Glenwood Elementary School is 68 students over capacity and the number is only projected to increase in the coming years. That is prompting the Chapel Hill – Carrboro City Schools Board of Education to hold a special meeting Wednesday night.

Officials say all of the school’s 20 classrooms and five mobile classrooms are in use and the school’s projected enrollment is expected to increase next year. According to the agenda for Wednesday night’s work session, the increase is attributed to “the expansion of the Mandarin Immersion program and growth from within Glenwood’s attendance zones.”

While the school’s current capacity is listed as 423 students, officials project that there will be 554 students set to attend Glenwood in the 2020-2021 academic year, based on three-year averages, if no action is taken.

School board officials have dealt with a similar issue in the past, most recently in 2014, by undergoing a “spot redistricting” process. Some local residents voiced opposition to that proposal at the time viewing it as a short-term solution.

The board was presented with long-term possibilities in June 2014, according to the agenda materials, but no action was taken to implement any proposal.

Officials acknowledge that “there is no ideal path forward that doesn’t negatively impact some stakeholders.” But they add the board must “take steps to address the looming capacity and enrollment issues at Glenwood.”

The board will be considering several questions at Wednesday night’s work session to provide criteria to move forward with when establishing long-term possibilities.

Options in the agenda materials include spot redistricting, relocating the Mandarin program, converting Glenwood to a magnet school either in an all-Mandarin format or by adding Spanish immersion, delaying future expansion tracks or transitioning the Mandarin program to the district’s current elementary world language model.

The work session is scheduled to begin at 6:30 Wednesday night at Glenwood Elementary School.

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