Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board votes to close Glenwood Elementary School for 2027-28 school year

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WNCN) — A unanimous decision by the school board has closed the doors of Glenwood Elementary School for the 2027-28 school year, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School District announced Thursday night.

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According to the district, the board voted 7-0 in favor of closing the elementary school, which first opened its doors in 1953, for the 2027-28 school year.

The district said the decision was not one it wanted to make.

“We know many in our community will be grieving the loss of a beloved school and community. At the same time, we believe this moment also creates new opportunities to strengthen our District for the future,” the district wrote in a statement.

The school district emphasized that the decision to close the school was not about anything other than “buildings and district sustainability.” In the statement released Thursday night, the district said it would remain committed to the members of the Glenwood Elementary School community.

“Our commitment to every Glenwood staff member, student and family remains as strong as it has ever been, even as some aspects of our work will look different moving forward,” the district’s statement reads.

Glenwood is a STEAM2 (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math and Mandarin) magnet school with students from kindergarten to fifth grade. The school district said the dual language and world language programs will continue after Glenwood’s closing. However, the district added the caveat that it had not yet worked out the logistics of that decision.

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The district said, “By August of this year, District leadership will develop scenarios for where Glenwood’s STEAM² Dual Language and STEAM² World Language programs can be housed in 2027-28.”

The decision comes on the back of declining enrollment rates that the school district estimates will lead to a more than $2 million reduction in state funding for the 2026-27 school year, along with more decreases in enrollment and funding over the next 10 years.

Glenwood was not the only school on the chopping block, as both Ephesus and Seawell Elementary School were candidates for closure, along with the option to potentially close multiple of them.

On the school district’s web page outlining the plan behind making up for the anticipated funding loss, the next steps will come “mid-2026 through early 2027.”

According to the timeline, now that the board has decided to close Glenwood, it has to assess the students’ new school assignments in order to make sure enrollment is “balanced” across all elementary schools. The district also said it will gather community feedback and more data.

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