Latest “enhanced” pick eyed for new Fort Mill middle school attendance lines

Of the three options on middle school attendance lines presented, Chuck Epps picked none of them.

At least not exactly.

Epps, superintendent of the Fort Mill School District, went with a modified pick Tuesday night for which schools students will attend beginning with the next school year.

“The recommendation tonight takes into account the impact of the expected residential growth and the subsequent enrollment increases that will take place over the course of the next five years,” he said in a statement after Tusday night’s school boatd meeting.

“This is an extraordinarily difficult aspect of the decision in that neither the high level of development activity nor the expected enrollment increases is anywhere close to an exact science.”

Epps said his task was to consider the best interests of all students in the district, and that there is no perfect plan. Change will come for students and parents.

“The community and parental input that we have received over the course of the last several weeks is an important part of the discussions leading up to my recommendation,” Epps said.

The new plan has Gold Hill Middle School covering Tega Cay, from Lake Wylie to S.C. 160. Pleasant Knoll Middle School picks up there and heads to I-77 and Pleasant Road, also covering Baxter Village. Springfield Middle School then picks up and runs east to the railroad tracks near Nation Ford High School. It includes the Springfield and Regent Park neighborhoods.

Fort Mill and Banks Trail middle schools are the two impacted by the final tweak from three plans submitted by a consultant. Banks Trail runs from south of Baxter to the southern boundary of the district along South Dobys Bridge Road. The tweak adds Oxford Place, Lynnwood Farms and Massey east of South Dobys Bridge. Fort Mill Middle loses those neighborhoods. Its lines run from south of Nation Ford High where Banks Trail crosses South Dobys Bridge.

The recommendation puts Fort Mill with 663 students based on current enrollment, with an almost 23 percent student population on free and reduced lunch. Banks Trail would have 661 students and 26 percent free and reduced lunch. Springfield would have 556 students and more than 28 percent free and reduced lunch, compared to 634 and 9 percent at Gold Hill. Students who qualify for free and reduced lunch come from less affluent households than their peers who do not.

Pleasant Knoll, the new school now under construction that brings about the new district lines, would have 739 students and 9 percent free and reduced lunch. A slew of new homes are being built in the vicinity of the new school.

While Epps is recommending the latest plan, it isn’t final. Community feedback at fortmillschools.org will be accepted through Nov. 14. The school board should make a final decision Nov. 15.

Even in the latest “enhanced” version of a proposed plan, the district is showing nothing is finalized yet. District leaders say community feedback is key. Epps said part of the latest plan involves an eye toward coming residential growth and where future lines may be.

“I feel that these enhancements will better position us to sustain the attendance area plan, not just for the opening of Pleasant Knoll Middle School next year, but for the next five years and prepare the district for the sixth middle school,” he said.

This story was originally published November 3, 2016 at 11:21 AM with the headline "Latest “enhanced” pick eyed for new Fort Mill middle school attendance lines."