Preserve Estes Hills Elementary

[Basil Kushnir]

Good morning,

We appreciate your time and dedication. Please consider alternatives that preserve the presence Estes Hills. Your efforts in helping fund the improvement of our local school system are critical considering the new strategy for Chapel Hill in diversifying our housing base and support growing populations, and Estes Hills has been a fixture and anchor of our community. People that move here seek stability and local walkable schools for their children.

As active residents of the community, the proposal in the referendum to close Estes Hills Elementary was shocking to us, and we wanted to share an our perspective for your consideration.

First, with return to school during COVID being delayed for CH schools, many parents moved their elementary age children into private schools. However, now that they are completing that cycle, many are now returning to the CH middle school circuit to complete local schools through high school.

Also, while you might be seeing a dip in utilization, we are noticing in our Estes zoned community that there is another wave of children in the which will be attending in the next few years.

Lastly, we feel you are greatly discounting the effect on the community of children across Estes and Phillips. Things that our children will miss:

- Walks to the public library
- Middle school readers who walk over to the elementary school to read stories
- Lowered anxiety heading to the middle school next door to start 6th grade.
- Weekend playground use throughout the local community (many children learn to ride bikes on the blacktop)
- Walking to school and back from Lake forest, Coker Hills, and other communities experiencing property turnover as new families are moving in.

We appreciate your time and dedication. Please consider alternatives that preserve the presence Estes Hills - let’s think outside the box.

Basil and Melissa Kushnir
2321 Honeysuckle Rd.


Sent from my iPhone

[Jamezetta Bedford]

On behalf of the Board of Orange County Commissioners, thank you for emailing us about your concerns.

The consultant's study recommends a sequence of new schools, major renovations, and also safety and essential updates for all schools in both school districts in our county. The study provides dollar estimates as well. In NC, the county commission is mandated legal responsibility for funding school facilities.

Under project based funding the county commissioners will approve each major project such as new middle school #5 for CHCCS and a new elementary school for Orange County Schools. Specifically for CHCCS, the bond covers a new middle school, major renovation of Carrboro Elementary and Culbreth Middle, and the basic essential maintenance for every school in the first ten years.  Each school board decides the programming at each of their schools, not the BOCC. The Superintendent brings recommendations forward to the school board who make those decisions. These would include district level programs like dual language, exceptional children's system level classes and pre-k classes. The school boards also approve curriculum, school boundaries/districting and make those types of major policy decisions. Walk zones are part of the considerations of the board of education. You can email the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board at allboar...@chccs.k12.nc.us  

I add that our goal is to have a plan for which facilities are built or renovated and in what order, but we have to be flexible because major systems like HVACs don't always follow the warranty timelines and break out of order, or enrollment patterns change, a different wave of refugees may arrive, etc. 

We are happy to answer any questions about the school bond. There was a hearing on the bond, June 4, 7:00 at the Whitted Building in Hillsborough. The CHCCS Board chair spoke later in the evening on agenda item establishing a Framework for School Bond Projects and Capital Funding,  that they will be working on their plan. The BOCC committed to meeting asap should the school boards bring changes/updates. The framework calls for at least annual updates too. 

In the consultant's report, Estes Hills is recommended to be replaced. Replaced can be at the same site or a different site. "Consolidated" means closed. The school board has not made a recommendation on whether as a K-8 school or on the same site, but flipped with Phillips, or what option. Given the large number of schools that will have high index numbers over the next ten years, even with their basic high priority needs funded, the school board does have some flexibility, and the BOCC is willing to hear options that follow the concepts of the plan.  The current approval is for a new middle, replace Carrboro, close FPG and renovate Culbreth. I expect this to change after the last school board meeting June 6 when the school board asked for additional scenarios to be brought forward. They will meet June 20 and will continue their discussions at follow-up meeting(s). 

Sincerely,

Jamezetta Bedford, Chair BOCC

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From: Basil Kushnir <basilk...@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2024 7:52 AM
To: ALL_BOCC_MANAGER_CLERK <OCB...@orangecountync.gov>
Cc: Melissa Kushnir <melissa...@gmail.com>
Subject: [EXTERNAL MAIL!] Preserve Estes Hills Elementary