district-wide program. I think that that’s the problem we have with the Spanish program and I think that we can hopefully avoid killing the program to save the concept of a district-wide program,†Kelley said.