Wake County Parent Speaks Out About 'Silent Reassignment'

After Andy Modlin moved to his present neighborhood, he found out his children would not go to school with the other neighborhood kids.

Three Wake County schools have enrollment caps this school year. Students who move into an area with a cap have to go to another school, outside their neighborhood, at least temporarily.

For the Modlins, it was a reality that neither their realtor nor their planning prepared them for.

Though reassignment will not affect Modlin's neighbors, it will affect his children.

"There are children like ours and about 75 others who are bussed out of here," Modlin said. "That is a form of reassignment. It's just not the reassignment that's showing up in the news."

Brassfield Road Elementary has an enrollment cap. So, even though the neighborhood kids go there, the Modlins and anyone else who moves in will have send their children to Lynn Road Elementary -- six miles away.

"I was crushed," Modlin said. "Both my wife and I wanted to move into a neighborhood and feel a part of the community."

Brassfield is the only school slated to have an enrollment cap next school year. But with Wake County's growth, there is a possibility that other schools could have a cap in the future.

"I think we'll probably always have some, or there's the potential to have some," said Dr. Ramey Beavers, of the Wake County Public School System.

Wake County's growth management office is faced with reassigning 8,000 students next year. The cap is a way to provide some stability.

"Who do you move?" Beavers said. "Do you move the people who are already there, or the people who are just moving in?"

A cap usually is temporary. But with Brassfield, temporary could last a while.

"Given the growth, I don't see it being lifted anytime in the near future," Beavers said.

Olive Chapel and Pleasant Union Elementary will have caps lifted for next year.

If you're planning on moving now or in the future, you can check Wake County's re-assignment proposal. Type in your address, and it will tell you if that school district has a cap. You can also call the Wake County School's main office.