ABSS approves rezoning plan to address overcrowding

The Alamance-Burlington School System Board of Education has approved a rezoning plan aimed at addressing overcrowding across the district.

Garrett Elementary, Southern Middle, and Williams High are already over 100% capacity.

The board unanimously approved Elementary Scenario 1 over Scenario 2. Both options affected 11 elementary schools, but Scenario 1 impacted more students, 820 compared with 770, according to Sandy Ellington-Graves, BOE board chair.

“Surprisingly, scenario one yielded more favorable results when you're looking at open seats across those 11 impacted elementary schools, so the results were more favorable and tackling that overcrowding and pulling those numbers below capacity,” Ellington-Graves said. 

The rezoning maps were developed in collaboration with SchoolCAMP, a consulting firm affiliated with North Carolina State University’s Institute for Transportation Research and Education. The board also unanimously approved the only scenario for the middle school rezoning plan. 

According to the ABSS school capacity & student assignments website, there are four main goals to draw the map lines, which are to fill schools more evenly, keep bus rides shorter, plan for future growth and keep neighborhoods and school pipelines together. 

In 2030, Garrett Elementary will be 451 students over capacity, and the district will be out of elementary school seats, according to Ellington-Graves. This is one of the reasons why the rezoning is in effect.

“Hopefully, over the next four years, we can work with our county leaders to identify funding and resources to get a new elementary school on the ground somewhere on the east side, so that in 2030 we can, we can have a more permanent bricks and mortar solution,” Ellington-Graves said. 

Families impacted by the rezoning, around 1,400 students, will be notified about assignments in April and May. 

“We've got a transition team that we've put in place at the district to help them with scheduling and help them with transportation and just making that transition to the new school assignment as seamless as possible,” Ellington-Graves said. 

Board member Seneca Rogers said that overcrowding has already forced schools to take temporary measures.

At Garrett Elementary, some classrooms have been moved to a nearby middle school, while Southern Middle has relied on outdoor trailers for additional space.

“SchoolCAMP informed us that this is temporary because of the way that our county is growing to the fact that we will be looking at the needing of a couple of new elementary schools and possibly a new middle school or even taking an option of taking a current elementary school and rebuilding it with a larger capacity because our county is just growing so fast,” Rogers said.

Rogers said community members mostly understand the decision, even if they are not fully supportive.

“That doesn't mean that everybody is happy about it because everybody's not going to be happy because a lot of people just love the schools that their kids are currently in or want them currently in, but in a rezoning process, you're never going to satisfy everybody,” Rogers said. 

Ellington-Graves said that the members of the board are focused on safe learning environments.

“As we move forward, Alamance County is growing so fast, and we just want to make sure that we can accommodate the students,” Ellington Graves said. “They're going to call Alamance County home. We've got a lot of businesses moving in, which means a lot of housing is coming, and just making sure that we can accommodate everybody and in the most effective way.”