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Anyone can determine their elementary assignments for the 2024-25 school year now by using the school locator tool: https://maps.durhamnc.gov/address/. Parents will receive a letter in the mail that will be postmarked by Oct. 9 with their child’s school assignment based on their address on file. Also, the school your child attends and the new school you are assigned to will contact you by phone, email, and/or in-person meetings.

Secondary school boundaries do not go into effect until the 2025-26 school year. View the map to review middle school and high school boundaries.

There will be many opportunities throughout the fall and spring, starting with regional community meetings in October and welcome events and tours at elementary schools in November, December, and January. Families are also encouraged to attend the Showcase of Schools on Nov. 18 at the Durham Convention Center from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. All DPS schools will be present at this event.

If your child is currently in grades PK-2 and attends an IB, Montessori, or year-round calendar school and you wish for your child to continue the program, you will need to enter the lottery in January 2024. The program school that you will be eligible for is based on region and may not be your current school. Program options for each region may be viewed here. Students who currently attend an IB, Montessori, or year-round program will have priority at the school they are eligible to attend.
Families who reside in an attendance zone for an IB, Montessori, or year-round school may request to opt out to attend a school offering a traditional calendar and instruction. This will be an online application process like the lottery application and will begin on March 1, 2024. Families can rank at least two (2) options in their region for an opt-out school, but final placements will be based on capacity at the needed grade level. The student will be provided with transportation if eligible.

Based on your family’s needs, the transfer procedures below support school change requests:

Sibling Legacy Transfer: This administrative transfer is for a term of 1-2 years for the younger sibling of a 4th or 5th grade student who will remain at the current school. This transfer comes with transportation if the student is eligible for transportation. This process will be managed at the school level with the school enrollment team, which will gather this information and provide the Office of Student Assignment with a list of students who have requested this transfer. Transfers are dependent on school capacity at the needed grade level.

DLI Transfer: Students currently in DLI programs at Southwest, Lakewood, and Bethesda who are assigned to a school without a program at that grade level are eligible for a transfer to stay to continue the program. This process will be managed at the school level with the school enrollment team, which will gather this information and provide the Office of Student Assignment with a list of students who have requested this transfer. The student will be provided with transportation if eligible.

Opt-Out Transfer: Families who reside in an attendance zone for an IB, Montessori, or year-round school may request to opt out to attend a school offering a traditional calendar and instruction. This will be an online application process like the lottery application and will begin on March 1, 2024. Families can rank at least two (2) options in their region for an opt-out school, but final placements will be based on capacity at the needed grade level. The student will be provided with transportation if eligible.

General Transfer: Transfers for any other reasons are governed by DPS Board of Education Policy 4132, and approved requests must align with the reasons stated in the policy. The transfer application will be available online from March 1, 2024, until May 1, 2024.

When you apply for a transfer online, if the school you are seeking isn’t listed, please contact the Office of Student Assignment at 919-560-2059. 

Students will have access to a year-round, Dual-Language Immersion, Montessori, or International Baccalaureate program. These programs are accessible by application to students who live in the region. You can learn more about each of these programs below. The application period for these schools opens in January 2024. Click below to learn more about each of these programs.

 

Year-Round
Dual-Language Immersion
Montessori
International Baccalaureate (IB)

The only entry point for the DLI program is Kindergarten. There are 24 seats available for each cohort, and schools will have one or two cohorts. Half of the seats are filled with children whose primary home language is Spanish, and the other half is filled by students whose primary home language is English or a language other than English or Spanish. The lottery application will ask families to identify the language most frequently spoken in the home (Spanish, English, or other), and DLI staff will contact the family to confirm this identification.

Priority is not offered to students who currently attend a DLI school. All students that reside in the region will be selected randomly. Students who reside in the attendance zone must still apply in the lottery to enter the cohort.

General transfer requests are governed by DPS Board of Education Policy 4132 and are considered on a case-by-case basis regarding the extenuating circumstances the family faces. The primary consideration that drives transfer request placement is the school’s capacity at the grade level needed.

Opt-out transfer requests (for assignment to an IB, Montessori, or year-round school) will only provide options within the assigned region.

When you apply for a transfer online, if the school you are seeking isn’t listed, please contact the Office of Student Assignment at 919-560-2059. 

Under the new student assignment plan, 40-60 percent of the student population (excluding DLI) would come from lottery seats. However, with legacy rules, program continuity priorities, and unknown numbers of opt-out requests, the number of lottery seats available to those without priority seating at any individual school, at specific grade levels, will vary during this transition period.
Yes, students will receive transportation to the school they are enrolled in whether it is their assigned school or an application school.
ALL DPS elementary schools will have enhanced visual and performing arts and global language weekly. Additionally, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) will be integrated into the daily curriculum for all students.

Students in the 4th and 5th grade during the 2024-25 school year will be reassigned to their current school and can stay until their promotion to middle school. Younger siblings of 4th and 5th grade students may request a Sibling Legacy Transfer so that siblings may remain together. This process will be managed at the school level with the school enrollment team who will gather this information and provide the Office of Student Assignment with a list of students who have requested this transfer. Transfers are dependent on school capacity at the needed grade level.

Confirmation of Sibling Legacy Transfers will be sent to families in March/April 2024. 

If you have questions about siblings of legacy students, please contact the Office of Student Assignment at 919-560-2509.

The Durham Public Schools Board of Education, administration, and the Growing Together Project Team are committed to stability for students and prioritizing family needs as it relates to transitions within the Elementary Student Assignment Plan. To that end, the Board of Education granted legacy status to all fourth and fifth grade students in 2024-2025 for their current school assignment.  

 

Based upon the Board’s decision to grant legacy status to rising fourth and fifth graders keeping them at their current school, no students have yet been assigned to Murray-Massenburg Elementary School.  

 

However, fourth and fifth grade students who reside in the Murray-Massenburg attendance zone will have the option to attend the school beginning in August 2024. Families must complete an intent form by the end of December to indicate their preference.  

 

Staff will reach out to families of impacted students and assist parents/guardians with submitting the intent form indicating their decision (1) to remain at their current legacy school or (2) to transfer to Murray-Massenburg. Decisions are binding so schools can accurately plan for the upcoming school year.  

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