Onslow County Schools consider redistricting issues

Just as it did last year prior to the opening of Meadow View Elementary school, the Onslow County Board of Education will have to decide how to shift student populations to fill Stateside Elementary School, set to open in the 2009-2010 school year.

The school board, administrators and elementary principals met Monday afternoon to hear Assistant Superintendent Jeff Hudson's presentation on three redistricting options.

"District staff, facility specialists and statisticians from North Carolina State University have been working for months, and we have come up with three options," he said. "We are limited in the things we can do due to the geographical nature of the county."

He said none of the areas that were redistricted in 2008 will face redistricting in 2009 under the proposed options.

Onslow County Schools will host public meetings in December before it makes a final decision on how the redistricting will proceed.

Five public information sessions are currently scheduled. At these sessions, members of the public will be invited to review the maps and plan and offer their input.

All public information sessions will begin at 6:30 p.m. Parents from any school can attend a session at any location. Dates and locations are:

- Dec. 8, Richlands Primary Multipurpose Room

- Dec. 9, Summersill Elementary Multipurpose Room

- Dec. 10, Carolina Forest Elementary Multipurpose Room

- Dec. 11, Parkwood Elementary Media Center

- Dec. 16, Richlands Elementary Media Center

In addition, maps of the three redistricting options will be placed in the lobby of the district office, located at 200 Broadhurst Road, and in potentially affected schools. The redisctricting presentation and maps will also be available for review on the school system's Web site, www.onslow.k12.nc.us.

Fliers will be sent to parents via individual schools and an AlertNow message from auxiliary services will be sent to parents in affected schools.

Comments will be received through e-mail at: redistricting.comments@onslow.k12.nc.us, or by mail: Onslow County Public Schools, ATTN: Redistricting Comments, P.O. Box 99, Jacksonville, NC 28541-0099.

Board members will receive all the compiled verbal and written comments for review.

School board members Ronnie Ross and Lina Padgett-Parker said they take public comments very seriously.

"Public comment has definitely influenced my decision on what option to choose," Padgett-Parker said. "We look at everything that is received."

Ross said the public input is a very important part of the redistricting process.

"It definitely helps us make a decision," Ross said. "Sometimes it's just a matter of moving a line just a bit that makes more sense."

Contact Topsail area reporter Suzanne Ulbrich at sulbrich@freedomenc.com or 910-219-8454.