Cumberland Schools Consider Reassignment To Ease Overcrowding

Reassignment is one of three proposed plans Cumberland County school administrators will present Tuesday night to two board committees. (

View the plan.

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Educators also want to build two middle schools with borrowed money that would be repaid using proceeds from the North Carolina Education Lottery. They also want to add about 161 additional classrooms onto 11 existing facilities, totaling an estimated $55 million.

But as for reassignment, some parents told WRAL they do not like the idea.

For example, under school administrators' proposal, 300 students at Jack Britt High School in Fayetteville would be moved to either Douglas Byrd High School or Seventy-First High School.

Parents said they chose Jack Britt because it ranks third in Cumberland County on how students perform on SATs.

"It's an overwhelming factor," said Herbie Witt, a parent who sends his child to Jack Britt. "It's enough for me to sell my house."

Officials promise students can finish school where they started. Their concern is growth in new neighborhoods, which means more students.

"We're having declining growth in our E.E. Smith, Terry Sanford, Westover and Byrd districts," said Cumberland County Schools Associate Superintendent for Auxiliary Services Tim Kinlaw, "At the same time, we're having tremendous growth, again, at the Britt, South View and Gray's Creek districts."

The full school board could vote on the construction and reassignment plans in December.