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To keep up with projected growth in some parts of the county and prevent the overcrowding of schools, we’re opening three new schools:

Other parts of the proposal are aimed at relieving some overcrowded schools, increasing the base attendance areas at under-utilized schools, and improving transportation efficiency. 

Some students affected by this proposal will be able to submit a stability transfer and remain at their current school. Review the stability rules.

Enter your address to see if you're proposed to have a new school assignment in 2022-23.

Find the thread below that applies to you and share any questions and feedback. Staff and board members review questions and feedback as they prepare for the second draft of the proposal, which is scheduled to be presented to the board on Nov. 16. View timeline.

This new K-5 elementary school will open in August 2022 at 7801 Humie Olive Road, Apex, as a traditional calendar school. See if you are proposed to attend the new school. Please share your feedback about this proposal below.
74 Responses

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Liesl Martin over 2 years ago

Is it possible to see the map of what neighborhoods are assigned to the new school with this first proposal? It would be a lot easier to give feedback if we could see the big picture and take into consideration all the new neighborhoods going in.

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Natalie Goodman over 2 years ago
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Corallie Tornow admin over 2 years ago

Hi Liesl, Click on the attachment in simbli here https://assistive.eboardsolutions.com/SB_Meetings/ViewMeeting.aspx?S=920&MID=9757 and go to page 84. If you zoom in on this map, you will see more detailed information.

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Evan Mandel over 2 years ago

I would also like to see the map in order to provide feedback. The one in the presentation to the board is not detailed enough.

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Corallie Tornow admin over 2 years ago

Hi Evan,

See reply to Liesl above.

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Jennifer Reynolds over 2 years ago

With our base schools in Bella Casa being AFMS and AFHS, calendar alignment of students in the same family should be prioritized. We are still zoned to remain at OCE although we live in Bella Casa and our older children will attend both AFMS and AFHS while we have an elementary student. I know many families would be in our position and would benefit from having all of their children on the same school calendar. I’m hopeful a new proposal could include all of Bella Casa neighborhood

7 Votes
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Corallie Tornow admin over 2 years ago

Hi Jennifer - Staff discussed future schools in the area (elementary school opening on S Salem Street) and shared the possibility of the new school or an existing school in the area to help with future crowding and/or calendar alignment.

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Kenton Dover over 2 years ago

We will be living in the Jordan Pointe neighborhood in New Hill for the next academic year and I echo the point above by Jennifer Reynolds that our children will be districted for Apex Friendship Middle and High schools but not the elementary school but are instead districted for Scotts Ridge (which currently is capped). We have 3 children of multiple ages, thus differing school calendars creates a significant inconvenience. Also, our neighborhood is closer to Apex Friendship Elementary than to Scotts Ridge, so it is unclear why we would be districted for the different elementary school in the first place. It would seem more logical and make more sense to be districted for all three Apex Friendship schools.

2 Votes
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Corallie Tornow admin over 2 years ago

Hi Kenton, The Jordan Pointe neighborhood will remain having traditional calendar schools as part of this draft. Staff shared that future schools in the area may be a possibility to provide a more proximate school assignment. Woods Creek Elementary or the new land purchased on New Hill Olive Chapel Road would be potential solutions. The size of Jordan Pointe would not be able to fit in the current plan for Apex Friendship Elementary School.

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Carla Morgenroth over 2 years ago

I would have to agree that looking at a map based on the location of neighborhoods and seeing that Jordan Pointe is closer to Apex Friendship Elementary School we shouldn’t have to drive past this school to go to one much further away. It’s surprising to see that the proximity to schools is not being factored into assignments.

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Stefani Passey over 2 years ago

It would be great for the Jordan Pointe neighborhood to be districted to Apex Friendship as their current base school is capped and the overflow kids have to go to a school much farther away. That plus the fact that the middle and high schoolers go to the other Friendship schools it makes more sense. Please take this into consideration!

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Amy Ludwig over 2 years ago

Our base school is Olive Chapel and we are currently at Salem Elementary due to overcrowding. I also have children enrolled at Apex Friendship Middle School and am running two different calendars. Calendar alignment for families should be prioritized. Our current placement at Salem Elementary is not ideal due the different calendars and long bus rides. I am hopeful all of Bella Casa Neighborhood would be included in the next proposal.

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Margaret Wetsel over 2 years ago

I would like to see all of Bella Casa included in the next proposal. I feel it is unfair to divide a neighborhood.

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Corallie Tornow admin over 2 years ago

Hi Margaret, Due to the large number of families living in the neighborhood, it was not possible to include all of Bella Casa as part of this school assignment.

Other areas of Bella Casa were included in the proposal because they are part of the walk zone for the school.

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Lindsay Newman over 2 years ago

So does this mean there will be no bus transportation for those currently drafted to go to AFES from Bella Casa?

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Rajeev Jag over 2 years ago

I have my kid going to Apex Friendship HS and my younger kid assigned to Olive Chapel. With different schools and different calendar year it is causing a lot confusion and hardship in our case. Apex Friendship is also closer to our neighbor hood, is there a way that we can get transfer or an option to move from Olive Chapel to Apex Friendship Elementary, this will really help families who have kids split across different school calendars. I would request to allow opting for transfer to Apex Friendship elementary in such cases.

1 Vote
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Corallie Tornow admin over 2 years ago

Hi Rajeev, Unfortunately, staff is not able to align elementary and middle school siblings with high school calendars. Year-round schools provide the district an opportunity to better utilize a school building in an effort to build fewer schools over time. You can submit a hardship transfer request from Feb. 25 to March 11 in order to try to request calendar alignment for your family.

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Reeves Whitney over 2 years ago

So are you saying that AFES will open as a transfer option? That was not mentioned in the proposal.

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Corallie Tornow admin over 2 years ago

Reeves, Due to the crowding in the area, it is not likely that AFES will be open to transfers during the Request for Transfer Period. However, families may submit a hardship transfer request for any school of their choice.

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Kathryn Broaddus over 2 years ago

So to be clear - what are the options then for someone still assigned to OCE who has an older sibling at AFMs /AFHs? If we want to be on the same traditional school calendar for our family I don’t see any real options… When I looked in the address tool I can only see options of Scotts ridge (capped) and Baucom (also full and being closed for construction). Please let us know.

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Maria Dover over 2 years ago

For the Jordan Pointe neighborhood in New Hill, the Apex Friendship schools are the closest, which is why it is zoned for the middle and high school. I don’t understand why the neighborhood would also not be zoned for the elementary school on the same campus? I understand trying to alleviate the overcrowding at both Olive Chapel and Scotts Ridge. Jordan Pointe is currently assigned to Scotts Ridge, so all of those students would move over and help with Scotts Ridge numbers. Families from Jordan Pointe would be driving past Apex Friendship Elementary to go to another elementary school further away. Please consider including the New Hill area into the proposed changes for Apex Friendship Elementary. Thank you!

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Corallie Tornow admin over 2 years ago

Hi Maria, Take a look at my reply to Kenton above.

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May Van Fossen over 2 years ago

We hope that you can reconsider the zones to include our small neighborhood, Madison Creek, which is adjacent to Bella Casa and across the street from AFMS. We are currently enrolled in Salem Elementary (sent there since our base school Olive Chapel is capped), which is on the other side of town from our home.

While we are understanding of the current bus driver shortage, we either have to drive 30 minutes round trip to bring our child to / from school or have our first grader get home around 5:00 because she has to wait for a second round bus pickups. It is beyond disappointing that next year we wouldn’t have access to an elementary school that is a 5-minute walk from our home, when we are spending 1 hour+ commuting our child back and forth from school. When we purchased our home, the silver lining to enrollment over at Salem was “waiting it out” for a school across the street. From an environmental perspective, it is irresponsible of Wake County to bus children in our neighborhood to schools across town when more sustainable means of transport to Apex Friendship are available such as walking and or biking.

I respectfully ask you to reconsider. Thank you!

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Jeff Ludwig over 2 years ago

Bella Casa base schools are AFHS and AFMS. It seems odd for the elementary to be OCE for a few reasons: 1) AFES is walking distance and OCE is not, 2) AFES is traditional while OCE is year round, 3) AFMS and AFHS are in opposite directions of OCE from the neighborhood. It would be simpler for the families of Bella Casa to be districted for AFES. Many of the families would be split between elementary and MS/HS.

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Corallie Tornow admin over 2 years ago

Hi Jeff, Take a look at my reply to Margaret above. We will look at future schools to help with calendar alignment.

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Meghan Ganschow over 2 years ago

What is the rational for having this be a traditional calendar vs a year round school? My understanding is that a year round school can hold 25% more kids - given the staggering number of new neighborhoods being built in western Apex and that neither of the two schools that Apex Friendship pull from will get under 100% capacity even after this new school opens, it seems odd to me to miss out on an opportunity to have more students attend this new school. It seems very likely to be that it'll end up capped pretty quickly if opened as a traditional calendar.

3 Votes
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Corallie Tornow admin over 2 years ago

Hi Meghan, Good points. Our practice has been to open schools on the same calendar as the existing schools on the same campus. However, we will share these points with the Board for the ongoing conversations regarding year-round schools.

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Reeves Whitney over 2 years ago

I would like to second Meghan's sentiment and add that if the remaining portion of bella casa and Madison Creek could be accommodated at AFES with a year round calendar, it would certainly be a huge benefit for those who are capped out of OCE to Salem in terms of proximity, and a similar proximity with same calendar for those that are in OCE now.

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Sarah Brack over 2 years ago

I also would like AFES to be year-round. I understand the proximity argument, but we really like the year-round calendar and have been on it for three years. AFES will be my daughter's 3rd school since starting kindergarten in 2019 and some additional continuity would be appreciated.

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Liesl Martin over 2 years ago

Please consider making Apex Friendship Elementary the base school for Jordan Pointe. All the neighborhoods on that side of old US one up until Jordan Pointe are attending the new school. It doesn't make sense to make the area furthest away from Scotts Ridge attend there. Even when South Salem Street Elementary is build in 3-4 years, it will be further away for Jordan Pointe and the New Hill area. Please allow our students to attend school closer to home and on the same campus as their older siblings.

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Kathryn Broaddus over 2 years ago

This area has developed so much over the past 5 years and the schools have not been able to keep up. It feels like anyone who has moved into this area in the recent years is not really attending their base school and are all sent to overflow schools. We are thrilled to have AFES opening to help with our crowded schools and hoped that the new map coming out would actually help our communities by assigning schools so our neighborhood children can attend the correct base school. However, after seeing the first draft I was disappointed to see that our neighborhood (bella casa) would be split in between three different base schools … which seems excessive nor efficient for anyone in wake county schools and wake transportation to manage. Student assignment should take a second look at the map and see if there is any way to route the school lines to reduce splitting our neighborhood across three base schools. Thank you for your consideration.

4 Votes
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Corallie Tornow admin over 2 years ago

Hi Kathryn,

Take a look at my response to Margaret above.

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Elizabeth Buckley over 2 years ago

While Bella Casa is large, it will be divided into 3 different bases. In one area, there will be 3 bases within a block or two in the neighborhood. 2 of these schools are capped. It is likely that AFES will be capped. That is 3 capped schools in our neighborhood. This should be considered when looking at student assignment.

Also, there are portions of Bella Casa that ARE in walking distance to the school are are not part of the proposal.

Finally, when AFES was planned, Bella Casa was an existing neighborhood for that area. There was already a need in the area. A lot of growth has happened since then and now a large portion of Bella Casa is not included in this proposal when the planning for AFES included the need for additional schools for Bella Casa residents.

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Reeves Whitney over 2 years ago

The areas being reassigned from Scott's ridge to AFES are already completely on traditional calendars. Why not try to include as much of the proximate areas which have YR elementary and traditional middle and high into the base map for AFES?

I would like to see making calendar alignment a priority and include as much of Madison Creek and Bella casa as possible since they are walkable.

5 Votes
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Corallie Tornow admin over 2 years ago

Hi Reeves, staff will look into this as they consider any edits for Draft 2.

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Rebecca Patel over 2 years ago

We are all excited to see a new school will be opening and assisting with the overcrowding and capped school issues. We also appreciate how difficult reassignment plans are for WCPSS to wade through. As several others have posted above, it is disappointing to see that Bella Casa (one neighborhood) is divided among three elementary schools in proposal 1. Not only does this proposal cause inefficiencies for WCPSS and support staff (e.g. bus drivers) it causes hardships for families that need assistance with car pool not only for school but for school activities and camps. The proposal as is does not allow for any coordination across families to help and assist with student transportation; the car pool lines at these capped schools are ridiculous with local law enforcement having to aid with traffic on multiple occasions (and not happily). It does not allow for a neighborhood to come together and serve and support a neighborhood school. With the current proposal, there would be buses picking up for at least 4 different schools (the 3 base for Bella Casa plus the overflow (school Baucom/Salem)) and that is just for elementary bus routes. As a resident of Wake County for 20 years I've always known that calendar alignment across families is not a priority for WCPSS and is not considered a hardship for appeal. However, dividing a neighborhood in to 3 base schools just makes it even more difficult to understand and appreciate. I see your responses above indicating that more schools are in the making however that does not assist with current tax payers who have lived in the overcrowded, capped school district for years. Please review your proposals and make every effort to consolidate the school assignments for Bella Casa.

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Garrett Sheehan over 2 years ago

For those of us on Lazio Lane and Madison Creek, the new school will be walkable - safe route with sidewalks the entire way. Less than a mile. Looking at the map, it seems like Evans would be a natural border and everything west of Evans and south of Nature Park would make more sense to align with new school. Why not cut off at Evans as opposed to an arbitrary line in the middle of the neighborhood?

5 Votes
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Corallie Tornow admin over 2 years ago

Hi Garrett, staff will look into this as they consider any edits for Draft 2.

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Deanna Sheehan over 2 years ago

If AFES will be at 93% capacity next year and OCE at 126% it seems like there is some room to add to AFES. Would adding Bella Casa Traditions and Madison Creek put AFES higher than 126%? In a perfect world it would be nice if AFES could remain a traditional calendar school for calendar continuity for parents; however, I think it is worth considering making it YR as mentioned above IF it would eliminate the caps at OCE and SRE. This would also increase efficiency with bus transportation. We have been capped out of OCE for over a year. To learn that we will still be in OCE base next year and based on numbers it will most likely still be capped is discouraging. Especially, when there is a non-capped school closer.

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RAJVI PATEL over 2 years ago

We are at Woodbury and assigned to Scott Ridge ES but my kid is overflowed to Baucom ES. We will be rezoned to AFES next year. (1) If we choose to stay at Scott Ridge, what is our option? (2) If we come to know that my child got admission to SR after the stability transfer time of 13Dec-2Jan, what's our option if we don't apply for staying at SR during this time frame? (3) Will school curriculum, activities, for APES be shared with parents before the stability transfer time window? Since school will be brand new, we want to make sure our kid will get the same level of quality education as some of the established schools like SR. Thank you.

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Corallie Tornow admin over 2 years ago

Hi Rajvi, We will have a staff member from the Office of Student Assignment contact you to discuss your options.

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Elizabeth Buckley over 2 years ago

Can you clarify the current stability rules for staying at your current school? The purposed rule states that district transportation will not be available to eligible students. However, under application schools, it states that district transportation will be provided to those schools. If the student goes to a traditional calendar school currently and then gets assigned to a year round school, can the student stay at the current school and will transportation be provided since it is one of the student’s calendar option school?

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Corallie Tornow admin over 2 years ago

Hi Elizabeth, Students receive transportation to and from school if they attend their calendar option school. Please use the Draft 1 address look-up site to determine the calendar application schools for your address.

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Adam Van Fossen over 2 years ago

Based on the response on the above statements ("Other areas of Bella Casa were included in the proposal because they are part of the walk zone for the school.") I am hoping that our small neighborhood of Madison Creek, which is 0.2 miles from AFMS & AFHS be considered as part of the "walk zone" to Friendship Elementary. I would also like to note that the entire walk is on sidewalks and greenways - a safe, sustainable option for our neighborhood children to get to school.

We are currently driving / bussing 1 hour + per day to get our daughter to Salem and back.

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Corallie Tornow admin over 2 years ago

Hi Adam, staff will review the walk zone criteria for your address and provide an update for draft 2 if necessary.

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Vik Manne over 2 years ago

Hello, We are in the Arcadia west subdivision, and looking at the distance, Apex friendship elementary is the first closest school( .~ 2 miles) However it doesn't show up as base nor application school for the subdivision. The only options are olive Chapel (YR), Scott's ridge (trad) and baucom (yr) Could you let us know what are the considerations taken to have Apex friendship not listed as neither base nor application school, though being the nearest one for this subdivision. Also what could we do to have enrolled for traditional school, seeing that only Scott's ridge and Apex friendship are the only choices.

2 Votes
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Corallie Tornow admin over 2 years ago

Hi Vik, Due to crowding in the area, we are not proposing to offer Apex Friendship Elementary as a calendar application school at this time.

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Tim Riley over 2 years ago

I am interested in understanding why this school and Apex Friendship Middle were opened as traditional schools when this is an area of extremely high growth and building. As someone who's family was reassigned from a traditional school due to "overcrowding" and "the need to remove trailers" at a school slightly north, it's confusing to me why the board continues down this path. Generally what will happen is the enrollment will increase and the board will determine an "urgent" need to reassign students out. They will look for the smaller, most established neighborhoods, and reassign them out, historically to a year round calendar (see reassignments out of Mills Park Elementary, and Highcroft Elementary). New residents seem to take precedence over established residents in these cases, and it almost feels like there is an incentive to open schools as traditional to make them more attractive to new residents, and possibly also appease developers who want to sell their units as quickly and for as much money as possible.

For those that live in this area, I strongly recommend you question why these schools have been opened as a traditional calendar. I understand that traditional is a more desirable option for many versus year-round, but this will ultimately end up with established neighborhoods being reassigned in the future in favor of new residents. This is not an easy thing to go through when you have attended schools since they were opened.

If you are interested in reading about what has happened to one of these established neighborhoods in the past, you can check out www.wakereassignment.com . Highcroft Elementary was actually on a year-round calendar and then changed by the board to single track YR, and eventually traditional. They then reassigned two of the most established neighborhoods in the zone, that had attended those schools since they were built. Mills Park Middle was actually built to be opened as year-round, but the board ended up opening it on a traditional calendar instead.

Please don't let this happen to you. While a year-round calendar is not ideal for some, it is better than having to uproot your kids to new schools on a different calendar. It should be questioned why they continue to open schools in massively high growth area as traditional.

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Allie Sandoval over 2 years ago

I am commenting in my role as my daughter's advocate.

As the parent of a child with learning challenges, I am both grateful and nervous when I look at this plan; grateful because as residents of Grouse Trail, my child is scheduled to remain at Olive Chapel, and nervous because of the potential upcoming draft changes.

My daughter is happy and thriving at OCE and because of her challenges, I believe strongly that a year-round school is the best option for her. If we get moved to AFES, there will be no year-round option, which would be a detriment to her and other children like her.

Additionally, as a second grader, every single year of my daughter's education has been inconsistent, primarily because of covid but also because of teacher and substitute shortages impacting her classroom. As a parent, we hear over and over that consistency is key, so I'm hoping that the approved plan keeps her at OCE, a year-round school, and allows for more consistency in her elementary education.

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Evan Schroedel over 2 years ago

I would like to know what considerations are made when assigning/planning for new schools? It seems to me there is no well thought out and cohesive plan. Jordan Pointe is not zoned for Apex Friendship Elementary but it is for middle and high school? Our assigned school is much further and is already capped. What logic or reason is used in determining that elementary students need to commute somewhere other than their closest school? They will have their entire adult lives to be grumpy sitting in traffic, don’t make them start when they are 5! I am also fairly certain this school was used as a selling point by the builders which to me means it was likely communicated to them by the city at some point. I hope you consider zoning this neighborhood to the closet school, as you have with our neighboring developments.

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Corallie Tornow admin over 2 years ago

Hi Evan, Staff shared that future schools in the area may be a possibility to provide a more proximate school assignment. Woods Creek Elementary or the new land purchased on New Hill Olive Chapel Road would be potential solutions. The size of Jordan Pointe would not be able to fit in the current plan for Apex Friendship Elementary School.

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Jamie Schwedler over 2 years ago

I support the current assignment as I believe it will give relief to currently capped schools and stability to families who have been redirected to overflow schools because the base school for their address is capped. I live on Carsona Ct. in Bella Casa and am slated for Apex Friendship Elementary. Several families on our street and many more in our neighborhood moved here within the last 2 years and have no opportunity to be at the current base schools as all base schools for our neighborhood are capped. It simply is not possible for our large neighborhood to all go to one school, but by grouping, this plan helps to bring that back into a situation where kids can be at elementary school with their nearby neighbors. This should also help overcrowding at our existing capped schools, both of which appear will have relief from new school sites on the east side of Apex likely sooner than the western part of Apex will. I support the plan as is. Thank you for doing a very difficult job!

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Heather Cotter over 2 years ago

I would love for:

1.Bella Casa to not be split, or at least only split were Evans Rd separates us.

2.Bella Casa to be at AFES since most of us could walk there.

3.Our kids that are rising 3rd graders and up to be able to stay at OCE with bus transportation offered for consistency sake.

4.AFES to be year round or OCE to be our year round option.

Thank you for your time!

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Kathryn Broaddus over 2 years ago

Corallie - I’ve seen your responses on how the initial splits were made and it was based on volume of students in the area. I understand not everyone can get into AFES…. But I am genuinely asking - what are the options then for someone still assigned to OCE who has an older sibling at AFMs /AFHs? If we want to be on the same traditional school calendar for our family I don’t see any real options… When I looked in the address tool I can only see options of Scotts ridge (capped) and Baucom (also full and being closed for construction). This really puts our family and many others in a very difficult situation to decide how to proceed for many years with children on multiple /opposite schedules. The other parts of south western wake at least get to go to Scotts ridge or baucom and have this opportunity for their families. We are specifically being blocked from this schedule - unless wake allows transfer requests for split families which has not been the case in the past …. Please advise.

1 Vote
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Corallie Tornow admin over 2 years ago

Hi Kathryn, unfortunately, the schools in your area are severely overcrowded. If you want to keep your family on a traditional calendar schedule, you could consider applying to a magnet school. This application window is open now through January 27.

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Kristen Hartley over 2 years ago

I would like, as most families if not all, on Amalfi street in Bella Casa to be considered in attending AFES. We are walking/biking distance as we are just off Humie Olive and our kids are very divided amongst Apex schools because of the caps and this street being one of the last to be built. It’s very difficult to build community and be able to help one another when all our kids are on very different schedules and different schools. Also, considering we could bike to school, this would alleviate a lot of the stress of commuting/busing across Apex which is taking over an hour and our drivers are overloaded as is.

I was curious if we are rezoning these areas, if we are assigned to a capped school, does that mean we will actually get to attend that school now? I would assume the rezoning would accomplish this but I’m relatively new to the school system.

2 Votes
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Corallie Tornow admin over 2 years ago

Hi Kristen, while the opening of a new school will provide relief to a capped school, the intention is that it will open up some available seats for students to be called back from the wait list.

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Kristen Hartley over 2 years ago

Thank you for your input. I do ask that in the next proposal our street be considered, as again as stated, we are within walking distance to the friendship schools and would help alleviate busing issues we are having with our children going to schools that are across the district.

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Tracy Pacetti over 2 years ago

I support this plan for AFES as proposed. I live in Bella Casa in a zone to attend the new school. I know this is difficult. It is impossible to plan something of this magnitude that will help everyone.

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Andrea Haas over 2 years ago

My children attend OCE and are in the proposal to be rezoned to AFES. There is a 2 minute difference in distance between my home and both of these schools. Furthermore, neither school is walkable for us. Currently, my older child is in her 4th year at OCE, and for stability purposes, I would love to have the option to keep my children at OCE. We thrive on the year round calendar, and specifically chose to live in this area years ago to attend OCE (prior to OCE being capped) Year round schooling has proven to work well for my children and complements our home-work lives. Looking at the current proposal for 2022-2023, my address does not have ANY other application schools listed, year round nor magnet options. Thus, it appears that traditional calendar is sadly our only option, when it seems that others in the district have a choice. After reading this forum, it is clear that a large amount of the closest residents to AFES would prefer to be rezoned there either because of walkability or the traditional calendar. I propose that families be given the option to remain at OCE for stability purposes and to remain on a year-round calendar.

I also agree with comments above of considering to utilize AFES as a year round school considering the additional amount of students that could be accommodated there. In an area with such rapid growth, it seems to make sense to utilize a year round calendar to house an additional 25% of local students, thus decreasing the amount of students being bused to schools nowhere near their houses.

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Margo Brush over 2 years ago

I live on Firenza drive and under the current draft, AFES would become our base elementary school. I am thrilled that my daughter will be able to ride her bike to school. I’m also happy that we will have a traditional base school so that she can be on the same calendar as her older siblings. I respectfully request that the board consider including more of Bella Casa in the base area for AFES. I understand it is not possible for all of Bella Casa to be zoned there. However, many in my neighborhood have been waiting years for a traditional elementary school option and are frustrated that neighborhoods that are not yet complete are being zoned to AFES while their own children will not have the option to attend. Evans road would appear to be a logical divider for the base area for AFES. Thank you for your hard work in preparing this draft, I know this is a difficult job!

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Garrett Sheehan over 2 years ago

We’re currently in our second year of being capped into Salem Elem and frustrated by the prospect of continuing to be 1 of 3 kids on our street at Salem with all 50 other kids going to OCE. Why have kids all over Apex in ones and twos go to Salem when you could have entire new neighborhoods in New Hill set with Salem as their base school? Then those in closest proximity to AFE could immediately start with what should be their base school for good instead of bracing for more change in a few years. There seems to be an opportunity to limit future moves AND keep neighborhoods together AND make for easier bus routes.

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Lindley Donecker over 2 years ago

Is there any possibility that AFES can be opened as a year round calendar? In an area experiencing this much growth, that seems like a no brainer. My family is currently attending OCE and we have thrived on the year round calendar schedule. By opening as a year round school, we could significantly increase capacity. I understand that most schools that feed into each other are on the same calendar-however an exception was made to have OCE (year round) feed into AFMS, and the same can be done for AFES to open year round and then feed into AFMS. Please consider this option, as it would significantly increase the efficiency/benefit to the community of this school.

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Corallie Tornow admin over 2 years ago

Hi Lindley -- Traditionally, when elementary and middle schools share a campus, we have opened the new school on the same calendar as the existing school. In this case, we planned to open Apex Friendship Elementary on the traditional calendar since Apex Friendship Middle school was already operating on that calendar. Based on the future schools in the area (South Salem Street site, Woods Creek ES and the newly purchased property off New Hill-Olive Chapel Road), staff will continue to monitor the growth in this area.

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Tim Riley over 2 years ago

Why was AFM opened traditional? In areas that will clearly be areas of rapid growth, doesn't it make sense to "play it on the safe side" and open at a minimum as single track year-round? Then you have the option bring in other tracks if necessary. I think we all know it's nearly impossible to convert a school from traditional to year-round, and the Board and Office of Assignment don't seem to ever consider converting to year-round as an option for dealing with overcrowding. Instead, they unnecessarily reassign small established neighborhoods (like mine) who have attended those schools for ages. Why not take the safe route?

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Samantha Wojenski over 2 years ago

We are in Bella Casa on Maroni Drive. I can't express how disappointed I am in the draft proposal. I have a 7th grader at AFMS and a 1st grader at OCE. The separate calendars are EXTREMELY disruptive to our family schedule. I've tried to get my 1st grader switched to a traditional calendar with zero success (both in K and 1st). I applied to every available traditional calendar and was turned down. I told myself, "oh well, at least by 2nd grade she'll be at the new AFES, so we only have to deal with this for two years." Now, I am looking at another 4 years of my kids being on different schedules???? If my kids are districted for traditional middle and high schools, there should be a traditional elementary option that I'm able to take advantage of. What is the logic of this arbitrary line through Bella Casa? I would think anyone on this side of the neighborhood should be included. So all houses off of Evans above Apex BBQ. Please give us a traditional elementary option that is actually available to us!!!! Maybe you could grandfather in elementary kids with older siblings already enrolled in AFMS and AFHS?

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May Van Fossen over 2 years ago

I’d like to further plead with the board, specifically our Rep. Mahaffey of District 8 to please consider adding our small neighborhood of Madison Creek to the zone for AFES. Our neighborhood is 0.2 miles from AFES, a one minute drive to the school. If our neighborhood is moved into the zone, it would add a minimal number of families to the school.

Our daughter has been attending Salem Elementary for the last two years. We feel the strain of the commute across town, accentuated by the bus driver shortage. Our six year old generally gets home at 5 PM - she’s not afforded the opportunities to play after school with neighborhood children, to participate in after school activities. We accepted being sent to Salem thinking it was a “no-brainer” that in a year or two’s time we would be able to send our children to a school that we can literally see the track of the Middle School from our back yard - to safely walk our children to and from school on sidewalks and greenways.

Our family feels burdened by this zoning decision - if Olive Chapel is to remain capped to us, we feel it isn’t a sustainable for us to remain at Salem and we will be forced into considering closer private school options for our family.

Thank you for your consideration!

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Noreen Rosichan over 2 years ago

Health care professionals follow the motto of “First do no harm”. Education professionals would be wise to also consider this guidance when assigning children and their families to schools. Harm is done to young children when their day begins at 8:30 and ends at 5:00 due to busing to remote schools. Harm is done to parents and families who must manage schedules of their children in both year round and traditional schools. Harm is done to the environment when children are driven or bused across town when a school is minutes away from their home. Please listen to parents and their valid concerns and make fair individual decisions to avoid harm to children and their families. I ask you in particular to review the assignment of the Madison Creek neighborhood to Olive Chapel rather than Apex Friendship. It’s beyond ridiculous that a school a mere .2 miles from a neighborhood is not available to these young families.

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David Peterson over 2 years ago

I request that you consider including the Bella Casa (BC) manors (east of Evans, historically OCE base, for example Napoli Dr) in the base school zone for AFES in the next proposal. I've read your prior comments that all of BC cannot be accommodated at AFES but there seem to be a number of good reasons why additional parts of BC could be. This modification would be aligned with many of the main considerations in board policy 4150:

-It is the nearest school to our neighborhood by proximity -It would reduce splitting of the BC neighborhood -Many homes would be in the walk zone, which could reduce busing needs entirely for this part of the neighborhood -It appears to improve utilization balance of both schools (under the current draft proposal OCE has a 2022-2023 utilization of 126% versus 93% for AFES. Importantly, this area of BC likely has a declining elementary school demand in the coming years as families that moved in 5-10 years ago when it was built have seen many kids age into middle and high school and beyond.)

Thank you for the consideration!

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Adam Van Fossen over 2 years ago

To whom it may concern,

I know we have a big meeting coming up to keep or adapt the borders for Apex Friendship Elementary. I’ve been vocal about the fact that I think Madison Creek and Bella Casa should be zoned for this new school because of the proximity of the school to these neighborhoods and the walkability and transportation impact (versus the families that live here bussing or driving kids 15-30 minutes to school). One of the main reasons I have been provided for our neighborhoods NOT being zoned for this new school is that they are not in the “walk zone. “

I don’t understand this justification for the following reasons:

  1. Builders of the surrounding residential neighborhoods created sidewalks, side paths, and greenways to make it possible for middle school and high school students to walk to school. Why are those pathways acceptable for those two schools and not the new school?
  2. Our neighborhood has a continuous path from our house to the school via sidewalks and side paths (greenway-style blacktop paths along Humie Olive) that are as walkable (and closer) than the areas of Bella Casa zoned for the new school.
  3. A representative for Wake Schools said the issue was a lack of a crossing guard to usher students from Evans across Humie Olive. I raised the point that a crossing guard was cheaper than a bus, and the representative told me that assigning crossing guards was an issue that NCDOT handled. According to this pamphlet (https://connect.ncdot.gov/projects/BikePed/Documents/NCSRTS_CrossingGuard.pdf) provided by NCDOT, school districts can assign crossing guards out of their budgets. So again, isn’t it cheaper to allocate a crossing guard to this intersection over assigning bus routes for this area to bus children to Salem Elementary?

I hope the board will consider this comment as well as the overwhelming majority of Madison Creek and Bella Casa families that wish to send their children to a school close to home.

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Elizabeth Buckley over 2 years ago

During the 11/16/21 work meeting, it was stated that you are listening to the community on not dividing neighborhoods. However, the second draft did not provide any changes into the AFES plan and Bella Casa is still divided into 3 schools. In reality it is 6 schools due the capping. That is 6 bus routes in and out of our neighborhood. A neighborhood that is walkable to one school. 2 neighborhoods that can hear the bell rings for AFMS and AFHS are not included in this draft but zoned for capped schools were they will likely not be able to attend. I am disappointed in seeing this.

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Reeves Whitney over 2 years ago

After all the good comments and suggestions, it's unfortunate that not a SINGLE change was made to the AFES proposal.

I feel that an attempt should be made to minimize impact (reassignment or calendar change) as much as possible. It seems that a simple assignment plan would be to open AFES as a year round school, and fill the base only from OCE existing base. This will relieve overcrowding at OCE.... and OCE families reassigned to AFES will experience a reassignment only and NOT reassignment AND calendar change (as currently planned). This would also help to include more of Madison Creek and Bella Casa, and keep as many families on their existing calendar.

Let say that we assign an impact score of 1 to a student who is reassigned, and an impact score of 2 to a student who is reassigned AND has calendar change, we can compare the Draft 1 proposal and the idea stated above. We are making no judgements about whether a reassignment or calendar change are worse, simply that each is an impact.

The original proposal has 665 students into AFES (93% of 716), of which it seems about 100 students are coming from SRE (the balance 565 from OCE). Students from SRE are assigned a score of 1 (reassignment) and those from OCE have a score of 2 (Reassignment and calendar)... So the impact score is 100x1+565x2=1230 for Draft 1.

If the idea discussed above is implemented and the entire base area comes from OCE, the impact score is only 665. (Assuming the same number of students into AFES) This is approximately a 50% reduction in impact score!

Seems like a simple and objective way to evaluate this idea vs. Draft 1 to me.

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Andrea Haas over 2 years ago

I agree with this comment. I would like to know if ANY changes were made in the 2nd draft? It seems counterintuitive to me that the closest neighborhoods to the school, especially Madison, are not assigned to AFES.

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Kelly Reich over 2 years ago

We are in Bella Casa quite close to the line and currently slated for AFES. We hope that we are in the final plan for the new school as the bus ride to Salem ES is quite long and it’s challenging to do after school activities when our student doesn’t get home until 5:15.

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