New Durham school zones target segregation as district rolls out free lunch for all

What does a third-grader changing schools eat for breakfast before her first day?

For Novah Hines, it was a Pop-Tart, chocolate.

She smiled shyly from the front seat as her dad, Langston Hines, idled, first in the drop-off line, outside W.G. Pearson Elementary School.

Novah is one of about 1,500 students changing schools under the Durham Public Schools’ Growing Together plan, an initiative to reduce racial and socioeconomic segregation and improve everyone’s neighborhood elementary schools, according to Matthew Palmer, the district’s director of planning and operations.

That’s about 13% of Durham’s elementary school enrollment. Students in fourth and fifth grade — who started school during the COVID-19 pandemic — were exempted to spare them further disruption.

It’s the most ambitious effort to combat school segregation in Durham since the 1992 merger of the city and county school systems. Melody Marshall, director of student assignment, said earlier this summer that there had been three decades of “unintentional drift” since then.

Novah is transferring from C.C. Spaulding, where her older sister, Naomi, was allowed to stay.

“(The principal) took the time to actually sit down with me in a private room and talk about their vision and what they’re trying to do with test scores and all,” Hines said. “So we’re excited.”

Under Growing Together, every Durham elementary school will now have Spanish classes, dedicated arts classrooms and an integrated STEM curriculum, an acronym for science, technology, engineering and math. And all students can choose to attend year-round if they’d like.

But the ability to enroll in magnet schools, which offer specialized programs like Montessori and International Baccalaureate programs, is limited by geography in ways it wasn’t before.

“It’s not about choice,” said Julie Pack, who led magnet programs before taking a new job this summer with Orange County Schools. “It’s about making sure the option in my neighborhood is a great place to go.”

Elementary schools were only the first step. This year, district leaders will begin planning for reassignments at middle and high schools.

Year-round and free school lunch for all

Novah knows some other kids at her new school. She hopped out of the car to hug one of them, backpack on, 30 minutes before the bell rang.

Principal Kendell Dorsey said 40% of students are new this school year, as W.G. Pearson transitions to year-round. The school is expecting about 300 kids.

“We are now an option that anyone in the county can go to,” Dorsey said.

“I’ve talked to other parents and they’ve had a good experience with year-round school,” said Allana Potts, whose second grader donned all pink for her return to W.G. Pearson. “So I’m just excited for her and for us to get started.”

Hines said the year-round schedule is making after-school care tricky, since the Boys & Girls Club operates on the traditional calendar.

Interim Superintendent Catty Moore said it’s a shift, but one that helps prevent learning loss for children and burnout for staff.

“In my experience, I have found that families and staff come to love the year-round calendar because of the frequent breaks,” she said. “That really does provide respite and recovery time.”

Also available to all this school year? Free lunch and breakfast , regardless of family income, after Durham signed on to a federal government program in the spring.

“We’re excited about being able to provide that to all of our students. We know how important healthy meals are,” Moore said.

The transitions come on the heels of a tumultuous new school year, with resignations and strikes after financial mistakes came to light in January.

But Moore said she hopes they’ve turned a corner.

There are fewer vacancies than in the past two summers, she said. County commissioners voted to spend $27 million — 14% — more than last school year to provide raises to workers.

“We’ve tried to work really hard to market the district as one that is ready for teachers, ready for professional staff,” Moore said. “We have one of the highest local (pay) supplements in the state of North Carolina.”

Her permanent replacement, Anthony Lewis , starts as superintendent in August.

The Durham Report

Get headlines and updates about the Bull City in The Durham Report, a free weekly digest delivered to your inbox every Thursday, featuring stories by our local journalists. Sign up for our newsletter here . For even more Durham-focused news and conversation, join our Facebook group "The Story of my Street."