After weeks of debate and waffling between which elementary schools to study, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education made its choice at its recent meeting of the campuses it will further explore for potential closure.
In a split vote, 4-3, the board decided to request CHCCS staff examine Ephesus, Glenwood and Seawell elementary schools — and keep the Estes Hills Elementary and Frank Porter Graham Bilingüe Elementary campuses on track for replacement through bond-funded construction.
As community members had the last few CHCCS Board of Education meetings, many shared passionate public comments about the importance of protecting a school where they taught, attended, or had children going there. PTA presidents, educators and even a Glenwood Elementary fifth graders were among those who spoke Thursday night, urging the school board members to either not close any schools or simply not close theirs.
Ultimately, the board agreed that it needed to move forward with a vote on which schools to include in a study for potential closure – which is a required step by the state government in order to eventually close any campus. Since the start of February, the elected officials had debated whether to include all five elementary schools within the study group as a method to stay flexible and potentially close any based on the results.
But as she made the motion on Thursday, Board Member Barbara Fedders said she preferred to keep Estes Hills and Frank Porter Graham out of the discussions – because of those schools’ inclusion in extensive deliberation ahead of the 2024 school bond vote, which was informed by a county-run study on which schools had the largest infrastructure needs. Estes Hills and FPG were selected for rebuilding not just because of their aging facilities but because of adjacent land nearby for constructing an updated school building.
“The anticipated site of rebuilding for each,” Fedders said on Thursday, “meant that students could stay in their base elementary schools during the pendency of construction, which minimizes disruption and also cost. And so for that reason, those two schools should not be included in the closure study. To include them now in the consideration of closure – along with complicating the rebuild logistics – introduces instability and uncertainty…in so far as it would require retroactive reconsideration of the bond vote and capital plan.
“I think we as a board need to be data-driven, but we also need to be decisive,” the first-term board member concluded.
Carrboro Elementary School was also among the replacement candidates approved by the board in 2024. The school was not part of the board’s consideration for closure because of the money already spent on designing its new building, with the Board of Education passing an initial site layout and design for the construction on Feb. 19.
Rani Dasi – who had been vocal about her belief to leave any of the five other elementary schools on the table for closures – was one of the three votes against Fedders’ motion. She said she preferred keeping the flexibility available by studying all the discussed schools and worried about limiting the board’s options.
“We talk about confusion – but I don’t know why these schools are considered differently than other schools,” Dasi said. “So, my recommendation would be to consider the five schools that were included that were part of the bond discussion as the schools that were most in need of facility renovation.”
Board Member Meredith Ballew, however, said she voted for studying Ephesus, Glenwood and Seawell elementary schools because it was the “responsible” option considering Estes Hills and FPG’s clear inclusion in the 2024 bond discussions. Ballew said the discourse among CHCCS’ elementary communities since the beginning of the year reflects how “deeply hurtful” closing schools can be, considering their long histories and relationships with those both inside and outside their walls. But she also said she believes focusing the board’s analysis to be “narrower” and “more consistent” might help the district stay on course with its previously stated goals.
“During our bond discussions,” Ballew said, “we engaged in a robust process that considered facility condition, long range capital planning and fiscal sustainability. I believe that those factors remain relevant here. If we move away from those principles without clear justification, we risk undermining both public trust and long term stability.”
Chair Riza Jenkins and George Griffin joined Ballew and Fedders in their affirmative vote, while Vickie Feaster Fornville and Melinda Manning joined Dasi as the dissenting votes.
The board members then unanimously approved the criteria they want the district staff to study and create cases for closure options. Beyond the four criteria required by state law – which are geographic conditions, anticipated enrollment changes, inconvenience or hardship for students, and cost of providing additional facilities – the group asked for 10-year maintenance projections, proximity to middle or high schools, transportation costs and any space limitations (site adequacy) for school functions. In a brief discussion after the vote, the board agreed to not weigh any of those criteria more heavily than another and to simply assess the full studies when those are finished.
CHCCS district staff will take these criteria and conduct the reviews, with the goal of returning those to the board in May. The board aims to vote in June on which one or two campuses would close, with the 2026-27 academic year being the schools’ last in operation.
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools district is embarking on an elementary school closure because of its consistent enrollment decline in elementary-aged students, which Superintendent Rodney Trice and his administration say could cost the district an extra $2.4 million in state funding cuts. That shortage would further compound a funding gap CHCCS has been striving to close in recent years — starting with a reduction in force by 81 positions in 2024, and continuing with 25 additional positions to cut in the next fiscal year according to Trice’s recommended budget on Thursday night. Estimates for closing one elementary school would save the school district around $1.7 million in annual operating costs.
To view the full CHCCS Board of Education meeting from Mar. 5, click here.
Photo by Brighton McConnell/Chapel Hill Media Group.
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