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Home My WebLink AboutAgenda - 04-20-2010-13 (1)~ n -~o r m q+ ~` ors Z -~- e m ORANGE COUNTY PLANNING & INSPECTIONS DEPARTMENT Craig N. Benedict, AICP, Director Memo ro: Board of County Commissioners Frank W. Clifton, Jr., County Manager From: Craig N. Benedict, AICP, Planning Director Shannon Berry, AICP, Special Projects Planner Date: April 20, 2010 Re: Pre-K Issues -Orange County Schools & Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools This memorandum and information submitted by Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and Orange County Schools are provided as an overview of the issues affecting both school districts in Orange County with regard to Pre-K education. Pre-K Enrollment & Classrooms - Attachment 1 is a memorandum prepared by Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools outlining the Pre-K enrollment numbers and classroom locations throughout the district. The memo also addresses several of the logistical issues the District currently struggles with in providing Pre-K classes, as well as questions of how the District will continue to provide and expand Pre-K education. Orange County Schools provided the following information on March 2, 2010 in response to a previous request for information: At this time there are 8 Pre-K classrooms district wide. There are 126 students currently enrolled. Per the District, Pre-K classrooms are provided due to need. If they can fund it, they will provide. OCS has converted. unused K-5 classrooms to Pre-K classrooms. Therefore, increased K-5 enrollment will cause the district to either relocate Pre-K classes to other district elementary schools or shift older kids to portables on site. County Requirements - In addition to the Pre-K enrollment numbers requested, the Board also requested information on the requirements or obligations of Orange County to provide Pre-K classrooms or education. The adopted School Construction Standards (2007) for Orange County allocates 1,700 square feet in the 'Traditional Elementary School" for one (1) Pre-K classroom. However, many of the elementary schools in the two districts are decades old and do not include allotted space for (continued) ~~fKge ` go4hf~ Administration 131 W. Margaret Lane (919) 245-2575 u 52 Suite 201 (919) 644-3002 (FAX) P O Box 8181 www.co.orange.nc.us ~°r4 ~a=a~°~ Hillsborough, NC 27278 Page 2 Pre-K classrooms. Attachment 2 is `Appendix 1-Traditional Elementary School Capacity' from the adopted School Construction Standards (2007). General Statutes Chapter 115C- Article 9 mandates that all children with disabilities ages 3 through 21 who reside in North Carolina have available to them a free appropriate public education. However, there are no statutory requirements for local government to provide Pre-K classes. Both school districts have identified the need for Pre-K education within their districts and have been working to address those needs to the greatest extent practicable. Attachment 1 I~[~,~~L I-~ILL- _ O~RO- ~~: ~,~ __ CITY SCHOOLS Date: March 31, 2010 To: Shannon Berry From: Todd LoFrese Re: Pre-K Space Concerns As you requested, I am providing some information with respect to the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Pre-K space concerns. Currently there are ten elementary schools in our district. Nine of the ten schools currently have Pre-K classrooms on their campus. Estes Hills Elementary School is currently our only school without aPre-K classroom, although the school desires to have one. Site limitations at the school have made it difficult to accommodate aPre-K classroom. Our Pre-K program is geared towards serving all types of children, including exceptional children, economically disadvantaged, as well as tuition paying students. The mission of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Pre-K/Head Start Program, in partnership with families and communities, is to provide high quality, developmentally appropriate early childhood education, which will prepare all children for a positive educational start. It is well supported that Pre-K programs help prepare students for success in school and provide more opportunities to help reach our fragile learners. Currently, our total Pre-K enrollment is 239 students in a total of 17 locations. Ten classrooms are currently located within our schools and seven are located in mobile classrooms. In addition, we currently have ten students who are in referral for exceptional children services. This will result in another classroom being added this year. We have struggled identifying potential locations for new Pre-K classrooms for a variety of reasons. First, many of our older elementary schools were not designed with a dedicated Pre-K classroom and lack the auxiliary spaces that could be converted to serve this or another purpose. Second, our current level of service is 100°10 of our SAPFO capacity which is making it a struggle to find spaces to meet our K-5 program needs. Third, the unique requirements of the Pre-K licensing process limit our flexibility with allocating spaces for this purpose. Some of the Pre-K licensing regulations require us to provide access to a separate fenced play area and provide ready access to bathroom facilities. Ideally it should also be in a location easily accessible by parents as well. Finally the total number of Pre-K students is approaching 250 students. Despite our newer schools being designed with aPre-K space, we are trying to accommodate what equates to nearly half of an elementary school throughout nine of our ten campuses. As a result, we are now asking ourselves some tough questions, such as; if our EC Pre-K spaced needs increase, should we be decreasing the number of spaces for our tuition paying students? This is probably not a 1 to 1 ratio as often students with special needs require much smaller class sizes. If we were to do this, it works against the balance we are trying to achieve. How does Pre-K space needs compete against providing special classrooms (music, art, foreign language) for K-5 students? If our Pre-K needs require an additional classroom what changes should be made to accommodate this? Should special classes be designated as mobile (on a cart) and if so, what types of classes would be recommended for this and in what order? As our K-5 population continues to grow and with the delay in Elementary #11, we will need to look for additional classroom space for K-5 students as well. All of this points to the reality of crowding concerns within our schools both currently and more so in the immediate future. Attachment 2 Ap[0 2007 Number of Ciassrooms/ Teaalting Stations Capacity per Classroom! Teachfog Station otal K-S Capa~ty Footage Per ClasstoomlT eaahing Sfatiore ar Fanetian oth Square Footage Capacity Generating Spaces: Kinder rten c~ssrooms 4 21 84 1 240 4 ~ First Grade Classrooms 4 21 84 1,240 4 0 Second Grade Classrooms 4 21 84 1 D 4 960 Third Qrade Classrooms 4 21 1,240 4 Fourth Grade Classrooms. 4 26 10 ~ 240 496'0 Fifth rode classrooms 4 2b 104 1240 4 960 Flex Cuss Roam S ace 1 21 21 1,240 1 40 eciaUExce tianai Rooms/S each Lan ua e 7 varies 2D 5 649 TaYal Ca Generat"mg Teaching Stations 32 585 36,649 Number of Glassrooms/ Teaching Stations Capacity per ClassrootN leaching Station otal K-5 Capacity Square Footage Per CiassroomlT eaching Station or Function otal Square Footage. Non-Capacity Spaces Pre-K classrooms i 1,700 170 Administration 1 1950 1550 Art and Music i 2850 2,050 Book Store e 1 8D0 8D0 Cafeteria/Chfki Nutrition 1 470D 4700 Custodlai Store e i 540 5DD Ph sicai Education 7 5,254 5 2S4 Media Center 1 4 2D0 4 24D Sclence Pro ect Room 1 1200 i OD Small Grou Resource Rooms 3 450 1,350 Surat! Pro ect Room 2 2DD 440 Staff Support Area -Teacher OfRces & Work Rooms 1 4 500 4,OOD Staff Su ort Area -Conference Rooms 2 250 54D 5mff 3u ort Area -General Conference Roam 1 20D Staff Support Area • Speech!language Conference Room 2 2D4 40D Staff S -Teacher Loun e & Work Area 1 i DO 1,000 Staff Su tt -itinerant rt 3 1 DO 3D Student Commons 1 1 D 1 Student Su ort Area -Health i 300 30D Student Su art Area - Counselin Circulation ncludi Additfanal Tol[ets i 1 s~ 091 D91 'Y`atai Elerttenta Schoat S uare Foote a Ca act Generatin and Non-Ca act ~ `92 too