February 2006

The Carrboro Transportation Board has recommended a roundabout at the Carrboro High School entrance at Smith Level and Rock Haven roads. My guess is that public resistance to this roundabout may be strong. (Read the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Status Report, Vol. 36, No. 7). I further doubt NCDOT and the school system will push it. My guess is that without serious community education about the difference between a modern day roundabout and a Boston rotary this proposal will go over like a lead brick.

Guest Post by James Protzman

In 1930, the US had 262,000 public schools for 28 million students. Guess what those numbers were 72 years later?

In 2002, the US had 91,000 schools for 54 million students. That's a drop of 170,000 schools while the student population nearly doubled. The average public school has gone from serving 100 students at a time to almost 600 students. This doesn't seem like a positive trend to me.

Here in the southern part of heaven, this trend is evidenced by our chronic difficulties in siting schools and in the growing popularity of both charter and private schools. For example, the Emerson Waldorf High School in Chapel Hill will graduate its first senior class this year. The Carolina Friends School has a growing waiting list in all grades as well. Both offer small school environments – but at a hefty price. Long gone are the days when Chapel Hill High School and Lincoln High School were both in the downtown area and young people were part of daily life in our communities. Maybe we should add “public school” to list of important assets when we think about planning the future of downtown.