District staff seek community feedback on converting five year-round elementary schools to single-track or traditional calendars

Susan Pulliam, a district staff member leading student assignment planning, told parents and staff during a virtual session that the district is in the exploratory phase of considering calendar changes for five elementary schools and has made no formal recommendations.

"We're still in the exploratory and feedback gathering phase," Pulliam said, explaining the six-step planning process that screens schools for possible conversion and that any change would be planned at least two years in advance. She named Briar Creek, Carpenter, Morrisville, Pleasant Grove and Sycamore Creek as the schools under review and said the ThoughtExchange will remain open through April 5 to gather community input.

Why it matters: Pulliam said the district uses calendar options, boundary adjustments, marketing and trailer removals as tools to manage facility utilization. She said the district generally considers schools operating at about 85% capacity or below as candidates for review and that multitrack year-round configurations can add roughly 25–33% capacity depending on building design.

District staff walked through school-level data and trade-offs. Briar Creek has trended upward and may need boundary moves if converted; Sycamore Creek’s enrollment fell after Barton Pond opened and "by 2028–29 there’ll be sufficient capacity in the building to operate on either single track or traditional," Pulliam said. Carpenter and Morrisville have shown steady enrollment declines and would present alignment questions because Carpenter feeds into Alston Ridge Middle, which operates on a multitrack year-round calendar.

Staff addressed likely impacts on families and employees, including pay-schedule changes for employees now paid on a 12-month cycle at multitrack schools. "Some staff might have a reduced pay — they might go to 11 or 10 month cycles for payment," Pulliam said, adding that one-on-one meetings with affected staff would be part of the process if a school is recommended for change.

On academic outcomes, Pulliam cited recent research the district has reviewed: "There are no significant differences in student performance outcomes across all subgroups regardless of the calendar," she said, while acknowledging unique cases where individual students or families may prefer one calendar over another and the district will continue to provide transfer options for hardship reasons.

Residents raised concerns about feeder alignment, class sizes and local economic effects from track-out camps and related businesses. Pulliam said the planning team consults municipal planners and will consider economic impacts, feeder-pattern alignment (including 6–12 or K–8 approaches) and transportation constraints before making recommendations. She also said the district partners with demographic specialists when forecasting and tracks birth rates and in-migration when projecting enrollment.

Next steps: staff will present initial recommendations to the board's facilities committee on April 14, hold another round of public engagement, bring final recommendations to the board on May 5 and the board is expected to vote around May 19. The ThoughtExchange will stay open through April 5 to collect further feedback.

The session closed with staff reiterating that no calendar changes are finalized and asked the public to continue submitting questions via the Google Meet Q&A and the ThoughtExchange page.