School reassignment continues to worry Wake County parents

Tuesday, November 19, 2019
School reassignment continues to worry Wake County parents

WAKE COUNTY, N.C. (WTVD) -- Wake County parents are getting a chance to vent about the new plan to send kids to different schools.



There's a public hearing Tuesday at school board headquarters about the second draft of this year's reassignment plan.



The district said in order to deal with rapid population growth, they need to open new schools and shift kids away from overcrowded schools.



'This is a great disruption for our family:' Parents sound off at Wake County school board about reassignment plan


Amy Licata said the district's data doesn't add up.



"We helped make these schools great," she said.



Under the plan, her 9-year-old would be moved from Highcroft Drive Elementary School to Turner Creek Elementary. Her 13-year-old would go from Mills Park Middle School to Salem Middle School.



Licata is especially frustrated because she said the district tried to move kids in her Ashley Woods subdivision in Cary last year but they staved off the move.



Wake County releases first draft of 2020-21 school assignment proposal



"Our neighborhood existed prior to the schools. It wasn't as if we viewed them on some website and we decided to capitalize on them," she said. "I hope the school board does not feel as if they have to check some box that something was done for overcrowding that does make an impact or a statistically important difference."



She went to a meeting Monday with parents and school board member Lindsay Mahaffey in Apex to continue to plead her case. Both her sons would switch from traditional to year-round calendars under the plan too.



"We would like to have an understanding of why disrupt so many families of 30 when it doesn't seem to make an impact on overcrowding," Licata said. "The parents and the children at Wake County deserve a chance to have their data properly analyzed rather than thinking of reassigning from one year to the next."



The public hearing will be Tuesday at 6 p.m.

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