Durham parents speak out on plan that could reassign thousands of students

More than 50 parents and teachers packed the Durham school board meeting Thursday night to express concerns about a reassignment plan that could force thousands of elementary students to switch schools in the 2024-25 academic year.

More than 6,000 elementary students could be affected by the Durham Public Schools’ “Growing Together” plan, which would require students to change schools if no legacy policies are put in place, said Mathew Palmer, executive director of school placement at DPS.

DPS officials said the current assignment boundaries have not been redrawn in over 30 years. The Growing Together plan is structured to address equity issues within DPS and give more students a high-quality education, Palmer said.

DPS has more than 13,000 K-5 students this year, so nearly half of all DPS elementary students would be impacted by this policy.

On Monday, the proposed boundaries were released online by DPS, and parents said they felt blindsided about the changes.

“Until literally three days ago, the community was in the dark about the details of this plan,” said Asher Hildebrand, the father of a DPS kindergartner.

Dozens of parents shared Hildebrand’s concerns and worry that moving their children to new schools partway through their elementary school experience will do more harm than good. After pandemic lockdowns forced schools to operate online only, parents said they worry another disruption to their children’s educational experience — a switch to a new school community — could be detrimental.

“No child can make a school transition without bumps, and Durham’s youngest cohort is already at a disadvantage, many having lost or never developed skills to be in a classroom during pandemic lockdowns,” said Elissa Murphy, a Durham psychologist and social worker.

6 scenarios to consider

To help with the transition, Palmer walked the board through six scenarios to consider, all of which offer some grandfathering in the new school placements.

However, as Palmer frequently mentioned, the reality of slowly transitioning students is likely impossible due to classroom sizes, transportation concerns and sibling linkages.

“We’d be operating parallel school systems,” Palmer said.

Another major obstacle DPS faces in the transition is a state statute that limits K-3 classroom size. Because of this, Palmer said the only truly plausible scenario is letting fourth- and fifth-graders in the 2024-25 school year complete their time at their current elementary schools. However, all K-3 students would need to move to their new school in the fall of 2024.

If the board adopts the legacy policy for fourth- and fifth-graders, the number of children who would have to switch schools would drop from more than 6,000 to just over 2,000 students.

Although the Growing Together plan has been in the works for years, parents urged the board to keep talking about the plans and when they would take effect.

“Take the time to get this right,” Hildebrand said. “If you’re truly interested in community input, don’t be a rubber stamp.”

Ultimately, the board decided to delay the vote and seek additional public comment. Parents and teachers can discuss this plan at the next board meeting on Jan 19.

To see if your child could be affected, view DPS’s interactive boundary map.

This story was originally published January 13, 2023 at 11:58 AM.