Other business
Also Thursday night, Forsyth County’s school board heard reports on the following:
• The 2012-13 school calendar from Associate Superintendent Joey Pirkle. Pirkle said two changes had been made to the proposed calendar since last presented: Oct. 19 was changed from an early release day to a full student holiday; and a staff development day was moved from Jan. 4 to Dec. 21.
The board is slated to give final approval to the calendar next week.
• Proposed state legislative priorities for the 2012 session from Superintendent Buster Evans. The board will ask local legislators to support their suggestions.
Among them: Not approving measures that would add financial burden to school systems; maintaining state funding for capital improvement projects; modifying some laws to bring them in line with current times; and restoring three days of funding.
• A policy update concerning background checks for employees from Candy Norton, human resources director.
— Crystal Ledford
New school attendance lines for the 2012-13 year are soon to be finalized.
The Forsyth County Board of Education continued its discussion of the pending population shifts during a meeting Thursday afternoon.
Members are scheduled to vote on the attendance zones Nov. 17.
The changes are needed to accommodate Kelly Mill Elementary School, which is slated to open in August.
Leaders also hope to balance out several high schools and better streamline feeder patterns.
North and West Forsyth are crowded, while Forsyth Central is under capacity.
On Nov. 3, the board began talking about the public feedback the system received via its Web site and during two public hearings in late October.
That discussion continued Thursday, as officials spent more than an hour going over some areas not addressed at their previous meeting.
Among them:
• Moving students in the Coventry, Silver Leaf and Forrest Brook subdivisions from Otwell Middle and Forsyth Central High back to Vickery Creek Middle and West Forsyth High
• Returning students in the Hwy. 306 corridor back to North Forsyth Middle from Little Mill Middle
• Shifting Charleston Bay subdivision students back to North Forsyth High School from Forsyth Central.
“I’d just like to say that I appreciate all the comments we received,” said board member Ann Crow. “It’s wonderful that people took the time out to give us feedback.”
Board Chairman Tom Cleveland echoed Crow’s sentiments, also thanking his colleagues for their work throughout the process.
“This is a very emotional task, and something that is important to me because I’ve also been through it,” he said.
The final maps are set to be approved during the board’s meeting at 6 p.m. Nov. 17.