Clustering Schools

1. Clustering Schools The Apex Example A Presentation From the WCPSS District 8 Board Advisory Council Growth Management Subcommittee Note: The following is an example of how a cluster could work in Wake County, and it is built around the idea of considering a group of schools’ overall cluster population and capacity, not on node-by-node analysis.

2. Schools Used in This Cluster • Apex Elementary (traditional) • Baucom Elementary (year-round) • Laurel Park (proposed year-round) • Olive Chapel Elementary (year-round) • Salem Elementary (year-round) • Turner Creek Elementary* (year-round)

3. Why Should WCPSS Consider Clustering Schools? Note: This presentation provides a framework for planning, and is not a specific assignment proposal. • Since a cluster of schools provides families with knowledge of their options, clusters empower them to feel they are participating in deciding where their child will go to school. • Families are presented with theirtraditional and year-round option within the cluster instead of having to wait to see what their traditional or year-round option will be. • Clusters are a good way to manage growth and decline, since the concept allows for capacity to be used collectively. • High F&R and LEP nodes within a cluster remain in the area to which they have been assigned, thereby contributing to healthy school populations and reducing the need to reassign these populations outside of the cluster.

4. When Should WCPSS Create a Cluster? • When one area is deficient of a specific calendar option. In our example, we show that Apex students are currently assigned to 5 different elementary schools, but only one follows a traditional calendar and that school is not available as a traditional option to year-round base students in Apex. • When a new school opens, so WCPSS can engage the community with parent surveys to help determine what the new school’s calendar schedule should be. This facilitates a family-friendly communication system that encourages feedback from and responsiveness to families. Surveys enable WCPSS to open the appropriate number of year-round or traditional schools based on need. • When there is a need to maintain or increase F&R and LEP populations within a group of schools in order to achieve healthy school status at those schools.

5. Why are Parent Surveys Important? • Surveying parents enables WCPSS to make a more accurate projection of a community’s calendar and capacity needs. • Surveys help parents feel that they are involved in the process of determining where their children will go to school and what schedule they will be on. • Surveys shows parents that WCPSS is listening to and attempting to respond to families’ needs.

6. What the Apex Opt-Out Data Tells Us Based on 2007 opt-out data, we are able to conclude the following: • From the Apex year-round schools listed above, a total of 201 children opted out. This number exceeds the capacity gain of opening a new school (such as Laurel Park) on a year-round schedule. • In every case, the number of traditional opt-out students are higher in F&R and LEP percentage than the school as a whole. The school communities in question cannot contribute to healthy populations in other parts of the district (by lowering the F&R and LEP numbers there) if these students opt-out and leave the schools, and therefore community, to which they have been assigned.

7. As part of this cluster, the District 8 BAC Growth Management Subcommittee notes the need to:Open Laurel Park Elementary on a Traditional Calendar • A new school, Laurel Park Elementary, will open in Apex for 2007-2008 and is proposed to be on a year-round calendar. Of the 6 schools in our Apex cluster, only one (Apex Elementary) is on a traditional calendar. • Since Apex has only one traditional elementary school, a parent survey can greatly help determine the validity of the need for Laurel Park to open on a traditional calendar. • If Laurel Park opens on a traditional calendar, there will be a net capacity loss of 190 seats. However, if Laurel Park opens on a traditional calendar, our cluster school example offers 5,553 spaces for a projected population of 5,077. It also offers more choice for families in this area. • Based on the growth rate for the nodes in the cluster, the capacity loss will not result in meaningful crowding within three years (101% at the end of third year). • Except for the nodes from Baucom, all nodes assigned to Laurel Park in the reassignment draft are from traditional schools, some of which are severely overcrowded. • Since Laurel Park is a new school and will be filled mostly with students who currently attend their local school, it is unlikely to be seen as too attractive an option. Likewise, some of the assigned Laurel Park students who do not want a year-round schedule will likely opt out for a traditional school. • In this cluster example, the shortage of traditional school seats is demonstrated to the community by not just the total percentage of students who opted out of year-round for traditional seats, but also the number of F&R and LEP students who opted out of year-round assignments.

8. A Cluster Retains F&R and LEP Students Based on WCPSS data, the following is true of the F&R population in our cluster’s year-round schools: • Salem Elementary’s F&R populaton is 5.3%. Last year, 67% of all students who opted out for their traditional option were F&R students. • Turner Creek Elementary’s F&R population is 7.8% and 42% of all students who opted out for their traditional option were F&R. • Baucom Elementary’s F&R population is 12.1% and 19% of all students opted out for their traditional option were F&R. • Olive Chapel Elementary’s F&R population is 4.9% and 10.7% of all students who opted out for their traditional option were F&R. Based on WCPSS data, the following is true of the LEP population in our cluster’s year-round schools: • Salem Elementary’s LEP populaton is 1.9%. Last year, 37.3% of all students who opted out for their traditional option were LEP students. • Turner Creek Elementary’s LEP population is 4.9% and 14.8% of all students who opted out for their traditional option were LEP. • Baucom Elementary’s LEP population is 8.3% and 9.9% of all students opted out for their traditional option were LEP. • Olive Chapel Elementary’s LEP population is 3.5% and 4.1% of all students who opted out for their traditional option were LEP. Making Laurel Park a traditional option reverses the pattern of F&R or LEP students opting out of year-round schools for high F&R or LEP traditional options. It may also decrease the chances of them opting out to begin with. As one of two traditional schools in our cluster example, Laurel Park would serve as a nearby traditional option for F&R and LEP students, as well all other students. The cluster concept as a whole will help reduce the peaks and valleys of population composition by allowing for the assignment goals to be followed on the cluster level when the opt-out process prevents them from being followed on the individual school level.

9. Why This Cluster Makes Sense: • The demand for traditional seats is numerically greater than the capacity need gained through opening Laurel Park as a year-round school. • The demographics of the schools are changed significantly by the opt-outs. • The cluster will allow on a multi-school level the attainment of goals when they cannot be achieved on a per-school basis.

10. Will clusters work for middle or high schools? We did not attempt to create an example of a middle or high school cluster, but feel it is very possible this could work on the middle school level. Since there are fewer high schools than middle or elementary schools, there does not appear to be as much of a need to cluster high schools. We hope you will consider this cluster concept as you fine tune the 2008-2009 reassignment plan.