Some parents still frustrated after Union Co. school redistricting

UNION COUNTY, N.C. — Union County parents are frustrated with a plan to redistrict students in a Waxhaw neighborhood just months after they were assigned to another new elementary school.

The Union County Public Schools Facilities Committee voted Wednesday to recommend the plan to Board of Education which would redistrict any families who move into the Lawson subdivision in Waxhaw after Dec. 1.
 
That's when officials plan to cap enrollment at New Town Elementary School where all Lawson students currently attend after being redistricted from Kensington Elementary last year.
 
"I think the expectations were at least three years before they were going to redistrict again, so that's what I think is frustrating everybody," said Tim O'Sullivan, whose children now attend New Town.
 
Board members said any families who move into phases 2 and 3 of Lawson, which are still under construction, will attend Waxhaw Elementary instead.
 
"This affects absolutely no existing seats, the cap nor the reassignment. The transition shouldn't be nearly as impacting to existing residents as redistricting was earlier," said BOE member Kevin Stewart.
 
While some parents have criticized the new redistricting as an effect of poor planning, Stewart defended the measure saying it will save taxpayers' dollars and stave off any new construction for several more years.
 
"We've got some of the usual suspects that no matter what we do, aren't going be happy, to have one school that we now have to tweak out of 53, that's not a very big margin of error," Stewart said.
 
The BOE could vote on the plan as early as their next meeting which will fall after the November election when many of the incumbents' seats are up for grabs.

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