FORSYTH COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — Your input could shape the future alignment of more than 80 schools within the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools district.
Leaders want to hear from parents and community members during the Fostering Diverse Schools listening sessions. It could potentially lead the district to update attendance zones.
On Tuesday, a handful of WS/FCS parents attended one of what will be several listening sessions. They shared their thoughts on rezoning, concerns they have and what they would like addressed if rezoning were to happen.
“I felt like it was a very open environment … A space of grace is the way that it was presented at the beginning. I’m feeling … more hopeful … and excited,” said Elizabeth Tippette, a parent.
Socioeconomic diversity in schools was the focus for many WS/FCS parents attending the listening session held on Tuesday at the Jerry Long YMCA in Clemmons. It was facilitated by Urban Strategies Inc.
One big question participating parents were asked was: “The existing residential school zones create inequities in the academic programs and other resources that children have access to. How can the district address this?”
“Are those kids in that less diverse school … getting those resources now just because they’re not … in a lower median income school? I don’t know the answer. I’d be curious to know if that’s happening now, and if it would be fixed in the future?” said a parent attending the listening session.
The input is helping the district develop a comprehensive plan to improve socioeconomic diversity in each school’s enrollment and also slightly reduce driving time for families.
The district received a 2-year planning grant of $943,000 to support this.
“What we’re really hoping to hear from the community is what are their goals? What are their interests? How are the current boundaries working for them, and where do they see issues?” WS/FCS Choice and Magnet Schools Executive Director Frank Pantano said.
One parent with two students in the district found the listening session helpful.
“There were perspectives shared by two participants about communities that they had grown up in that had seen shifts in rezoning. One where it worked out for the better. One where it had decades upon decades of negative implications even for the population of people that it was trying to help, and so that helped create a framework for me in my mind,” Tippette said.
WS/FCS has not made an official decision to redraw any zone lines. District leaders say it’s been at least 30 years since there has been a rezoning.
The feedback given will help the district determine what steps will work best for its schools.
“I know that any of the options would be better than what we have right now because it’s not been updated in so long. It’s so inefficient that even if we optimize for diversity, transportation times get better. Even if we optimize for transportation, diversity times get better. So it’s one of those rare cases where we have a win-win for the community no matter what change we make,” Pantano said.
The district has been holding listening sessions since June. Virtual sessions and in-person sessions have been held at the freedom schools. The district has three more listening sessions scheduled this week and plans to hold several more through December.
The dates, times and locations for those sessions can be found on the school district’s website.
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