Record reassignment tweaked but not shrunk

RALEIGH -- More than 11,000 Wake County students could be moved to different schools this fall in the largest reassignment plan ever presented to the school board.

Administrators presented the reassignment plan Tuesday after the board voted to proceed with the conversion of 22 schools to a year-round calendar in July, which forms a major part of the plan. Administrators said the plan given to the board is larger than the draft released last month because it incorporates changes suggested by parents. The first draft would have moved 10,788 students. The new plan involves 11,079 students.

Some of the notable changes from the draft plan include:

* Dropping reassignment of Arbor Greene subdivision students to Timber Drive Elementary.

* Adding reassignment of Riverside subdivision students to Wildwood Forest Elementary.

* Reassigning more Bedford subdivision students to Durant and Wildwood Forest elementary schools.

* Dropping reassignment of Green Hope Elementary students who said they couldn't walk to Carpenter Elementary because streets listed on school maps hadn't been built yet.

* Sending more students from West Lake Middle to North Garner.

* Dropping movement of students from Davis Drive Middle to East Cary Middle.

* Reassigning Brentwood Elementary students to Brassfield Elementary instead of Leesville Road Elementary. Leesville parents said it would overcrowd the school and cause too rapid an increase in the number of poor students at a time when teachers are adjusting to conversion.

"They listened to the parents on this," said Lisa Boneham, a Leesville parent. "But I'm surprised that they're going ahead with the conversions."

Wake annually reassigns students to fill new schools, ease crowding at existing schools and promote socioeconomic diversity. Administrators said the plan is so large due to the need to keep up with 8,000 new students expected this fall.

Letters will be mailed this week to families of students in the plan. It affects 93 elementary schools and middle schools, but no high schools.

Administrators say 60 percent of the students in the plan would be reassigned to schools closer to where they live. They say most of the remaining students would only be sent to schools up to two miles farther than those they now attend.

After the public hearings that begin next week, the board is scheduled to approve a final version of the reassignment plan Feb. 6.