Cabarrus County Schools district holds community meetings to talk realignment

CABARRUS COUNTY, N.C. — Cabarrus County Schools held community meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday to talk about how to realign school districts.

Student population grew 21% between 2010 and 2020 and it’s planning for more growth over the next decade, according to the district.

The district has 35,000 students.

“We know that by the projections we’ve been given that we’re going to be about 40,000 students in about seven or eight years,” said Superintendent John Kopicki.

The realignment process will do several things, including analyzing school capacity, he said.

There are 140 mobile units currently in use.

“Some of our schools are over capacity,” Kopicki said. “Some of the schools are slightly under capacity.”

District officials will look at school-feeder patterns, diversity within the district, and planning for future development.

“Along with our master-build plan and getting that in place, we can set the district up successfully, we believe, for the next 10 to 15 years, so we don’t have to do this again,” Kopicki said.

The district will continue to consider the community’s feedback as officials narrow down the final versions of the map.

Tara Silver, a mother of two, attended Wednesday’s meeting.

“We moved here, and we picked our homes and our communities based on community and based on feeder patterns,” Silver said.

Silver said she understands the process is necessary but it’s also stressful.

“Something’s got to give,” she said. “I just feel like my personal family and my personal neighborhood has already been affected several times over the years.”

Some parents are concerned about what will happen.

“I do have a lot of concerns about it,” said parent Theresa Scott-Stills.

She’s a bit skeptical of the outcome of the realignment process.

“People buy into neighborhoods and pay taxes for certain schools and unfortunately, because the area grows, then our kids have to be bussed,” said Scott-Stills.

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