We live on Vandalia drive and would be impacted in elementary (where my kids currently are thriving at Hortons Creek), and in the future for middle school and highschool. For elementary my kids obviously have all their friends and community built already, which is even stronger after going through COVID together and now finally being able to be back in person together! I can’t imagine how sad they’ll be to know just the kids in our little area were picked out of Hortons creek to move to a school further away, and where they know no one. After all the social and school challenges we’ve been through with the pandemic and virtual school, the community they’ve built is so important to their continued success and emotional well being.

In addition, as a working parent, our ability to support our kids doing the extra curriculars they like is dependent on our ability to pick up/transport kids. Hortons creek is on my way home and Green Hope is very much out of our way, which would add an extra 20 minutes on top of my already 40 min commute to work. This will be a huge added stress to our family. Afternoon bus routes aren’t an option as we need to get kids to their practice.

I absolutely don’t think it’s fair to pick out our small area of an established neighborhood to be impacted based on growth in other areas. We are completely separated from the other kids attending green hope. This option would move our kids to schools further away from their friends and homes, forcing us to deal with the added commutes when we already have schools nearby, and the social stress on kids to leave old friends behind and fit into a school where everyone else is neighbors. Please reconsider moving our neighborhood to Green Hope Elementary.

Hello,

The said proposal is wrong at so many levels. If one gives kids’ social/emotional development at such formative age (kindergartners-5th graders) any importance, then one would rethink on this decision as it impacts them badly specially right when things were falling back to normalcy with Covid.

My daughter is in Kindergarten at Horton’s Creek and loves going to school. Pre-Covid she used to attend a pre-school, but during Covid we took her out of pre-school and made her stay home. Finally when the numbers started reducing and the school year started she started going to Horton’s creek after not socializing for about 1.5 yrs. We could see a drastic change in her behavior (in a good way) and overall development when she joined Horton’s creek. Any change to the social structure impacts them in a big way. It’s not right punishing the kids and putting them through social/emotional turmoil due to senseless policy decisions.

Horton’s creek is 2.6 miles from our home (where we have been living for 9 years now). This helps with her having shorter commute and being able to attend after school classes. Our stop is the last but one stop during pick up. With the proposed changes to GreenHope elementary school I am pretty sure our stop won’t be last stop to be picked. I understand on any bus route there are always some kids who will be picked up first and dropped off last but it doesn’t make sense to pick a small neighborhood (essentially 2 streets) which is like an island and put them to a far off school ? There are only a handful of elementary kids on the street, I don’t see them being moved to other school causing any real dent in solving overcrowding, but I can clearly see that impacting their lives and social development. If you had to rezone why not pick a community that is farthest to Horton’s creek and closest to GreenHope elementary ?? If you could not get a small enough neighborhood then why not split a bigger neighborhood that is nearer to Green Hope elementary. With the new proposal, kids who are staying so close to Hortons creek are moved far and I assume the reasoning is that small number of kids will be impacted. But even if the number of kids being affected is small their pain won’t be small.

In fact we actually let go of a Charter school spot to send her to a closer base school but now with this proposal the commute time (with neighborhood busing) will become comparable to a far off Charter school. We moved this area thinking about the elementary/middle/high schools years ago and thinking that we will one among the closer communities and rezoning will not impact us. Taking a closer neighborhood and assigning kids to a relatively farther school is wrong and hope this proposal is changed.

I do not have a child in elementary school anymore but this trend is disturbing. The oldest house on Vandalia Dr is only about 12 years old but, if this proposal were to go thru, this would be the FOURTH elementary school this street has been assigned to (Mills Park Elem, Alston Ridge Elem, Hortons Creek Elem, and now Green Hope Elem). Will any kid that lives on Vandalia Dr/Branning Ct actually start Kindergarten and finish fifth grade at the same school?

Like the other families that have posted here, mine too is deeply frustrated by the proposed school changes. As the first family to live at Bellemont at Cary Park, a neighborhood developed more than 12 years ago, we have witnessed first-hand the already numerous school changes forced on this community by Wake County (as referenced by Ian Hadfield above.) And, like Srikanth Manvi (who also posted in the above thread), I am seeking some transparency in how this island of homes (Bellemont at Cary Park) was specifically selected amongst all of the other possible options as the best solution to relieve overcrowding at HCES, MPMS, and PCHS? The maps for these proposed changes illustrate how our small ESTABLISHED community has been singled out, yet we have received no explanation as to why. Why does moving our community’s kids solve overcrowding or transportation issues better than other streets/neighborhoods? As others have described, the proposed changes will not be easy on our kids or our families. Please reconsider the proposed school changes for Bellemont at Cary Park and instead work to solve the overcrowding and transportation issues by selecting 1) an area that is newer and thus not as deeply connected to its current school and immediately surrounding community; and/or 2) an area(s) that is adjacent to neighborhoods that already attend GHES, DDMS, and GHHS, as those children/families will be better equipped for change in terms of knowing other students and more ease to get to/from school.

Let me post it here too... It's a good thing our kids go to the school close to the neighborhood. Being close has made it a lot easier for parents to scramble this morning (10/29) to get kids to school on time. Imagine if this bus driver strike would have happened next year with the new school assignments in place?

Let us add unstable bussing to the list of why reassignment is a bad idea.

This modification impacts students already being challenged with years of pandemic response, does not maximize proximity, and does not treat the Vandalia Dr neighborhood as those that surround it.

A cursory google maps search shows that Vandalia Dr. is proximate to (in order): Mills Park, Horton's Creek, Alston Ridge, Highcroft, Morrisville Elementary, Green Hope Elementary (and only .1 miles off is Parkside). Selecting the 6th closest elementary school as proximate is an error requiring correction in the final enrollment proposal.

Neighborhoods more distant from Vandalia's base school have been given more proximate options. The neighborhood directly to the south (away from Horton's creek, for example 4008 Resident Cir) have been assigned Horton's Creek though they are closer to Green Hope Elementary (but should really be assigned to Mills Park...they're only 1 mile away!). Neighborhoods to the east (again, away from Horton's creek, 2801 Cameron Pond Dr for example) have been assigned Horton's Creek as an application school and Alston Ridge as the primary when they are also closer to Green Hope. Those data suggest that the choices/algorithms used for the surrounding neighborhoods were not applied to Vandalia Drive. In any case, this should be corrected in the final enrollment proposal.

Finally, the impact on the current students at Horton's Creek cannot be understated. They have, as a community, shared the struggle of the past 2 years. An option should exist to allow those current students to remain at this school where current presence and desire to stay implies automatic approval to do so.

The situation in its entireity is frustrating for everyone; parents, children, teachers, school staff, current home owners and future families as well. There are many components that make this challenging. WCPSS could provide more transparency as to why the re-zoned area was chosen over another. In the last 18 months we have had families move to our neighboorhood and their children can't start school (living within the walk zone) due to the enrollement cap. However, the fact is Hortons Creek is over crowded. The high density housing that keeps being build without any infrastructure for schools is showing a real weak link to living in this area. IF Green Hope Elementary has the room to accommodate students and decrease the volume at Hortons Creek- I think that is the correct choice for the county to make.

All that being said, I do understand the parents whose children will be rezoned frustrations and anger. Hopefully your entire neighboorhood will be rezoned and allow some consistency to be provided in that way. WCPSS- you need to do better. There is a severe lacking in transparency on zoning, poor timing, and little input from the community.

My family lives in the Camden Townhomes at Cary Park. We bought our townhome because of the close proximity to the schools and the schools' ratings. We live just 0.2 miles away from Panther Creek High School, which many can tell is walking distance. Mills Park Middle and Hortons creek is also close, with a driving distance of 1.6 miles. All three of our base schools (that we live close to) are at risk to change. The proposal would mean our kids would go to Green Level Elementary, Davis Drive Middle, and Green Level High school to help with overcrowding, but why wouldn't an area be selected closer to those schools. The commute from our neighborhood is much longer to these schools and is creating more burden for families. When I looked at the current zone for Mills Park Middle, I noticed that many communities are closer to the proposed schools, and some even had an Apex address. In the 2022-2023 proposal, they will still attend Mills Park Middle. Please consider other neighborhoods closer to Green Hope Elementary, Davis Drive Middle, and Green Hope High school. My kids and the kids in other selected communities should not be bused farther when other neighborhoods would be closer. My children use the time after they get home to do homework. What little free time they have after they finish their assignments is to play outside and unwind. They do not need to endure any more stress; the last two years have been hard enough. Being a developed neighborhood should not be a reason we are at risk for rezoning. We have stayed in Cary Park for ten years because we love the friends we have made, the close-knit community, and the schools. Our friends are located throughout this area, not just the neighborhood. Please consider allowing our small communities to stay in the schools close by and our kids with their friends.