Thursday, May 28, Glenwood Elementary School in Chapel Hill is hosting a Culture Night, bringing the Glenwood community together for an evening of celebration. But that community is also facing a great uncertainty – because the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education is just a week away from having to choose one elementary school to shut down in the next two years, and Glenwood, Ephesus, and Seawell are the three facing possible closure.
“It would be lovely if we didn’t have to close any schools,” said school board member Melinda Manning at last week’s board meeting. “But that would just be kicking the can down the road, and we can’t afford to do that.”
Manning and her fellow board members are inching closer to an extremely hard decision: which beloved, highly successful elementary school will ultimately have to close?
“We have to think about the whole district,” she added, “and this is us making those hard choices, thinking about the health of our district and ultimately the welfare of our kids.”
The issue is a matter of math: Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools have seen declining enrollment numbers this decade, and experts project that’s likely to continue over the next 10 years. (That’s partly due to an increase in homeschooling and private school enrollment, but a larger factor is demographic: Chapel Hill’s recent population increases have been driven largely by retirees with no school-aged kids.)
And because state-level education funding is determined by enrollment numbers, a drop in enrollment means a decline in available money. District officials say at that point, it makes more sense to shut down one school – to ensure that every other school is fully funded.
“What I want to do is close zero schools, (but) what I think we need to do is close one school,” said board member Meredith Ballew.
That leaves only the question of which school. District officials have narrowed the choice down to Ephesus, Glenwood and Seawell – all three of which are among the oldest buildings in the district, with the biggest maintenance needs.
But there are also strong reasons to keep each school open as well:
Ephesus Elementary is projected to need the most expensive repairs over the next 10 years – but it also serves a part of Chapel Hill that’s seeing a growing population, so its enrollment is expected to grow by 23 percent by 2035.
Seawell is projected to see a decline in enrollment – but it’s located next to Smith Middle School and Chapel Hill High School, with extra opportunities for cross-school collaboration.
Glenwood, meanwhile, is a magnet school that houses the district’s popular World Language and Mandarin Dual Language programs – and while those programs could move to another school, members of the Glenwood community say it’s their presence together that makes them especially effective.
Click here to view a 104-page study of all three schools. The district completed that study earlier this month, examining the three schools according to a set of eight criteria.
Parents, students, and staff members from all three schools (especially Glenwood) turned out in force last week to urge board members to keep their school open – but the final decision rests with the board, and they’re slated to make it at their next meeting Thursday, June 4.
After that, staff will begin the process of redistricting students into new schools. Deputy superintendent Al Ciarochi said that redistricting process should be done by the end of December, with everyone moving into their new schools at the beginning of the 2027-28 academic year.
Board member Ballew said the decision is going to be a painful one – but it’s also one that has to be made.
“This is not a value judgment; it is trying to figure out what is best for the long-term health of our district, so that it’s around and healthy for the next generation of kids coming through,” she said. “While this is painful for all of us, and I know it is for all of the public, this is something we need to get through so we can get to the other side and start thinking about what we want to be.”
Photo of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board (with superintendent Rodney Trice, front center) via Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.
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