Union County NC Schools End Capping for Pupil Assignment
Union County NC Schools End Capping for Pupil Assignment
Union County Public Schools (UCPS) have long used reassignment to deal with overcrowded schools. Serving North Carolina’s fastest growing county over the last decade meant that UCPS needed to build new schools almost continuously to deal with new students moving into the system. As new schools were built, Union County NC neighborhoods would be reassigned to fill them up.
Construction of new schools has stopped in Union County because of the slowdown in the economy. New students keep moving in, however, which means that certain schools continue to become overcrowded. Two years ago, UCPS decided to try “capping” a school’s population instead of neighborhood reassignment.
What is “capping” and how does it work? School officials determine a school’s capacity. When a school is deemed to be at or over capacity, the school is capped and no newcomers to the school are allowed to attend. New students who move to a neighborhood assigned to a capped school must attend a different school chosen by UCPS.
Why did UCPS decide to end capping? Various schools in the system have been capped and then uncapped in recent years as new schools were built and pupils were reassigned. Last week, UCPS voted to end capping at the remaining capped schools: Porter Ridge Middle and Porter Ridge High. The reason: providing bus transportation for students from the same neighborhood to go to two different schools was too costly.
The result is that reassignment is the only method currently used by Union County NC schools to handle overcrowding. The Porter Ridge reassignment plan approved last week moved students in the Breckonridge and Charlestown subdivisions to the Sun Valley schools. A larger group of neighborhoods was assigned to the Piedmont schools. These neighborhoods include Myers Meadows, Cameron Woods, Hamilton Place, Arbor Creek, Priceton, Karrington Place, Savannah Way, Stoneybrook, Hilton Meadows, Fox Hunt, Windmere, Rolling Hills, Yorkshire and Barbee Farms.
Learn more about the Union County NC schools.
Union County NC Public Schools—Eight Things You Should Know
Copyright 2010. Carol Fox. Allen Tate Realtors. *Union County NC Schools End Capping for Pupil Assignment*