NEW HANOVER COUNTY—When it comes to switching schools, how much notice is enough?
The New Hanover County school board tackled this and other questions during a redistricting work session.
After the New Hanover County school board voted to delay high school redistricting until September in February, it has been tasked with working out redistricting decisions during interim work sessions.
On Wednesday, the board met to discuss not where, but when, redistricting would occur in New Hanover County Schools.
Board member David Wortman raised concerns over whether or not the county’s proposed schedule to unveil new elementary district assignments provided enough notice to families.
“Why are we changing all of the elementary schools and not changing the final proposal eight months before they go to school?” Wortman asked.
Both Assistant Superintendent Eddie Anderson and Superintendent Tim Markley told Wortman there was a need to roll out new plans sooner rather than later.
District officials had planned to unveil new district plans in November 2017. The new proposed release date for elementary redistricting lines is January 2020.
“You can accelerate that, but the original plan had us starting November 2017 and we missed that date,” Anderson said.
The cost of delay
New Hanover County School System’s administrative staff is using numbers to encourage the board to act.
Failing to adopt new redistricting assignments could cost New Hanover County Schools a total of $4,175,000; that’s according to administrative staff.
The county’s administrative staff, including Anderson and Markley, developed a proposed $4.1 million budget, spread over the next two years, for the purchase of modular units in its middle and high schools to address overcrowding concerns that have not yet been adjusted through redistricting.
Anderson said if the board votes to delay redistricting middle and high schools beyond 2018, the board would need to purchase multiple modular units, not currently included in the budget.
School board member Lisa Estep asked Anderson to determine the cost of failing to redistrict.
“So it’s $4 million if we don’t redistrict, what’s the cost if we do redistrict?” Estep asked.
According to Anderson, it would cost “nothing” if the board does approve new school assignments this fall.
Still, Anderson noted that redistricting does not solve all of district’s current and projected population problems.
“We are not going to solve overcrowding through redistricting,” he said.
Election season
While the timing of redistricting for families was a concern for some board members, one member raised the issue of the election in November.
Earlier this month, Bill Rivenbark, Bruce Shell, Don Hayes and Janice Cavenaugh were awarded the top four votes in the county’s Republican primary election. All four will appear on the ballot on December next to four Democratic candidates in November.
Cavenaugh earned the fourth-most votes and is currently seeking re-election. While the board was discussing the timing of voting on new redistricting maps for the county’s middle and high schools, Cavenaugh brought up the potential for the board to shift.
If the board votes on redistricting plans in November, at least one outgoing board member, Ed Higgins, would cast a vote toward the new plan.
“In the past voters and candidates have been upset when an outgoing board votes on a redistricting plan instead of an incoming board,” Cavenaugh said. “The board needs to be aware of that.”
On Wednesday, the board and administrative staff determined that redistricting decisions for the county’s middle and high schools will be made before the end of the year.
A definitive redistricting timeline will be voted on during the board’s upcoming July meeting.
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