New school year brings headaches for middle schoolers, families

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — School is back in session, and for many middle school students, that means a new school and a longer commute thanks to the county’s redistricting plan. Kids from the Carriage Hills subdivision off 17th St. Extension used to attend Myrtle Grove Middle School, just a couple miles from their homes, but thanks to redistricting, the students now have to ride the bus downtown to Williston Middle School.

“It’s the biggest hassle ever, and we moved here because of the schools, and now they’ve changed them and just totally messed us up,” parent Stephanie Langley said. “I mean, we’re thinking about moving.”

Langley is now a full-time chauffeur for her four kids, but it means her daughter gets to stay at Myrtle Grove Middle.

“For her to have to move her last year of middle school just is ridiculous. Ridiculous.” Langley said. Langley put up a big fight with the school board and she finally won. “I had to appeal it three times to finally get them to let her stay, and only because the younger three have medical problems was I able to let her stay.”

But most parents were not that lucky, like Adam Alphin.

“It’s not what I would have liked to break up her middle school life and have to go to another school, but we live in this neighborhood, and we can’t really easily move, so we’re going to support whatever school she goes to,” Alphin said. His daughter Yumi is making the best of it.

“Really excited, but a little bit nervous,” Yumi said about changing schools. “I’m going to make some new friends.”

Although the bus was a half hour late on the first day, Alphin says the changes won’t keep his daughter from getting a good education.

“It’s important to be involved, and I think as long as we’re involved in her school and really communicating with her teachers, then she’s going to be fine,” he said.

Several parents in the Carriage Hills subdivision have decided to home school their kids instead of sending them to Williston Middle School.