Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools is considering two options for relocating students from Glenwood Elementary, now that the school building is slated to close in fall 2027.

The school board heard a presentation Thursday night from researchers at N.C. State University's Institute for Transportation Research and Education on possibilities of where to move students.

The consultants recommended either moving all of the students from Glenwood Elementary to Rashkis Elementary, or splitting the two tracks of Glenwood's STEM and Mandarin-focused magnet program between Rashkis and Scroggs Elementary.

Last month, the school board voted to close Glenwood Elementary as a cost-saving measure. Student enrollment is falling across the district and some elementary schools are under capacity.

The board's decision on Glenwood will then set off a larger redistricting process to balance enrollment at all the district's schools, according to Superintendent Rodney Trice.

"For many reasons, tonight represents us entering an era where we're going to dive into redistricting, not just about the program at Glenwood, but redistricting writ large," Trice said.

Some board members, including Chair Riza Jenkins, indicated interest in splitting Glenwood's program, and then expanding it in those other schools.

"If we can take something and share it to other schools, we might be pleasantly surprised at some of the welcoming schools that they might love the idea of something new in their schools, especially with some of their challenges with enrollment," Jenkins said.

When pressed for a recommendation, N.C. State's Matthew Palmer sided with that option.

"Growing the overall Mandarin program seems like that would make a lot of sense, and I certainly could understand why … if it were brought in its entirety, the dominoes and implications of that is the dislocation of students (at Rashkis). There is really no sidestepping that," Palmer said.

Glenwood families raise concerns about downstream effects on the school's magnet program

Concerned parents highlighted the specific challenges that redistricting could pose to Glenwood's magnet program.

Glenwood Elementary's nearly 400 students participate in a school-wide magnet program called STEAM2, for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math and Mandarin. Students apply for either the school's World Language track or Dual Language Immersion pathway. Both tracks study Mandarin and learn about Chinese culture, with about half the students in a more intensive immersion program.

Excerpt of graphic circulated by the Glenwood Elementary PTA

Glenwood Elementary has drawn in students because it has one of the only Mandarin immersion programs in the Triangle, and its enrollment is near capacity. Families say the school has become a safe haven for the Chinese American community in Chapel Hill.

Parent Betsy Lee told the board she chose to send her children to Glenwood to maintain a connection to their Chinese heritage, and she was impressed with the cultural exchange among students across the school.

"I was definitely the kid in the schoolroom that had the stinky lunch, but now with (my child), the kids are all having dumplings together. I think it's a beautiful thing," Lee said.

Since the beginning of the school closure discussion, district officials have pledged their intention to "close buildings, not programs," like this one.

School board members had already floated the idea of splitting students from the two tracks of Glenwood's magnet program into different schools, to minimize the number of students who might be displaced from other schools.

"No school has 400 empty seats right now," CHCCS spokesman Andy Jenks told WUNC News. "There are several schools that could accommodate 200 students."

Glenwood parents said they're worried that if the tracks are separated, teachers and families could leave the STEAM2 program. They argue the two tracks are inter-dependent.

"The dual language and world language pathways were designed to work together," Glenwood parent Iris Vance told the school board. "They share teachers, resources, staff, culture, and community. Separating them risks weakening the very strengths that have made this program so successful."

Glenwood's Parent Teacher Association recently surveyed its families, and of the respondents, 76% said they chose the school district because of Glenwood's program and 41% said they were likely or very likely to leave the program if it is split. Kayan Cheung-Miaw is chair of the PTA's advocacy committee, which administered the survey.

"Even if a fraction of those families leave, I think that the program, as well as the district, would take a hit," Cheung-Miaw told WUNC in an interview.

District officials urged the board to make a decision in August on where to send Glenwood students.