Issues remain with redistricting map

The New Hanover County School Board made some parents happy last night by honoring their petition to re-join their community. Forest Hills will no longer be split in two. Instead all middle school students living in the community will attend Williston Middle instead of D.C. Virgo Middle School.

That means a win for Forest Hills parents, who will have a neighborhood school. But it still means a loss for some parents, who are still upset with the revised map because it has some loopholes. Last night’s attempt by Forest Hill parents to get their children back together at Williston was a success, but the tweak still leaves some children not in neighborhood schools.

A small slice in the map is up-rooting children from Myrtle Grove and sending them to Williston. It’s a fact that school board member Elizabeth Redenbaugh says is the unlucky side of the deal.

The school board also decided to honor a request from Myrtle Grove’s principal to keep a group of students at Myrtle Grove instead of sending them to Holly Shelter, regardless of the map.

“People are resistant to change,” Redenbaugh friend, “and when we open this new school in Castle Hayne, automatically we’re gonna have to move students. That’s a foregone conclusion. And this latest map, I think its about 1,500 students that will have to move. So unfortunately, that’s the reality of the situation.”

Redenbaugh said as of today, last night’s map is the final map. A call to Myrtle Grove principal Robin Meiers went unanswered today. The decision to honor Meiers’s request to keep the group of students at Myrtle Grove instead of sending them to Holly Shelter was made by four school board members.

According to Redenbaugh, the decision was made to ensure the students’ education, and to avoid them getting lost in the shuffle. She says if they attend their neighborhood school where 80 or 90 percent of them are economically disadvantaged, there’s a bigger chance for poor performance.