With hundreds more students enrolled, school system hones in on redistricting

With the school year well under way and the student population 25 percent larger than last year thanks to a lengthy demerger process, school officials in Edgecombe County are turning their attention to the needs for new districts.

Board of Education members for Edgecombe County Public Schools will be holding a Redistricting Community Meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the school system's Teacher Resource Center, located at 800 N. Fairview Road in Rocky Mount.

The meeting, which is open to the public, will include a presentation by the school board's attorney and demographer on the redistricting process and will be opened up for community feedback.

Before the demerger, all students in the city of Rocky Mount were served by the Nash County Public Schools system. Now, students who live on the Edgecombe County side of Rocky Mount are served by Edgecombe County Public Schools.

One outcome of that demerger has been that the attendance zones and school board districts in Nash County have been redrawn to include only the parts of Rocky Mount now served by that school system.

For Edgecombe County Public Schools, the demerger led to the addition of four schools and increasing the population of people that the school system serves by more than 25 percent. With the annexation of new territory, the school board will have to redraw its district lines to include the portions of Rocky Mount that are now served by Edgecombe County Public Schools to ensure fair representation for all residents of Edgecombe County.

“This meeting is an important opportunity for us to share information about the redistricting process and hear valuable feedback from the community,” Superintendent Dr. Andy Bryan said. “We want to be transparent throughout this process, as it impacts students, families, educators and the community.”

The annexation of the new territory has raised concerns among some community members, as the residents who live on the Edgecombe County side of Rocky Mount currently have no representation on the Edgecombe County Board of Education. Individuals of voting age living on the Edgecombe side of Rocky Mount will not be able to vote for new school board members until 2026.

The goal of Tuesday's meeting, according to Bryan, is to gather input from community members so that the Board of Education can make informed decisions that best serve all students in the school district.