Frequently Asked Questions About the Upcoming Referendum

Why was the Graves Road property not used when North Star was built?
At the time, the site did not have sewer service.

Why aren’t you building a bigger school?
We believe that 600 students is a good size for an elementary school and the CN was approved based on our student counts.

When would the school be open?
Final timeline will be developed upon successful referendum, but likely August 2015.

What happens if it doesn’t pass?
Adjust feeder patterns at elementary schools, reconsider BSS K-8, remove programs at city schools (Pre-K, Parent Centers, Boost Up, Small Class Size).

Will there be enough middle school capacity for the elementary students?
The middle schools don’t currently have the significant overcrowding that we see in our elementary schools. We believe that the additional options available to middle school students will prevent us from an overcrowding problem at middle school.

Why are you building a school when the overcrowding is a result of choice?
The overcrowding is not a result of choice. We have closed choice to our most overcrowded schools and the enrollment has still increased. We have parents who utilize choice at all of our elementary schools. Some of our choice is a result of NCLB required choice options.

Why are you not proposing new feeder patterns?
Adjusting feeder patterns is disruptive to schools and communities.

What is being done about Highlands which is equally overcrowded?
We have been working with some engineers to look at possible options to provide additional classroom space at Highlands. We will work with the Highlands community as we have options to consider.

What neighborhoods will go to the new school?
It would be premature to look at feeder patterns at this point. Once funding for a new school is secured, we will invite community members to work on the most appropriate feeder patterns. The goal would be to decrease the overcrowding at our most crowded schools.

Can’t you fix the problem by adjusting choice?
Although the number of In District and Out of District students has significantly decreased, there are still many parents who utilize the state Choice law for their students.

Choice is not just at our three most overcrowded elementary schools. As examples, Richardson Park (81) has as many choice students as Linden Hill (80) Marbrook (128) has more than North Star (89)

Will these projects be doing anything to help Red Clay be more environmentally friendly?
Yes. We believe that it’s critical that we are good stewards of the environment and set an example for our students. We hope that we will be able to build the new school to the LEED certification. In addition, many of the renovations will replace equipment with much more energy efficient equipment. We will also be replacing a number of roofs. This will enable us to explore additional solar projects. We are also looking to leveraging the referendum projects with some additional energy efficiency measures to make our buildings more energy efficient – thus saving energy as well as money.