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In a split decision at Tuesday night’s meeting of the Stanly County Board of Education, the proposal to redistrict students from the Locust and Stanfield districts to Endy was approved 4-3.

Vice chair Dustin Lisk and board members Glenda Gibson and Vicky Watson voted to approve the first option presented at Monday’s work session. Board members Meghan Almond, Carla Poplin and Bill Sorensen voted against the realignment. Board chair Robin Whittaker then broke the tie by voting in favor of the realignment.

Option 1 moves 95 students from Locust and 56 from Stanfield to Endy Elementary upon completion of the new building at Endy. With Endy currently at 359, the move was projected by Numerix to increase the school’s average daily membership (ADM) to 513, or 89% of capacity. Locust will go from 572 to 474, or 95% capacity, while Stanfield will decrease from 493 to 437, at 95%.

In the motion made by Lisk, the vice chair said he “would like to ensure a smooth transition for our families that maintains balanced capacity in our school buildings and effective utilization of our resource.”

Lisk then moved to approve Option 1 “inclusive of the existing transfers built into the plan projections and as recommended by the demographer Numerix. Additionally, all rising fifth graders currently enrolled at Locust and Stanfield, including their currently enrolled siblings, have the option to remain at their current schools.”

Poplin attempted in a motion to delay the vote on the redistricting to the next board meeting, noting the demographer had only presented a second option to the school board during Monday’s work session. Her motion, seconded by Almond, was defeated, 4-3, with Poplin, Almond and Sorensen voting to delay.

Superintendent Dr. Jarrod Dennis said the move will not affect exceptional children or separate-setting students.

“I can’t promise any individual stuff because, you know, that works on its own level with every individual student’s (individualized education program). We don’t expect any large shifts due to this decision,” Dennis said.

Whittaker issued a statement to the Stanly News & Press after Tuesday’s board meeting.

“Throughout this process, we have carefully listened to the concerns and feedback from students, parents and community members. Our goal has always been to make a decision that best serves our students while maintaining stability for families,” Whittaker said. “The approved motion allows current transfers to remain in place and provides a grandfathering option for rising 5th graders and their currently enrolled siblings at Locust and Stanfield which would allow them to stay at their current school for the upcoming school year. We believe this approach balances the need for realignment while also supporting continuity for our students and families.

“We appreciate the community’s engagement in this discussion and remain committed to ensuring a smooth transition for all impacted students,” she added. “It was imperative that this decision be made tonight. Delaying the vote beyond this meeting would have pushed it past the March 15 transfer deadline, leaving parents without an opportunity to appeal and potentially resulting in the new addition at Endy going unpopulated next school year — a waste of taxpayer money.”

After the meeting, Poplin reacted to the decision.

“Unfortunately, a rushed vote with a new option given less than 24 hours prior to the meeting tonight had me questioning the numbers. To move and uproot 160 children just to then be sitting right back at percentages for capacity of 89% full at Endy and 95% full at Locust and Stanfield does not seem like a plan that will withstand a year or more, much less the time it would take to have another facility open up in the western end,” Poplin said. “I would have liked other options be presented to the full board and more time to discuss how and maybe even have commissioners buy-in into a long-term solution on how the county as a whole will attack the growth explosion we are having on the western end of the county. I do not want to move children multiple times. We need to be student centered and make sure that all options have been explored so that we are doing what is best for each and every student in our school system.”