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Tuesday, September 16, 2008 10:50 AM Redistricting: Big school shifts? By Stephanie Creech | Times Senior Writer The Wilson County Board of Education got its first look Monday night at how drastically some school attendance zones could change in order to ease overcrowded conditions at some of its elementary, middle and high schools. The redistricting is being necessitated by next school year's opening of John Jones Elementary School, but the board has decided to look at changing the boundaries for all schools. Craig Hill, Wilson County Schools assistant superintendent for accountability and technology, reviewed several scenarios based on student attendance figures from last school year. Next month, the board will see proposed redistricting plans based on this year's student attendance figures. Between now and when the board holds its first redistricting workshop Oct. 13 at 6 p.m., Hill will meet with each board member individually to learn more about their ideas for redrawing attendance lines. Chairman Will Winslow described the information Hill presented Monday as "big-picture thoughts." Wilson County Schools Superintendent Larry Price agreed. Price said nothing has been proposed and called the information Hill presented as a "stepping-off point" for the board's discussion. Last month, Price had the board members rank the issues they think are most important to consider when drawing new attendance lines. Price said the board ranked creating a feeder school pattern as most important. The second important factor to the board was the distance between where students live and the school they attend. Creating attendance zones based on socio-economic conditions ranked third, and creating neighborhood schools was ranked fourth. On Oct. 13, Price will also provide the board with a summary of its existing policies that affect redistricting. At the elementary school level, the scenarios Hill presented to the board Monday called for moving students from New Hope, Rock Ridge and Vinson-Bynum schools to Jones Elementary. The shift would also include moving some students from Wells to Hearne elementary. At the elementary level, Gardners, New Hope, Rock Ridge, Vinson-Bynum and Wells schools are all operating over capacity. Vinson-Bynum, for example, is 137.4 percent over capacity based on last year's attendance figures. The school had 753 students last year, which was 205 more than the school was designed to handle. The capacity figures for each school do not take into account mobile units that are in place. One of the issues the school board must make a decision about is at what percent capacity do they want some of the crowded schools to drop down to as a result of redistricting. Is 90 percent capacity low enough given residential growth that is continuing to occur in the areas around New Hope and Rock Ridge? Board member Robin Flinn said she thinks extra capacity is needed at Rock Ridge and New Hope. Last school year, Wilson County Schools had 12,615 students enrolled. Based on 14th day attendance numbers, the district has 12,662 students this year. Price said district-wide the enrollment numbers are "pretty flat" this year. However, there has been some shifting of students within the district since last school year. For example, Hill said enrollment at Hunt High is up around 120 students this year. Attendance at New Hope is also up around 30 students compared to last year. At the middle school level, Elm City and Springfield schools are both operating above capacity based on last year's attendance figures. Elm City Middle had 497 students, and the facility is designed to handle 468 students. Springfield had 543 students at a facility designed to handle 500 students. Redistricting at the middle school level will likely lead to a huge expansion of the Darden attendance zone. Under one of the scenarios Hill presented Monday, Darden's zone could be expanded and take in a number of students now attending Speight Middle. Toisnot's attendance zone could also be expanded. At the high school level, Fike and Hunt schools are both overcapacity. Last school year, Fike had 1,335 students in a facility designed to handle 1,260 students while Hunt had 1,267 students in a facility designed to handle 1,140 students. Beddingfield High School is operating at around 83 percent capacity. Scenarios Hill presented call for expanding Beddingfield's attendance zone to include students from the Lucama area, for example. Students from Lucama currently attend Hunt. Winslow said the board might need to go ahead and put a capital improvement plan into place for the high schools so it can begin to prepare for the expansion of existing schools or eventual construction of a new high school. Winslow said the county commissioners would need to give the money for the high schools faster than it did for the new elementary school. creech@wilsontimes.com | 265-7822 |
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