Under the proposal, which affects more than 11,000 students system-wide, about 177 students would move from Millbrook High School to Sanderson High School. But Millbrook High PTSA President Margaret Frucht says the school would lose some of its most involved parents.
Because most of the students can stay at Millbrook through "grandfathering," only about 70 students would be forced to relocate to a new school.
"So, it leaves 70 students," said Jody Gross, one of the parents. "Most are children with younger siblings, as are mine."
Parents like Gross think there is enough space in a 48-classroom modular unit that the school is using while it undergoes renovation, with the first phase scheduled to be completed late next year.
Millbrook High principal Dana King, however, says there is no guarantee the modular unit would provide space for the long-term because another renovation phase is expected to begin after the first is complete. More than 400 students from Wakefield High School would also relocate to Millbrook High under the plan.
But King said she thinks the school could make space available for the 70 students, saying the school stands to also lose tradition.
The reassignment proposal moves middle- to upper-middle-class families out and the same demographic in. One point the parents make is that the reassignment does not lower the percentage of students receiving free and reduced lunches at Millbrook because it has one of the highest percentages in the county
The Wake County Public School System's Growth Management Office is accepting comments on the reassignment proposal via letters, e-mail and phone calls until Jan. 1. The proposal could be modified before it goes to the Board of Education in February. The board will hear feedback on the proposal and will likely vote on it in March.
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