The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools had 11,737 students Monday, 34 over the district's projection.
The state counts 20th day enrollment for funding purposes. Last year the school district had 11,427 students on the 20th day of school, spokeswoman Stephanie Knott said this morning.
If Monday's enrollment holds, the district will have grown by 310 students or 2.7 percent.
Four of 10 elementary schools are above capacity: Glenwood, McDougle, Scroggs and Seawell. Seawell remained the most crowded school, at 593 students, or 127 over capacity.
Morris Grove Elementary, the just-opened 10th elementary school on Homestead Road in northwestern Chapel Hill, has 533 students, 52 short of its 585-student capacity.
One of the district's four middle schools and one of its three high schools are over capacity.
Culbreth Middle School has 697 students, 27 above capacity. East Chapel Hill High has 1,578 students, 63 students above capacity.
Carrboro High School, which added its senior class this school year, has 770 students, 30 under capacity. Chapel Hill High School, which Knott said benefited the most from Carrboro's construction, now has 1,373 students, 147 below capacity.
Comments
And why do we feel OK about
Mon, 09/08/2008 - 10:00 — Anonymous (not verified)And why do we feel OK about building residences, which cause this kind of need, but scream about commercial construction, which doesn't?
And the county school system
Mon, 09/08/2008 - 09:59 — Anonymous (not verified)And the county school system is 500 students below capacity.
SAPFO was never to control growth
Fri, 09/05/2008 - 10:53 — rabid1The idea that development could not occur unless there were adequate public facilities to support it was never the intention, I learned to my chagrin. I believe that most citizens were similarly confused into believing that it was meant to protect residents.
Rather, it was intended to protect developers. The burden it places is on government to provide adequate facilities to meet whatever demand that new development creates, in order to assure levels of service do not decline.
In other words, a project can't be denied because there is not enough school rooms. The law says the school rooms must be built.
Similarly, OWASA believes that their mission is to provide water to any level of development. If new demand surpasses current supply, charge enough for water so that people will use less and then there will be enough to go around. In the meantime everyone pays to upsize the pipes that were adequate before the new development occurred.
SAPFO
Sat, 09/06/2008 - 12:36 — Terri (not verified)From what I've learned about SAPFO over the past several years, I would have to disagree. I believe the intent was to coordinate growth with the provision of infrastructure, such as schools. But the way in which the policy was implemented has put the school system in an untenable position. Are they the ones who should be making the decision that growth should be held up because we don't have enough classroom space, or should they be advising elected officials and letting them make the decision? Is it the school boards or the town councils/BOA that are expected to see the big picture and make appropriate decisions?
Wha???
Thu, 09/04/2008 - 19:39 — elvisboy77Are you talking about the "best school system in the planet"?? The one "everyone" wants to move to this area for? This is preposterous!
SAPFO Is Broken
Thu, 09/04/2008 - 14:20 — CitizenWillOver the last 5 years local folks have been trying to get Chapel Hill and Carrboro governments to abide not only to the letter of the School Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance ( 2008 report here: http://www.co.orange.nc.us/planning/PDFs/CurrentInterestItems/Annual%20SAPFOCTAC%20Report/2008/TableofContents.pdf ) but to the intent. In many ways, the current ordinance is broken.
Funny thing though, until there's a crisis the general public doesn't seem to get engaged. Fixing SAPFO was one of my planks in two consecutive runs for Town Council yet very few citizens and none of the local organizations that vet candidates were interested in engaging on this issue.
I tried to get the vaunted Sierra Club interested last year, as school build-outs definitely have an environmental impact, but their then Chair Bernadette Pelissier (presumptive next Orange County commissioner) was disinterested.
Unfortunately, due to the configuration of this year's BOCC elections, SAPFO reform never rose to top of the discussion.
The majority of Chapel Hill's current Council seem hellbent on building beyond our community's carrying capacity - extending our population and increasing the rate of development to the point where water supplies are exhausted, roads are overburdened, taxpayers are saddled with increases forcing blue collar workers and retirees out of our community. Is it any surprise that our schools can't keep up with demand?
We need to reform one tool, SAPFO, and have a real commitment by local governments to adhere to that reform - both in word and deed - in order to manage our future growth.
Town Councils asleep at the wheel
Thu, 09/04/2008 - 06:41 — rabid1Meanwhile, Chapel Hill and Carrboro are approving new development like the proverbial girl who can't say no!
The cost of building a new school doubles every five years. The new elementary school cost over 25 million dollars and the last one, Rashkis, was 13 million and included special features the new school does not.
Yes, Carrboro High School should commence construction immediately on the third wing and everyone in town should prepare for the massive tax increases that are en route as each of us will be required to provide our own special subsidies to the developers.
Carrboro High will be overcrowded next year too
Wed, 09/03/2008 - 11:00 — chccsparent (not verified)An overcrowded Scroggs feeds into an overcrowded Culbreth which feeds into Carrboro High. Scroggs has been overcrowded for years, yet Culbreth has always been surprised by the large numbers of incoming students each year.
It should not be a surprise to Carrboro High that a large cohort of students are coming their way from Culbreth next year. There may be stated capacity at Carrboro high this year, but I don't know where it is. All the classes my children take have over 30 kids in each class. There were numerous problems with getting courses. Many 9th graders arrived for the first day of school without a viable schedule in hand. They were unable to fit in required courses like physical education or even English I before school started. Wake up Carrboro High, plan now because a tsunami of students is coming from Culbreth. Build that new wing now before the wave hits.