Wake County school leaders today are expected to decide on how to meet the school system's short-term construction needs. They're also expected to provide more information about where children will go to school next year.
The school board is to vote on a plan to spend $130.3 million for new schools and renovations, including creating a pair of single-sex schools. The board will also get an update from staff on the new student assignment plan for the 2012-13 school year that has drawn concerns from many parents, particularly in North Raleigh, who fear their neighborhoods will now be sent to new schools.
After months of wrangling about how to use unspent bond money, Superintendent Tony Tata wants the board to sign off on a $130.3 million construction plan. It would be paid for from $99.4 million in unspent bond money and diverting $30.9 million from other projects such as buying land for new schools and moving classroom trailers.
The $130.3 million will cover projects, including:
Construction of a high school off Humie Olive Road in Apex: $59.8 million.
Construction of an elementary school off U.S. 1 in Wake Forest: $21.3 million.
Renovating Cary High School, retrofitting Hilburn Drive Elementary School to hold middle school students, creating two single-sex leadership academies and creating a K-5 science academy: $19.3 million.
Creation of off-campus ninth-grade centers for Garner and Panther Creek high schools: $13.8 million.
Also included in the construction plan is a study of the feasibility of creating a career and technical education school for the 2013-14 school year. School leaders have long talked about beefing up Wake's vocational programs for students who don't plan to go to college.
"We're getting a lot of bang for the buck out of this," said school board vice chairman John Tedesco.
Student assignments
What will likely be of more interest to parents around the county today is the discussion of the still-developing student assignment plan.
Unlike prior plans, the new one will have families pick from several elementary schools which one they'd want to attend. That elementary school would then feed into a specific middle school and high school.
Parents who don't like their child's middle school or high school option could apply to attend elsewhere, but their application would be subject to whether the school they want has space.
The proposed feeder patterns spawned protests, leading to some changes last week. But parents in neighborhoods who now attend Millbrook and Sanderson high schools are still fighting changes they fear will cause their communities to be sent to a different high school.
"It's hard to understand why they're doing this to happy and successful schools," said Lisa Kazmierczak, parent-teacher-student association vice president at Sanderson.
Leslie Koscielniak, Millbrook's PTSA president, questioned why the plan could have some Millbrook families sent to Sanderson while having some Sanderson families assigned to Millbrook.
"We have a proud community," Koscielniak said. "I have great respect for Sanderson. But they're Sanderson and we're Millbrook."
After today's board meeting, staff is expected to continue to revise the plan before presenting a final version on Oct. 4. Final adoption would not likely come until after the Oct. 11 election in which five of the nine board seats are on the ballot.
"We're not going to satisfy everybody," said school board Chairman Ron Margiotta, who is running for re-election. "But I think we're going to end up with something far better than what we have now."
