- ROWAN-SALISBURY SCHOOL SYSTEM
- Knox/Overton Project Information and FAQs
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FAQs - Reassignments
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How will RSS determine to which locations students are reassigned?
Students will be reassigned based on the location of their home.
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How and when will reassignments be communicated with families?
Families will receive assignment letters via mail and email. We will send notification as soon as possible after Board approval. Our goal is to complete this before students go home for the summer.
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Which schools will Knox students be moved to while the new building is built?
The recommendation is to reassign students to North Rowan Middle School, Southeast Middle School, Erwin Middle School and West Rowan Middle School All rising sixth graders will be assigned to North Rowan Middle School. Rising seventh and eighth graders will be assigned to their prospective school, based on the boundaries created by our partnership with Numerix.
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Will Overton Elementary School be closed during construction as well?
No.
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What are the guidelines and reasons for student transfers?
Once initial student reassignments are shared, we will open an additional transfer window for students impacted by the closure of Knox Middle School. This transfer window will follow the same policy as our traditional transfer window. Transfers can be approved for academic programs, childcare, work proximity, etc. (full list here). We don’t honor transfers for students who would rather play sports at a specific school. We will announce dates for this transfer window once the Board of Education makes a final decision on a project plan.
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Will transporation be provided for the students who are reassigned to a new school?
Yes. Every summer we redesign our bus routes to make sure all students have transportation to their assigned schools. We will make sure that all reassigned students have a route to get them to their new school.
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Will transporation be provided for the students who transfer from their reassigned school to a different school?
Per usual, we do not provide transportation to students who transfer to a different school than their assigned school.
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How will this project affect Salisbury High School?
The closure and construction of these schools will not impact Salisbury High School. All high school students remain at their districted high schools.
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If I have a student who is currently attending Knox Middle School on a transfer, where will they attend school for the next two years?
Student will be reassigned based on their address listed in powerschool. We will open a transfer widow after their original reassigment is communicated.
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Has RSS considered reassigning these student to empty buildings around Salisbury?
We would need to have community conversations around what resources are available.
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Is it possible to keep teams together for athletics?
We’ll take this feedback and look at the feasibility, but it is unlikely that this is a possibility.
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Will students be able to participate in athletics and the arts?
Yes, students will be able to participate in all that is offered at the school they are assigned to.
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How does RSS plan to keep all students safe as they merge different student bodies?
Our students are why we are here, and their safety is our highest priority. We are continually thinking about what the transition looks like for students and how populations merge as we plan reassignments. We have learned valuable lessons from some of our past school closures, and we plan to train our staff about how to handle these transitions. We will also meet with community and law enforcement officials to plan how to best leverage our resources, such as School Resource Officers. We work in partnership with our SROs to proactively prevent issues. As we develop a clearer picture of where students will be and what specific needs we will have, we will host community sessions to talk about community needs.
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How will staffing change at the schools that are gaining students, and what training will be provided to them?
Our staff members will follow our reassigned students to their new schools according to the number of students moved to each school. We look at equity in many areas and will ensure that all students have a layered support structure. We have met with the principals to let them know how their schools will potentially be impacted, and we will be training staff about how to handle increases in student populations. We will also offer opportunities for families to visit the buildings to know where their students will attend.
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Will all students be housed in the schools or in mobile units?
We are reassigning students based on capacity at the receiving schools. We will not go over capacity in any building.
FAQs - Construction and Facilities
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Please share the current project plans and renderings.
Please see the Resources Section on this page for renderings, floorplans (coming soon), and more.
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Is this the original construction plan, or did RSS scale back to a middle school-only plan?
We are planning to move foward with a K-8 school, pending Board approval. Our architecture firm quotes the price, and construction costs have recently decreased. We did not remove anything from the K-8 plan.
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What is the timeline for this project?
We will notify students, open the transfer window, open up the window for staff and notify students of their placement before they leave for the summer. We are working on this at the back end to make sure it goes as smoothly as possible.
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What is the projected cost of this project?
Our current budget was set at $55 million by the Rowan County Commissioners, and we are within that budget.
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Will the new facility have a comparable gym, auditorium, space and amenities to our current facilities?
It is our goal to give our students the facilities that they deserve. The new building will follow industry standards from the architects and construction bids, and our students will have nicer facilities than before.
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How often will the public be updated on the building process?
We will regularly update the community through our website, social media and the local media. We will also host celebrations when work begins and when it is completed.
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Will organizations have the opportunity to dedicate resources to the school?
Yes!
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When will staff be required remove their belongings, and will they be compensated for time spent outside of the workdays?
The Rowan-Salisbury Schools maintenance staff will assist with the movement of staff belongings to their new campus. Our goal is that these belongings will be moved by the close of the 2022-2023 school year.
FAQs - New School
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Has the school already been named and has a mascot been identified?
A selection committee will decide the name, mascot, and school colors. The selection committee will be made up varied staff, parents, students, and community members. This process will occur during the 2023 - 2024 school year.
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What will the leadership structure be for the new school?
The new school will have one principal, as well as assistant principals for specific grade spans.
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What will the reentry process be for students and staff?
This project is scheduled to take two years, so current sixth and seventh graders will be in high school when the new school opens. We will update the community on the process when we get closer to reopening.
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Is there a possibility of redistricting when the new school opens?
We will look at school capacities across the district once the project is complete. As we explore different possibilities for this school, we will look at programming options that would enhance the educational experience of students.
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What innovative programs will be offered in the new school?
We are dreaming and brainstorming what this school will be when it reopens. We are currently assessing needs and will incorporate programs that address those needs when the program reopens.
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What before-school and after-school programs will be available when the new school opens?
We are in the process of determining what programs will be available as we move forward
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Will the Dual Language Immersion (DLI) program be incorporated into the K-8 school?
We are not planning to move the DLI program out of Isenberg Elementary School, however we could potentially add the program to another school. We are currently assessing needs, as well as dreaming and brainstorming what this school will be when it opens. It does make sense to expand the DLI into the middle school of this project.
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Will there be a pre-K program at the new school?
This programming has not yet been determmined. However, we are currently focusing on a Kindergarten readiness campaign for our community.
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Will elementary and middle school students ride buses together or separate?
This has not yet been determined. We are still working on solidifying our transportation plan and working with existing K-8 schools to assess their processes and outcomes.
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What will the classroom sizes (students per teacher) be?
We will use state allotment formulas to assign staff to the new school. Class sizes will be similar to our current practices within our schools.
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What is the plan for re-opening and sending students back to Knox or Overton?
Overton Elementary students would likely move to Knox, but that will depend on a couple of items: programs offered at Knox, such as adding the Dual Language Immersion program there and community growth. We want to serve the current neighborhood, but as the county grows over the next two years, some of the districting lines may change in response.
