THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 29, 1996 TAG: 9608290450
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: 57 lines
A decision on where to draw new school attendance lines next year won't be coming any time soon.
The Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Board of Education announced Monday night that it will hold off a vote on redistricting.
``We will not take any action until at least September,'' said Marion Harris Jr., chairman of the board. He then quickly added, ``It may not be in September.''
Harris said the board still is collecting information to determine where elementary and middle school students should be sent to school next year.
Among that information is enrollment figures for this year. After initially being up by five students over last year, enrollment as of Monday was 30 fewer students than the previous year.
Enrollment is expected to grow by another 200 students through Labor Day, bringing the school district's 1996-97 enrollment to about 6,300 - the largest in the Albemarle area.
Most of those students - about 4,000 - will be affected by new school attendance zones next fall, brought on by the opening of a second middle school and reassignment of sixth-graders from elementary to middle schools.
This summer, an ad hoc committee of school board members unveiled its proposal for new school boundaries to accommodate growth and better reflect the city-county's ethnic makeup, which is about equally black and white.
The most protests have come from parents of current Weeksville and Northside elementary schoolchildren who would be bused to schools within city limits.
Several parents at Monday's meeting reiterated concerns raised at an earlier public hearing on redistricting.
``Northside Elementary was the primary reason many families chose to live in Pinelakes,'' said Laura Brooks.
Brooks, a mother of two young children, said a petition has been signed by more than 180 Pinelakes residents who want the community's schoolchildren to remain at Northside. Under the proposal, those children would attend Sheep-Harney Elementary School next fall.
``The residents of Pinelakes paid a premium for their property so their kids could attend Northside,'' Brooks said.
Another parent also said he feared property values in his Weeksville neighborhood would drop if children are reassigned from Weeksville to Pasquotank Elementary School.
Joy Phillips, president of the Pasquotank Elementary Parent-Teacher Association, defended the school Monday, saying there was a lot of ``disinformation'' being circulated about the school, which is near a public housing complex.
``The children are not in jeopardy. The neighborhood, while you may not desire to live there, is no better or no worse than'' any other, Phillips said.
She also reminded parents that many county children would be relocated to Pasquotank; thus, the school's student makeup would change.
``Give each school a chance to show their worth before you decide they're unworthy,'' Phillips said. by CNB