CHAPEL HILL - As city schools officials plan for an 11th elementary school for 2013, they grappled Thursday with how to ease overcrowding next year that can't wait.

"We are significantly overcrowded at the elementary-school level," Todd LoFrese, assistant superintendent for support services, told the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board Thursday night. "We are extremely concerned about three of the elementary schools."

LoFrese and Kevin Morgenstein Fuerst, the coordinator of student enrollment, laid options before the board for Carrboro, Glenwood and Seawell, none of them ideal.

"There are not good options for any of these schools," Fuerst said.

Staff took board feedback Thursday and will return to the board at a later meeting for action.

After addressing Carrboro's overcrowding, which board members seemed to concur with staff would best be eased in the 2012-13 school year by converting one existing room into a classroom, the board turned to the thornier problem of Glenwood. "Here it gets a little stickier," board chairwoman Mia Burroughs said.

Staff advised spot redistricting that would move one neighborhood, the Glen Lenox area, including Oakwood and Rogerson drives, to Rashkis Elementary, and board members seemed to generally agree.

That option didn't sit too well with a few residents of the neighborhood who came to the meeting to speak out on the issue.

"My concern is that the neighborhood selected is less than ideal," said one resident, Michael Lee, noting that some students and parents make a five-minute walk to Glenwood, crossing N.C. 54. He added that walking his 5-year-old to Meadowmont, where Rashkis is located, takes about an hour.

Morgenstein Fuerst said staff looked at other neighborhoods. Each had their ups and downs. "It was really just choosing it," he said. "We always have to make a hard choice."

Sally Taylor, the Glenwood PTA president, took a long view and raised the notion of expanding the school.

"Is there the possibility of adding a wing onto Glenwood?" Taylor asked, then broadened her question: "Is there a strategic plan specifically designed for the older schools?"

Taylor's comments seemed to strike a chord with board member Jamezetta Bedford. "The older schools are more overcrowded," Bedford said. "So I think it's important to give these overcrowded schools consideration."

Because the opening of an 11th school in 2013 will require larger-scale redistricting and school policy prohibits moving students more than once in three years, school officials and board members are balking at major attendance zone changes for 2012.

Among the complicating factors driving both overcrowding and officials' deliberations are the dual language programs that put many students in schools that are not in their attendance zones.

Another issue that speaks to officials' urgency is the Schools Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance, which restricts residential building when the district runs out of room for new students.

Staff were apparently tripped up when recent developments like Winmore and Chapel Watch Village exceeded developers' SAPFO estimates by "double or triple," Morgenstein Fuerst said.

Turning to Seawell, staff offered three options but no recommendation. "This one's rough," Morgenstein Fuerst said.

The options were to move Learning Environment for Advanced Programming (LEAP), a fourth-through-eighth-grade program that pairs with the adjoining Smith Middle School, to another school; hold off until the 11th school opens by converting the art or music room into a regular K-5 classroom; or move a pre-kindergarten classroom.

The board talked about the last option at length, including installing a mobile pre-k unit. Member Annette Streater said the district had years ago housed pre-k programs at existing structures that were not on campuses and asked staff to explore that option as well.

Also Thursday, the board approved a progress report for the 11th elementary school, which will be located in the Northside community between Caldwell and McMasters streets and built to house 585 students.

The next step in the process is the opening of deconstruction bids on Tuesday to remove existing structures on the site. Deconstruction would start in January and be completed in late February.

Later this month, construction plans will be advertised for bids, which will be opened on Jan. 31, and construction would start in March, with the school opening in August 2013.