Students return to classrooms across Union County

UNION COUNTY, N.C. — Monday was a busy day for many as 39,000 students returned to classrooms in Union County.

At New Town Elementary School, parents lined up at 7 a.m. for drop off. Afterwards, Channel 9’s Gina Esposito noticed some had trouble turning left out of the school.

New Town is one of 11 schools in the district that recently saw cuts to traffic director positions.

“It’s unfortunate, I think they had to do that,” Janell Davis, a parent of a New Town Elementary fifth grader, said. “I feel like the position is worthwhile, and traffic is backed up at all the schools.”

Union County Public School’s superintendent Dr. Andrew Houlihan spoke to the staffing changes.

“We expect there will be some bumps in the road, but it’s another thing we decided we’ll continue to evaluate and really monitor and get feedback on,” Houlihan said. “So far, we haven’t had any issues that I’m aware of.”

Last week, Esposito reported that the district reinstated the positions at Waxhaw and Antioch Elementary Schools after safety concerns were raised by town leaders and parents.

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For the first day, Houlihan visited nine schools, including Wesley Chapel Elementary School, where kids were doing team-building activities. He said highlights for the new school year include more teacher pay, the lowest teacher and bus driver vacancy in seven years and a focus on new programs.

“We have a few pilots,” the superintendent said. “We launched a play-based kindergarten at Shiloh Valley Primary School which is one that is really going to focus on the development of our youngest learners.”

Union County Public Schools is a top-performing system, and Houlihan says the district will also learn from the state if its few poor-performing schools can move up next week. He said there were seven low-performing schools last year. The district is trying to get that number down to zero.

Also new this year, Union County will have a school resource officer in every school. The sheriff’s office says they have enough staff to make it possible.

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