How do we know if our student will be affected? The address lookup tool just shows their assigned school, but does not show if that particular student could be affected. How will it be decided which students are transferred to another existing school?

Do we need to apply for stability all of our younger children who should be attending Panther Creek in the future?

It is also unfair to deny transportation services to children who qualify and are approved for stability. They are not, and should not, be considered a transfer student because they are not transferring anywhere. If they qualify to stay at their assigned base school, and are approved to not be reassigned, the school should continue to provide transportation.

Looks like our street (Vandalia Dr), and some of the townhomes around us, would be moving to Green Hope under this proposed changed.

But why our small section of the Panther Creek assignment zone?

We are walking distance (0.9 miles) from Panther Creek and do not have to cross any major roads to get to the High School. We are so close that when there is band practice or a football game at Panther Creek, we can hear it in our neighborhood.

However, it is 2.8-3.6 miles (depending on route) to get to Green Hope with a good portion of the kids having to drive by Panther Creek to get to Green Level. Plus, this drive is spent about half the time on NC-55, including a left hand turn on to Morrisville Parkway. In the morning, new drivers would be crossing traffic from drivers south of us getting to RTP. While Green Hope is a great school, this seems like an unneeded risk for new high school drivers getting to school every day.

Also, from the detailed map included in the presentation, it looks like there are already neighborhoods in the Panther Creek assignment zone which have to drive thru the Green Level assignment zone, and past Green Level to get to Panther Creek. Why not give them a better commute and have those neighborhoods to go to the closer school (Green Hope)?

NOTE: Apple Maps says the "fastest route to Green Level is to make a left onto CFS from Vandalia Drive (attached). This is inaccurate as the median would not allow a left turn out of Vandalia Drive. Taking the alternate route, via McCrimmon Pkwy, would have the kids drive right by Panther Creek to get to Green Hope.

Thanks for the time.

Reassigning our children from Panther Creek to Green Hope is problematic for several reasons. Our neighborhood, Bellemont (which is small and just includes Vandalia Drive and Branning Court), was already reassigned schools just a few years ago, so to force the children in the neighborhood to switch yet again so soon is inappropriate. Further, the switch of allegedly only a small percentage of students indicates very few would be switched, meaning our children who have lived in the same home and been able to go to school with some of the same children (including through the reassignment from Alston Ridge to Hortons Creek ES when it opened) would now be sent to a remote school where they know no one. Others in the neighborhood would be similarly affected. Also, we are walking/biking distance from Panther Creek and currently bike to Mills Park MS, which would be impossible with a reassignment to a remote Green Hope school (this would also be disruptive to our children's sports participation as being close to the school currently enables them to return home themselves following after-school sports activities). Our small neighbor has already recently been assigned, and has small numbers, so would not really materially impact any school numbers, so we should be left alone this time and remain assigned to Panther Creek which is walking distance and which all of their current classmates will still be attending.

I am at 877 Vandalia Drive. We have been in our home since 2012. For the 2022-2023 school year, I expected to have a Senior at Panther Creek and a Freshman at Panther Creek. I am completely surprised by this proposal that moves our very small neighborhood to Green Hope High School. We are 1.5 miles from Panther Creek (within walking distance and a very close, safe drive) and now are being asked to move across 55 (can no longer walk and have high schoolers/new drivers having to make more risky turns). It is stated that this is for a "handful" of students; however, the handful of students impacts both the students and the parents greatly. I would be shocked if moving us has any impact on Panther Creek being capped. I will absolutely not move my senior to Green Hope but now will be forced to make a decision for my Freshman. If I chose to keep her at Panther Creek (where she will be surrounded with kids in her community), I will need to make changes to my work schedule in the morning to drive her and likely pay someone to pick her up in the afternoon in order to attend the closest school to our home. The pandemic has been hard on all of us. Our kids deserve stability and this move is very disruptive for our kids, in addition to parents who now have to make decisions about driving their kids to the closest schools available to them. We are an established neighborhood, paid taxes, and we are being punished (will no longer have busing to the closest schools to us) for Wake County putting in townhomes and apartments all around us. Please do not move this very small neighborhood and disrupt us all. Please allow us to stay in schools that are within our own community.

This is so unacceptable to us. Disappointing to see such cruel proposals for someone who lives 1.3 miles away from this school. Not sure who are you exactly protecting?

While my wife and I appreciate the difficult job of reassignment, we feel it does not make logical sense, nor is it safe, and emphatically disagree with the plan to move our daughter from Panther Creek High School to Green Hope High School. We live on Vandalia Drive, around one mile from Panther Creek. We built our home in 2009 and have sent our daughter, a rising freshman, to the neighborhood feeder schools (ARES, MPMS). We love this area and have supported all the neighborhood schools in fund raisers and community outreach projects, including Panther Creek. The MPMS faculty and staff have worked closely with Panther Creek and are preparing their students for the transition to high school. Our daughter has been in classes with some of the same students since kindergarten and has participated in clubs, activities, and sports with them. We often see these classmates and families at athletic events, local restaurants and grocery stores and have developed a rapport with a lot of families. All our surrounding neighborhoods are still zoned to attend PCHS, including Cary Park, which our street is a part of, and to which we pay HOA dues. We as parents cannot understand the logic of one small street being islanded off by a reassignment change as our handful of students will not alleviate over-crowding. As mentioned earlier, our daughter has developed strong friendships and a familiarity with other students all of whom are scheduled to go to PCHS. She is already concerned that she will know no one and will be isolated because the students from GHHS feeder schools have been in class together and have that familiarity. Recent studies have shown social isolation especially from the COVID pandemic has been especially harmful in girls ages 13-18. We implore you to NOT socially isolate our 14-year-old daughter by insisting she attend a completely unfamiliar high school.
In terms of safety, bus routes will be much longer, with bus drivers and new inexperienced drivers having to navigate an already busy Highway 55. The intersection of Highway 55 and Carpenter Fire Station Road has a major new road construction project taking place, not to mention it is heavily congested with commuters heading to work during the peak time for buses and young drivers going to school. There are long lines in the left turn lane onto Morrisville Parkway from Highway 55 at most times of the day, with a short left turn protected signal. We are concerned that this proposal is unnecessarily endangering the lives of students by forcing them to travel several more miles on a major roadway with a history of fatal teen driver crashes. To alleviate overcrowding, one street with a handful of students is not going to do anything productive. This goes for the elementary and middle schools as well as the high school. We request this draft be readdressed and allow our neighborhood children to continue going to their neighborhood schools. Every neighbor we have spoken with on the street is firmly against this change. We do not understand the logistics behind this proposal. We ask you to please reevaluate, consider the ramifications on these students that you say you care about, and keep Vandalia Drive zoned to attend Panther Creek.

When is the live online meeting happening on this topic?

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.

After listening to the virtual session, I respectfully consider not using the cohort model to assign the schools. As stated in the presentation, there are 4 pillars when considering reassignment. As a parent the two that impact me the most are stability and proximity. The current school assignments for our neighborhood (I live at 877 Vandalia Drive), take away both these pillars for all 3 of our proposed schools. What I heard in the virtual session was that we are being reassigned to Green Hope to be in line with the "cohort model." Please reconsider this as the strategy and instead only reassign us to what is absolutely necessary. Panther Creek is our community school and within walking distance. The cohort model is not making sense to many of us in the neighborhood. The schools whether current or proposed would all be on the traditional calendar and we would all prefer to have as little movement as possible. As a parent, I have never thought of elementary, middle and high school as a block (or cohort) but instead care deeply about being in schools that are close to my home and part of the community in which I live.

I totally agree with Stacy it does not make sense for kohort model for our neighborhood. Sometimes my sone walks to school in fact he did when bus did not slowed up last week. We at 860 Vandalia Drive and 1.3.mile away and you are proposing to attend school that is 3.5 mile away. Have you thought about buses if they are late or don't show up? Panther Creek is on our backyard and its our neighborhood school. Please reconsider your decision to change to green hope high school.

I agree that changing Camden townhomes and Vandalia from schools close enough to walk or bike to is odd. Again like Green Hope elementary and Davis Drive middle, there are plenty of neighborhoods much closer to these schools. Having all of our current schools literally in our backyard and then asking us to bus our kids further is extra work for the school system. They would not only need to bus our kids miles away when they can walk, and the neighborhoods closer to Green Level would have a shorter commute. Our kids need stability, and taking them away from the community and having longer commutes is not helping. Would you please seek other options that would not impact families that chose these areas because of proximity to schools? Thank you, Judy Giaimo