That's a really good question

What goal does the Orange County School District hope to accomplish by merging Central Elementary School with Hillsborough Elementary School?

I have been futilely trying to find an answer since the issue was first brought to my attention. And, I am apparently not alone. It seems to be something of a mystery to the Orange County School Board itself.

In a Daily Tar Heel article about the OCSB Merger Study Group's first meeting, OCSB member Debbie Piscitelli is reported to have said that "the board needs to identify the problem they are trying to solve before they will be able to find a solution."

Merger Study Group Chairman Ted Triebel appears to be equally in the dark about what problem he is expected to solve. The DTH reports, "Triebel agreed that the problem needed to be identified and said the solutions could be different depending on how the problem is defined. 'We need to know what the goal is,' he said."

Even though they may not know what they are doing, at least they know they are creating entirely new problems that they will have to solve in the future.

"... shifting students from Central Elementary to Hillsborough Elementary or vice-versa could create new problems, Triebel said."