Proposed Fort Mill school lines changed again ahead of final vote. Here’s the latest.
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With less than a week until they’re set, school attendance lines in Fort Mill are still changing.
Some parents want to know where their neighborhoods will go. Others want to know why the district would send any students to the two schools set to open.
The school board heard a new attendance zone recommendation on Tuesday night that would impact thousands of elementary and middle school students starting next year. That’s when Flint Hill Elementary School is set to open on Gold Hill Road. Flint Hill Middle School will open in 2026.
Those schools will share a campus that’s right beside the controversial Silfab Solar property on Logistics Lane.
Many property owners in the area have spoken out against Silfab operating there, concerned that the company will store and could potentially release dangerous chemicals. The company states it will adhere to all state and federal safety guidelines, and that it won’t harm the environment.
What’s in the new Fort Mill attendance lines?
The board saw preliminary attendance line changes Oct. 1, then had a revised version two weeks later.
About 450 emails came in between, with parents across the district asking about the impact to their neighborhoods. About 200 more emails arrived in the past two weeks.
The latest version moves the Zoar Road area to Tega Cay Elementary School to improve bus routes. The Reserve at Gold Hill moves back to Pleasant Knoll Elementary School, from Flint Hill Elementary.
The Holbrook Road area on the district’s southern end goes back to Forest Creek Middle School, after prior versions had them moving to Fort Mill Middle School.
About 2,700 students would’ve been impacted by a move to a new school under the prior line change option. The new recommendation dips that number below 2,400 students.
Silfab prompts parent concern
On Friday, a group of “parents, family, friends and neighbors of children” that would attend the Flint Hill schools under the district proposal emailed and sent a letter to the district.
They asked administrators and board members for details on their decision to build schools in a light industrial area. They also asked why the district didn’t speak out, as a neighboring property owner, against York County allowing Silfab to operate on its property.
The letter includes 115 signatures.
Within the past week, the district reached out for legal advice related to Silfab, board Chairwoman Kristy Spears said at the meeting Tuesday. No details were provided.
There are two ongoing court cases with Silfab.
In one, the company appealed a county Zoning Board of Appeals decision that solar panel manufacturing shouldn’t be allowed in light industrial properties. The other case involves a group of citizens seeking an injunction and restraining order to stop Silfab from producing solar panels on Logistics Lane.
All district schools have emergency plans that include possible evacuation, reunification sites and related details, said district spokesman Joe Burke. The district doesn’t share those details publicly for security reasons and because they could change depending on a given emergency.
Chemical storage at Silfab would be similar to properties near other schools, district officials say, like the US Foods distribution site or rail lines that might transport chemicals. The Flint Hill schools will have a full complement of emergency response plans just like schools in those areas do, Burke said.
Areas of concern on the map
Board members hear concern from the Habersham area, with its 192 elementary and middle school students, not wanting to leave the Pleasant Knoll schools. Knightsbridge, Hawk’s Creek and the Reserve neighborhood have been vocal about proposed changes.
Some of the most complaints come, not surprisingly, from some of the biggest neighborhoods in the areas that have to be rezoned near the new schools.
Some of those neighborhoods combine for 200 or more elementary and middle school students. Switching them to account for all the public feedback could put some schools over capacity even with the newly opened schools.
“We are talking about a very large amount of kids,” said board member Michele Branning.
Capacity changes with new school lines
New lines are based on about 8,200 elementary and 4,500 middle school students. Elementary students take up 80% of the total district capacity at that level. With a new school, students would use 71% of elementary capacity. Middle school students would go from taking up 80% to 66% of their capacity.
More than 200 students are frozen now, meaning they live in one attendance area but are sent to another school with more capacity due to crowding. The new schools and lines would unfreeze those students.
The Flint Hill schools each are being built for up to 1,200 students. No existing elementary or middle school has room for more than 1,000 students.
Flint Hill Elementary would get 840 students when it opens, based on current projections. Flint Hill Middle would get 568 students. Schools across the district would have their enrollment balanced, but not perfectly.
Today, Riverview Elementary School is at 60% capacity. Gold Hill Elementary is at 92% and Springfield Elementary is at 95%. The new lines would keep all elementary schools at or below 79% capacity for next school year.
Riverview still would be lowest at 62% capacity, due to ongoing construction in its attendance zone like the massive Elizabeth neighborhood.
“We have open space for the areas that we think that we’re going to have some growth in,” Burke said of the proposed elementary recommendation. “All of our schools are getting pretty well utilized there.”
Gold Hill Middle School is at 96% capacity now. Pleasant Knoll Middle School is at 90%. The new recommendation lowers both those figures, but they remain highest among middle schools at up to 90% for Gold Hill. T
he new recommendation has higher capacity at schools where residential construction is largely built out already, Burke said.
How to see maps, make final comments
The district expects the latest attendance line version to be the same or similar to what the board will choose on Nov. 5. There could still be changes, however.
The district only recently learned, for instance, of a downtown Fort Mill apartment development that could bring 225 apartments.
The latest proposal is online at fortmillschools.org. Parents can comment on the new attendance lines by emailing communications@fortmillschools.org.
This story was originally published October 30, 2024 at 12:47 PM.
