ROBERTSDALE and DAPHNE — The Baldwin County Board of Education (BCBE) has now held its three public input meetings for school zone redistricting projections being made to accommodate growth rates and balance student populations.

The three zones facing redistricting are Summerdale School, the Robertsdale feeder pattern and the Daphne feeder pattern.

The Daphne feeder pattern meeting had the highest attendance with over 100 parents, students, teachers and school staff gathered in the Daphne Middle School gym on Nov. 13. Assistant Superintendent Shannon McCurdy presented the proposed changes, which include Belforest Elementary, Daphne Elementary, Daphne East Elementary, Daphne Middle and W.J. Carroll Intermediate — soon to be W.J. Carroll Middle — School.

The district is soon to see the new Jubilee Elementary School built, which is set to open by fall semester next year. Once it does, W.J. Carroll, currently a K-8 school, will shift to a middle school for grades 7-8, and elementary aged students will attend Jubilee.

If redistricting goes as projected, students will be more evenly distributed in the Daphne zone. Currently, Belforest has 1,122 students, Daphne Elementary has 590 students, Daphne East has 881 students, and Daphne Middle has 880 students.

After redistricting, next year's student enrollment projections are 776 for Belforest, 815 for Daphne Elementary, 743 for Daphne East, 395 at W.J. Carroll Middle, 485 at Daphne Middle and 680 at Jubilee Elementary.

Many schools affected have a capacity of 1,200 students, though McCurdy said 1,122 for Belforest is essentially at capacity as "there's really no room to grow."

Graduates of Daphne Elementary and Jubilee will feed into W.J. Carroll Middle School, while Daphne East and Belforest students will be zoned for Daphne Middle.

For a Q&A period, which was moderated by District 1 Daphne City Councilwoman Tommie Conaway, attendees anonymously filled out question cards. Conaway worked in Baldwin County's public schools for 34 years, including 13 in the classroom and 21 as principal at Foley Middle, Daphne Intermediate and Daphne East.

She read 19 questions submitted via notecard, and after those were read some members of the audience spoke out their questions. A total of 30 questions were asked ranging from what to do in case-specific scenarios to clarity on the new feeder-pattern-flow.

One announcement during the presentation that spurred a few questions was the announcement of a backup plan in case Jubilee Elementary is unable to open in time for students to start the fall semester in the new building.

In this scenario, McCurdy said students who are zoned for Jubilee will begin school at what is now W.J. Carroll Intermediate. At the latest, Jubilee is set to open by November 2026.

"This is just a projection," she said. "I don't have a crystal ball; nobody has a crystal ball. We're having a plan in case this happens."

A BCBE staff member said the back up plan is necessary in the event of uncontrollable events such as a natural disaster or weather event like Winter Storm Enzo earlier this year, which delayed the start of classes at Silverhill Elementary.

For many of the case-specific questions, BCBE officials suggested reaching out to principals and requesting zone variances. Applying for a variance does not guarantee a student will be able to remain at his or her school of current enrollment.

"The purpose of redistricting is to alleviate some of the overcrowded conditions throughout the schools, so there's not going to be any grandfathering [in elementary schools]," McCurdy said. "That's the way that the school lines are drawn, but it is all a proposal."

Superintendent Eddie Tyler said on the subject, "A lot of children aren't going to be starting the school year with their friends. I wish we could do something about that for each one of them if we can, but grandfathering at the elementary level is not something that's done."

As answered by McCurdy and BCBE staff, all programs will be the same across transferred schools, including counseling services, athletic and afterschool programs; faculty for Jubilee and W.J. Carroll Middle will be selected at the beginning of next year; demographics across Daphne feeder pattern schools will see no more than 2% change at the current proposal; teacher/student ratios will remain consistent with state recommendations; and new middle schools and high schools may be built "in the future, but not the immediate future," as Tyler said, because most new families moving to the area have young children.

Daphne's high school zoning will not be affected.

CHANGES IN ROBERTSDALE, SUMMERDALE

Assistant Superintendent Marty McRae spoke at the Nov. 12 meeting covering the Robertsdale feeder pattern, which includes Elsanor, Loxley, Robertsdale, Rosinton and Silverhill elementary schools.

"We're growing so fast that we have to accommodate to that," McRae said. "We're building schools just as fast as we can, but it's never going to be fast enough."

About 50 people attended, including parents, teachers and school staff.

Though public comment was encouraged, only one question was asked during the Q&A period.

Elsanor and Rosinton are projected to see no changes. McRae said these areas might have to be rezoned in the future if more developments are built in the east side of each district.

Robertsdale's overall feeder pattern will likely see minimal changes as far as extremely differing boundary lines go. The district facing the most change is Robertsdale Elementary, as several neighborhoods are being relocated to surrounding districts. The northwest corner of the Robertsdale district, located between County Road 71 and County Road 55, will be rezoned to Loxley Elementary. This one section will increase Loxley's student population by a little over 200.

A few neighborhoods along the west side of the district, which runs along Highway 59 between Highway 104 and 90, will be moved to Silverhill Elementary, which opened earlier this year.

The recently added school can hold 1,200 students.

This school year, Elsanor has 344 enrolled students, Rosinton has 299, Loxley has 463, Robertsdale has 1,008, and Silverhill has 480 students. After the proposed redistricting, Loxley would have 671 students, Robertsdale would have 770, and Silverhill would have 612.

Robertsdale Elementary isn't the only school sending students to Silverhill. As previously reported by GCM, Summerdale School's rezoning, which had its meeting Nov. 4, mainly affects the Marlow Community, west of the school.

Kindergarten through fifth-grade students in the Marlow area will be relocated to Silverhill Elementary. Sixth- and seventh-grade students will attend Central Baldwin Middle School as seventh- and eighth-graders next year.

Current eighth-grade students will attend Robertsdale High School instead of Elberta High School. High school students from the Marlow area currently attending Elberta have the option to remain at the school.

Speakers at all meetings encouraged parents to attend upcoming board meetings to voice their thoughts on the proposed redistricting. The final proposal is set to go before the board at the end of January.

Upcoming BCBE meetings include Nov. 20 at 5:30 p.m. at 2600 North Hand Ave. in Bay Minette; Dec. 11 at 4:30 p.m. in the Central Office Satellite office at 1091 B Ave. in Loxley; and and Jan. 15 at 5:30 p.m. at 2600 North Hand Ave.

For more information on the redistricting, visit www.bcbe.org/departments/communications/redistricting.