September 30, 2018

Honorable Wake County School Board Members,

The Reedy Creek Magnet Middle School community and subsequent elementary family feeder students are discouragedby the proposed reassignment of neighborhoods in our base enrollment area for the 2019 - 2020 school year. The most significant change to our community will be the reassignment of most Cary, Farmington Woods, Briarcliff, and Kingswood Elementary neighborhoods to East Cary Middle School.

These neighborhoods including most of Downtown Cary and Oxxford Hunt have long been assigned to RCMMS. A lot of these families have a long history of attendance and involvement in RCMMS – some over ten years - and were integral in the positivechange in direction of this school. Just a few years ago, RCMMS was not a high-performing school and did not have significant community involvement. RCMMS was not a sought-after school to attend. The commitment of PTA members and families over the past decade to improve RCMMS is a significant reason it is the school it is today.

In August 2015 the Wake County School Board recommended that Reedy Creek Middle School become a magnet school with the support of its school community. The school system sought for RCMMS to become a magnet with the purpose of "elimination reduction or prevention of minority group isolation." (https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/wake-ed-blog/article32677623.html). The school became the Reedy Creek Magnet Middle School Center for the Digital Sciences in 2016-2017.

As part of the school community,Downtown Cary and Oxxford Hunt families have been very involved. In the current school year, 3 of the 4 PTA board members and over half of the committee chairs are residents of neighborhoods proposed to move to East Cary Middle School. As Reedy Creek transitioned to a magnet, involvedparents promoted student applications and the reputation of the school. Parents also leveraged personal contacts to promote corporate and community connections to RCMMS. Our school is the school it is today because itlargely reflects our communities and their involvement. We are concerned what might happen to school support if such a large portion of the existing school community is re-assigned. We are also concerned that school staff at RCMMS have only had a stable environment for about a year and worry that shifting dynamics of the school could change that.

In addition, RCMMS is having significant traffic issues this year with carpool. These issues are not only logistical but have the potential to escalate safety concerns with the proposed traffic changes. The Cary Police Department has already been involved in traffic this year.

We respectfully request that the proposed reassignment of base neighborhoods from RCMMS to East Cary Middle School be discontinued. We request WCPSS seek community involvement and support to build ECMS without breaking up the Reedy Creek Magnet Middle School community.

Sincerely,

The Families of Reedy Creek Magnet Middle School

(Note: It is not necessary to donate to the ipetition site after signing this petition. Just close your browser. Thanks!)