We, the undersigned parents, guardians, and residents of “The Pines”, respectfully and strongly oppose the proposed base school reassignment that would remove our children from White Oak Elementary School (Traditional Calendar) and Mills Park Middle School (Traditional Calendar) to Turner Creek Elementary School (Year-Round) and Salem Middle School (Year-Round).

We urge the Wake County Board of Education and the Student Assignment Committee to withdraw this proposal and engage with our community to pursue alternatives that prioritize educational stability, family well-being, and academic excellence while addressing the board's concerns.

Grounds for Opposition

1. Educational Stability and Kids' Mental Health
   Forced reassignment uproots children from established peer groups, trusted teachers, support networks, and familiar environments, undermining their academic progress, mental health and emotional well-being. Aspects of mental health include a loss of socialization and environment, including relationships with peers and teachers. This has profound long-term consequences for academic performance and is well-documented by strong research (See reference #1). This disruption conflicts with WCPSS’s strategic goal of supporting the 'whole child.'
2. Traditional vs. Year-Round Calendars
   - Families chose The Pines based on access to traditional-calendar schools. A sudden forceful shift to year-round calendars imposes severe undue stress and disrupts long-standing family routines. 
   - For international families, which is a significant representation of our community, traditional calendars provide extended breaks necessary for cultural, family, and overseas connections. Year-round schedules do not accommodate this need.
3. Harm-Benefit Imbalance
   - The Pines is a small, established neighbourhood (9+ years) located within 2–3 miles of its current schools. (See community map below)
   - Reassigning us does little to relieve overcrowding but inflicts maximum harm on children and families. There are strong consequences for a child’s mental health and, thereby long-term outcomes with academic performance. Larger or newer developments are better suited to absorb reassignment adjustments.
4. Family Burden
   - Dual-income households, the majority in Wake County, would face costly and complex childcare challenges due to staggered track-out schedules.
   - Families with children at both elementary and middle school levels would face especially severe scheduling hardships.
5. Unfair Reassignment
   - WCPSS policy on capped schools prioritises enrollment for established families within the base zone. Our community has been part of this zone for over nine years, consistently supporting its growth and stability. Yet, newer developments such as Ellsworth, Green Level Trail, Millstone, and Stanley Martin are being granted admission while long-standing Pines families are displaced. This deviates from established feeder pattern cap rules, undermines community trust, and disrupts student continuity
6. School Quality Disparity
   - Students would be reassigned from top-performing schools (White Oak #3, Mills Park #6) to significantly lower-performing schools (Turner Creek ~#509, Salem #64).4
   - Proficiency rates at proposed schools are markedly lower, directly jeopardising students’ educational opportunities. 4

Our Request

1. Maintain “The Pines” current base school assignments, at least for families already registered as of the proposal publish date
2. Pursue alternative solutions to manage enrollment and capacity without forcing calendar changes.
   1.  Currently enrolled elementary and middle school students will be guaranteed the option to choose a traditional calendar school with transportation, regardless of reassignment.                     Note: Current Proposed stability rules (No traditional option for elementary/No transportation) are forcing parents to switch to new proposed schools.
   2. Any alternate traditional elementary and middle school should be of similar quality to current schools and in proximity to address logistical concerns for parents with kids in elementary and middle schools. Suggestions - 
      1.  Mills Park Elementary/Mills Park Middle
      2. Davis Drive Elementary/Davis Drive Middle.
   3. Engage in meaningful collaboration with affected communities to develop fair, effective, and sustainable solutions.

Conclusion
This proposal is not a simple administrative adjustment; it represents a fundamental disruption to our children’s mental health, education, our families’ stability, and our community’s investment. We stand united in asking the Board to protect the well-being of our children, honor the commitments made to long-standing taxpayers, and rescind this rezoning proposal.

Substantiating References:

1. “Moving children will have a significant effect on the child's mental health. Aspects of mental health include a loss of socialization and environment, including relationships with peers and teachers. This has profound long-term consequences for academic performance and is well-documented by strong research. “: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0044118X13517908
2. Transitioning schools is associated with stress. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30210385/
3.  Forced school mobility disrupts a student's social and academic integration, leading to increased stress, anxiety, and feelings of isolation (Alexander, Entwisle, & Dauber, 1996; The National Association of School Psychologists).
4. School test scores and rankings:
   1. https://www.wral.com/story/look-it-up-see-how-your-north-carolina-school-performed-on-state-tests-in-2025/22143567/
   2. https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/north-carolina/white-oak-elementary-225550
   3. https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/north-carolina/turner-creek-elementary-224560

Community map: See proximity to the adjacent community assigned to White Oak/Mills Park Middle.