Morrisville and Preston Progress. Thursday. March 26.1998 - 3
Weatherstone Elementary braces for more students
By Cynthia LaChapelle
Contributing Writer
Weatherstone Elementary parents
reeled at the prospect of adding 16
new classes to the school by August
and whether it was physically possi
ble to do so-
The news was presented at a PTA
meeting Tuesday, March 17.
Principal Phyllis Bennett and
Christian Lighthall from the Wake
County Schools facilities depart
ment answered questions from par
ents about Weatherstone’s continued
growth and use of mobile class
rooms.
Although official projections for
the coming year have not been
released yet by the school system,
PTA Vice President Laura Cheston
presented a report of a survey she
had undertaken. Her study projects
adding 227 students by August and
another 180 by January 1. This puts
Weatherstone’s enrollment at over
1,400 by January in a facility
designed for 750.
Cheston broke this down as 16
additional classes required by the
beginning of school year and eight
more by January. Bennett said the
school has five sites approved for
trailers before getting into parking
lots and playgrounds. Weatherstone
currently has 914 students in 39
classes.
Lighthall announced that she has
already approved a request for four
additional trailers to be placed at
Weatherstone for the coming year.
Cheston’s survey takes into
account new construction and the
addition of two English as a Second
Language classes. She confirmed
her methods with Wake County
‘The 1998-99 school year is going to be a year
of severe crowding. Five classrooms will be
added without impinging. More than that will go
on parking lots, play areas, etc. ’
—Christian Lighthall,
Wake County Public Schools
school officials. Lighthall noted that
Cheston’s report looked better and
more detailed than the official one.
Cheston got data on houses under
construction from local developers
and real estate agents. She includes
projections from Preston Village,
Preston Grande, Carpenter Village,
The Groves, and Preston’s Sterling
Green apartments. Not included are
figures from other developments
such as Carpenter Park, Rigsbee
Farms and Georgetown, who did not
reply.
Lighthall said, “The 1998—99
school year is going to be a year of
severe crowding. Five classrooms
will be added without impinging.
More than that will go on parking
lots, play areas, etc.
“I call it equity in crowding,” she
said. “Art on a cart. Is everybody
floating music, art . . . these pro
grams? K through 5 will be in class
es. It’s the other programs that I will
look to the principals for creative
solutions.”
Besides the art and music rooms,
additional spaces that may be used
for classrooms are the gym and
media center. She said children in
some schools have been in storage
rooms, hallways (even the receiving
dock at Davis Drive) all year long.
When asked if permanent build
ings will be built, Lighthall said no.
“Never. Our board directive is no
increase in the size of schools.
Anything over 750 is lost efficien
cy.” She said studies had shown that
elementary school children did bet
ter with even small school sizes.
Some parents pointed out that she
was talking about adding students
far beyond the ideal levels.
Lighthall said the real solution is to
build schools at the rate new stu
dents are added. She said school
officials would like to have a say
when building permits are issued.
“We are trying to get on the review
committees for the permit process,”
she said. “Even our building pro
gram continues us in the red—not
black, positive numbers. There is a
light at the end of the tunnel, but
98—99 will be real bleak.”
. Some parents asked if the school
could be capped, but Lighthall said
that was a political decision. “I wish
you would ask Bill Fletcher that,”
she said. Fletcher is the Cary area
representative to the Wake County
school board.
When asked if the mobile class
rooms that they were to receive
would actually be in place at the
beginning of school, Lighthall said
Weatherstone students at Pieces of Gold
Congratulations to Ashley Crowe,
fourth grader, and Rachel I^ce, fifth
grader, for representing
Weatherstone Elementary School at
the annual “Gifts of Gold” Art
Display at Memorial Auditorium on
March 11.
Fund-raiser
A run/walk fund-raiser will be
held Saturday, March 28 at 9 a.m. to
raise money for Clay Griffith, hus
band of art teacher Mary Ann
Athens. The money will help pay for
his cancer treatment. Teaching assis
tant Claire Skerry will also be col
lecting donations to be presented in
a lump sum from Friends of
Weatherstone.
Teacher of the year
Mary Ann Athens is the 1997—98
Teacher of the Year nominee to rep
resent Weatherstone.
Spring Carnival
Thanks to all who volunteered and
participated in the second annual
Spring Carnival on March 7. Over
$9,000 was raised, and every child
won bags full of prizes and cakes.
The following people won raffles
for gift baskets: Rainy Day—Susan
Mann; Picnic Party—Jenna
George; Spaghetti Dinner—
Amanda Franklin; Pampered
Mom—Jamie Marshburn;
Baking—Jeff Volz; Sports Day—
Christopher McNeil; Coffee &
Developers want more apartments in
Carpenter Village, Cary to study plan
Developers of Carpenter Village
want to increase the number of
apartments in the development, but
Cary last month tabled the request
until a growth management study
for the town is completed.
Developers asked to increase the
number of multifamily units from
275 to 370, and to redistribute the
commercial units and apartments.
There would be fewer single fami
ly homes built under the revised
plan and the overall housing density
of the development would increase
from 5.9 units per acre to 6.1 units
Meyers
convicted of
damaging
political signs
Continued from page 1
mayor Margaret Broadwell.
Mrs. Newnam and Mrs. Moore
testified that they witnessed Meyers
ripping a sign for Bruce Newnam,
who was running for mayor against
Mrs. Broadwell and Gordon
Cromwell. Cromwell was the win
ner of the mayoral race.
Newnam, Morrisville’s police
chief, had released Meyers from
employment as a part-time tempo
rary officer last September. Meyers
said the firing was in response to
Meyers' wife, Donna, taking photos
of civilians directing traffic but
wearing police department vests.
The photos were submitted to the
Attorney General’s office and Chief
Newnam was reprimanded by a
state official for using the non-
sworn officers wearing police
department clothing to direct traffic.
Thank you for reading
The Morrisville and
Preston Progress.
per acre, an increase of less than 30
units, said Barbara Todd of ETD,
formerly Charles Elam and
Associates, land design firm.
Under the previous plan, the apart
ments and shops in the commercial
area were mixed together, surround
ing the village commons area, a
green space that runs from
Morrisville-Carpenter Road back to
a lake.
“We are maintaining the same
building arrangement we had
before,” Todd said. “But we are
essentially putting the apartments on
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Students are exposed to the elements as they walk in between some of the school’s temporary class
rooms.
the process has been revamped so a
situation will not occur like last
year, when students were displaced
from the cafeteria, gymnasium,
music and art rooms until October,
when mobile units could be occu
pied.
Parents asked whether enough
trailers could be sent to meet the
needs.
Lighthall said she could move 40
units and has a budget for 60, but
she already has 97 requests.
“Come August, there will be last
minute registrations,” she warned.
“We have to react to those.” She also
noted that requests made in August
would take some time to fill.
Karen Powell, director of
Weatherstone’s technology pro
gram, gave a brief report to the
group on how she had spent several
thousand dollars raised by the PTA
to buy computers for the media cen
ter. She said she would give a report
at the next meeting for a plan to dis
tribute them among the classrooms.
The media center was among the
places listed by Bennett and
Lighthall as a possible class site.
Tea—Susan Yeargin; Disney—
Andy Smith; Barbie—Megan
French; Action Figures—Nathan
Pevyhouse; Gardening—Tracey
Nolander; Stationery—Mary Ann
Sutherland; Beanie Babies—
Jessica Palinski.ica Palinski.
CleaQ-up
Spring Clean-Up and Planting will
be held Saturday, April 4, from 9
a.m. to 2 p.m. Bring a shovel, a rake,
and the whole family.
Pastries for parents
The next “Popovers for Parents” is
Wednesday April 8 at 9:15 a.m. in
the cafeteria. Parents are encouraged
to drop in for tasty goodies and cof
fee after dropping off their children.
SECRETARY’S WEEK
April 19th-24th
PARTIES
Ihe ffozuer
at Preston Corners
954 High House Rd. • Cary, NC 27513
460-4625
WEDDINGS
We are ready to help with ail your
special occasions! Retnemher "Friday
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flowers every Friday from 12-6pm.
CASH & CARRY.
'graduation
one side and keeping the commer
cial on the other side,” she said.
“The appearance will be very simi
lar to what it was before.”
The Cary Growth Management
Task Force plans to issue its recom
mendations in mid-April. The Cary
Council will consider the revised
plan at that time.
Meanwhile, officials from Cary
visited Celebration, Florida, a neo-
tradilional community near Disney
World to get ideas. Carpenter
Village is the first neo-traditional
community to be built in Cary.
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