County commissioners and school leaders in Edgecombe County delved into some details of the upcoming demerger during a joint meeting to discuss budget needs for the school district.
A byproduct of the demerger is that the Edgecombe County Public Schools system is expected to welcome nearly 1,250 more students in the fall.
The demerger, which was approved in November by both school boards in the Twin Counties, will formally dismantle the partnership between the school systems to educate students in Rocky Mount. After the demerger is finalized, students who live on the Edgecombe County side of Rocky Mount will start attending Edgecombe County Public Schools beginning next school year. Some students were allowed to opt out of transferring schools under certain conditions.
Dr. Andy Bryan, the superintendent of Edgecombe County Public Schools, gave members of the Edgecombe County Board of Commissioners an overview of the district’s budget needs for the upcoming school year during Tuesday’s joint meeting.
Bryan, just seven months into his job as superintendent, told commissioners about several advisory groups he relies upon for feedback.
“They include one (group) with about 105 high school students … and they are our ultimate consumer,” Bryan said.
Bryan told commissioners that the school system will grow from a current 5,145 students to an estimated 6,376 students following the addition of an estimated 1,231 students who live on the Edgecombe County side of Rocky Mount and are currently attending Nash County Public Schools.
That influx of students includes 124 eighth-grade students who will attend North Edgecombe High School beginning this fall.
It also includes another 159 high-school students — give or take — who could have opted out of transferring as legacy students but failed to file a preference form with Nash County Public Schools that would have allowed them to remain a Nash County student until they graduated.
About 450 high-schoolers or siblings of high-schoolers were eligible to apply for the legacy student transfer option to stay in the Nash County Public Schools system.
Combining the rising freshmen and the current high-schoolers who live in Rocky Mount, those 283 new students will more than double the enrollment at North Edgecombe High in Leggett, which is about 15 miles east of Rocky Mount.
“That’s the latest number, as of this afternoon,” Bryan told the two boards Tuesday. “And, I must caution you that this is a very fluid number.”
Four campuses that are currently a part of Nash County Public Schools — D.S. Johnson Elementary, Fairview Elementary, Baskerville Elementary and Parker Middle School — will become part of the Edgecombe County Public Schools system.
Bryan told commissioners that principals had been hired at each campus and that 60 percent of the certified instructional staff has been hired.
“All of the new principals are excited about the future,” he said.
Nash County Public Schools recently updated its reduction in force policies for next school year ahead of the upcoming demerger. The school system also held a couple of community forums last week to discuss proposed attendance zones that would shift student populations to different schools to be more fiscally responsible and align with significant changes in student population due to shifting demographics and population growth.
On May 1, Nash County commissioners and school board leaders will hold their joint meeting to review budget needs for the school district.
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