Wake County Schools approve student reassignment plan

The Wake County school board approved its reassignment plan for the next school year Tuesday night.

Posted 11:05 p.m. Dec 1, 2015 — Updated 3:03 a.m. Dec 2, 2015

CARY, N.C. — The Wake County school board unanimously approved its reassignment plan for the next school year Tuesday night.

Student population growth is driving the reassignment and five brand new schools will go online next year. Fewer than 3,300 students, less than 2 percent of the district’s population, could be reassigned to fill the new schools.

More than half could chose to stay in their current school but would lose bus transportation.

"There are some that are being affected that are just not happy," said board member Susan Evans. "We have taken input and made adjustments where we could."

Thousands of public comments have resulted in changes to the plan. Some parents complained that the plan divides neighborhoods and moves their child to a school farther from home.

“I think about these families that I hear from and these are difficult decisions and we all struggle with them at the end of the day,” said school board member Christine Kushner. “We have to look at the entire system, we have to look at our capacity issues and make these hard decisions.”

Transportation efficiency and school calendar alignments also played into reassignments.

Parents can visit the Wake County Schools website to find out if their address is part of the final reassignment plan.

In another vote of interest Tuesday night, Tom Benton was selected as the new Wake County school board chair and Monika Johnson-Hostler was selected as the new vice-chair. Both votes were unanimous.

Benton said that he wants increased pay for school employees and fewer testing burdens in the classroom.

"Not just in Wake County, but across the state, it is in a critical condition and we have to look at what testing is doing to learning in our schools," said Benton.

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