The Orange County Schools district is pausing its redistricting and elementary student reassignment efforts, putting an end to the timeline of aiming to have a new system implemented for the 2025-26 academic year.
The district’s board of education voted unanimously to make the change on Monday, following the recommendation of Superintendent Danielle Jones and her administration to slow any district-wide redistricting plan for its elementary schools as it continues to study its capacity limits and building utilization.
The vote marks the latest delay in reassignment process. While initial plans were for redistricting to be implemented for the 2024-25 academic year, that approach was changed by the board on December 13, pushing back the timeline to 2025-26. The discussions came at a time when the district was behind on gathering the desired community input on changes — and just days before Orange County Schools formally hired Jones as its latest superintendent. Since Jones came on board, the district put together a new advisory council on student reassignment and met with principals to discuss the process, timeline, and urgency.
Jones said her team used the detailed capacity reports gathered during the earlier redistricting efforts to assess school capacity, but conducted a deeper review on how each school’s buildings and individual classrooms were utilized. While Efland-Cheeks Elementary School was listed as drastically over capacity in the recent Woolpert study of local school facilities, she said the bringing in of mobile classroom units helped relieve the facility burdens. The Woolpert study also did not focus on the full utilization of classrooms available compared with maximum class size, said Jones, which she maintained creates a discrepancy in schools being listed as over capacity vs. how much space is truly available for students.
The superintendent added that leaders of the three elementary schools projected as being the most strained for space in the next decade — Efland-Cheeks, River Park and New Hope — are confident they can create short-term plans to address any class’ space needs.
“Just being honest,” said Jones, “when we talked with principals of the three schools that we said were over capacity, they disagreed. Initially, this is where this [utilization] plan came from: if we say we’re over capacity and our principals say, ‘No, we actually have some space in some areas,’ then we need to take a closer look — and that’s what we did.”
Orange County Schools Superintendent Danielle Jones presents a graph of elementary school capacity based on classroom utilization vs. enrollment for the past school year. Jones maintained that these calculations, based on the maximum class size measured with classrooms, indicates there is a discrepancy between Woolpert’s capacity numbers and actual space. (Photo via the Orange County Schools district.)
Orange County Schools will continue to examine and rely on its building utilization calculations in the coming years, Jones said, to better guide discussions around capacity. The superintendent said she plans for her staff to bring a fall and spring utilization report to the board each year, which may provide more accurate capacity numbers to the board — and could allow for annual redistricting discussions instead of just when certain schools are facing overcrowding.
Jones also said much of the redistricting discussion is challenged by the bond referendum planned for the fall. If Orange County voters approve a $300 million bond to be shared between the two local school districts, Orange County Schools will have enough funding to begin construction on a new elementary school, the rebuild or significant renovation of an additional elementary school, and a replacement of Orange Middle School. With those possibilities on the horizon for the next decade, the superintendent expressed concerns about having students potentially experience two school reassignments if redistricting is implemented concurrently with construction.
Because of the redistricting process being underway, Orange County Schools are currently shut down from potential transfers. To help alleviate any overcrowding in its elementary schools, though, the Orange County Board of Education also approved the opening of Central Elementary School and Pathways Elementary School on Monday — which will allow for any spot reassignments and will send students to schools that are notably under capacity.
Board Member Carrie Doyle shared her thanks to the district staff, and added that the changes made in the last year help her believes this need for a district-wide student reassignment evaluation feels less important now than it did before.
“Things have changed, she said. “Even just a year ago at this time, we were anxious that we wouldn’t even have the mobile units at Efland for the school year that we just wrapped up. It just makes such a difference that we have that, we have some flexibility.
“And again,” Doyle added, “it makes sense while we’re hold waiting on this bond [and] the vote in November. I appreciate the synthesis and the timeline of the situation, and I’m supportive of the requests.”
Board Chair Anne Purcell added that she believes approaching redistricting as a year-over-year project while examining capacity usage annually could make a significant difference the next time broader reassignment is needed.
“As somebody who’s been here for a very long time,” said Purcell, “looking at redistricting every year — and looking at what can be done so it’s not such a huge project — is better than what we’ve been doing in the past. It seems we wait four to five years, and then all of a sudden it’s a mad scramble, people are upset, and we don’t want that. This plan takes it to that level where this is on the table at all times and it is being looked at by staff and everybody else. And I think everybody should benefit from that.”
The Orange County Board of Education will next meet on Monday, July 15, where newcomer Wendy Padilla will be sworn into office to begin a four-year term alongside Doyle and Bonnie Hauser. The full board meeting from June 24, including the redistricting discussion, can be watched on the Orange County Schools YouTube channel.
Featured photo via Alicia Stemper.
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