ALBEMARLE — Stanly County Schools’ proposed realignment adjustment for three elementary schools in the western part of the county is now a reality.
At the Stanly County Board of Education meeting on March 4, the board voted 4-3 to approve a redistricting plan for the 2025-26 school year that aims to address overcrowding by sending 98 Locust Elementary students and 56 Stanfield Elementary students to Endy Elementary upon completion of Endy’s new building addition.
All rising fifth-graders currently enrolled at Locust and Stanfield, including their currently enrolled siblings, have the option to remain at their current school.
“I would like to ensure a smooth transition for our families that maintains balanced capacity in our school buildings and effective utilization of our resources,” Vice Chair Dustin Lisk said.
Lisk and Chair Robin Whittaker joined Board Members Vicky Watson and Glenda Gibson in voting for the redistricting, while Board Members Bill Sorensen, Meghan Almond, and Carla Poplin voted against the plan.
Sitting at a 3-3 tally, Whittaker made the final and deciding vote in favor of the plan.
Under the redrawn map lines of SCS’s 2025-26 Student Assignment Plan, Locust’s current enrollment of 572 students (114% capacity) will go below capacity to 474 students (95%), while Stanfield’s enrollment of 493 students (107%) will also fall below capacity to 437 students (95%).
Endy’s current enrollment of 359 students (110%) is set to become 513 students (89%), which will take the school under its new capacity when its new building is factored in. The 10-classroom addition is currently on schedule to be completed in May.
The overall redistricting plan recommendation is based on a study produced specifically for Stanly County Schools by Numerix, an American capital markets front-to-risk technology provider and consulting firm.
Prior to the realignment vote by the school board, Almond made a motion to delay the vote until the board’s next meeting in order to spend more time considering other options.
“By moving 160 kids just to end up almost right back where we are right now, I don’t see how that’s super beneficial,” Almond said. “I understand that we’re fastly approaching capacities, but we heard of a second option yesterday. Not knowing what other options could be explored, I feel like maybe we should have a motion to delay or to see other options at this point in time. For me, those numbers don’t seem to be providing a whole lot of relief.”
Her motion to delay failed along the same 4-3 voting lines as the redistricting vote that soon followed.
“This board is addressing overcrowding every day,” Whittaker said. “We know that this isn’t a fix-all, and we’ve all said that. I think we really undertook a comprehensive planning process when we started talking about Endy and the realignment. We really started this process over two years ago when we started planning the addition at Endy, and that addition is scheduled to be completed and open when school opens next year. It’s on schedule as of right now, so we’re headed in the right direction.”
The Stanly County Board of Commissioners will hold its next regular meeting on April 1 at 6:15 p.m. in the Gene McIntyre Meeting Room at Stanly County Commons.