Clover schools plan meetings for proposed elementary, middle rezoning

School leaders in Clover will hold meetings beginning in November to discuss school attendance zone changes needed to open a new elementary and middle school next year.

Clover Superintendent Marc Sosne said school leaders have been working on a proposal for more than a year. He said the plan is intended to create room for expected enrollment growth in Lake Wylie schools, the fastest growing part of the Clover district.

The new $30 million Oakridge Elementary in Lake Wylie and the new $40 million Clover Middle on Barrett Road near Clover are planned to open in the fall of 2016. Both were part of a $99 million construction package approved by voters in a March 2014 bond vote.

Sosne said the proposed elementary school attendance lines would use S.C. 49 and S.C. 557 as the divider between existing Crowders Creek Elementary and the new Oakridge Elementary school attendance zones, both in Lake Wylie.

Students who live north of the S.C. 49 and 557 corridor would go to Oakridge, and those south of those roads would attend Crowders Creek, under the proposal.

A proposed change in the middle school attendance zone would transfer about 150 sixth- and seventh-graders who live in the Griggs Road Elementary and Oakridge Middle zone to Clover Middle.

The Clover school board approved Sosne’s request for authorization to move forward with plans for the school rezoning by setting up community meetings.

Sosne said school district leaders will meet with parents, listen to them, make any needed changes and “bring back in three or four months a more firm proposal.”

Bryan Dillon, Clover schools’ public information officer, said the meetings have been scheduled in November and early December at elementary and middle schools affected by the changes.

Sosne said that under the current middle school attendance zones, all students from Bethany, Kinard and Larne elementary schools attend Clover Middle. All students from Crowders Creek and Bethel elementary schools attend Oakridge Middle.

Students who live in the Griggs Road Elementary attendance zone are divided between Clover and Oakridge middle schools, he said.

The proposed new middle school attendance zones would call for all Griggs Road students to attend Clover Middle instead of being split between two schools, he said.

Dillon said that of the 150 students who would be moved to Clover Middle next fall under Sosne’s proposal, 65 are current seventh-graders and the rest would be sixth-graders.

Sosne said schools in the Lake Wylie area have been seeing annual student enrollment growth of 7 percent to 8 percent, while schools in the western part of the district are recording 2 percent growth.

He said Crowders Creek Elementary in Lake Wylie has a capacity of 1,269 students. Under the proposed rezoning, Oakdridge Elementary would have an estimated 600 students when it opens in the fall, with 669 students at Crowders Creek Elementary.

Both schools would be well under capacity, Sosne said. The new Oakridge has a capacity of 900 students and Crowders Creek can accommodate up to 1,450 students, he said.

Sosne said Clover Middle has 713 students and Oakridge Middle in Lake Wylie has 1,002 students.

When the new Clover Middle opens, Sosne said, the new school would have 865 students, under the proposed rezoning, and Oakridge Middle would have 850 students.

Sosne said the only other potential rezoning need in the near future would be at Bethel Elementary. Dillon said Bethel has about 450 students and is nearing its capacity.

However, Dillon said Bethel’s enrollment capacity can be expanded to 500 students by repurposing three classrooms that are now being used for other purposes.

“It’s one of those things we are keeping an eye on,” Dillon said, referring to the potential need for rezoning at Bethel. “But right now there is not a need for it.”

Three other projects are part of the school district’s $99 million construction package, which is being paid for with a $67 million bond and $32 million in cash from the district.

The other projects are a $15 million swim center in Lake Wylie, a $6 million renovation of Memorial Stadium and artificial turf there and at two other fields, and a $10 million renovation of the old Clover Middle School to become a ninth grade academy.

This story was originally published October 21, 2015 at 4:48 PM with the headline "Clover schools plan meetings for proposed elementary, middle rezoning."