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School Redistricting Foes Speak: Board Hears Concerns About Rock Hill Elementary Attendance Plans

Posted on: Friday, 2 June 2006, 18:00 CDT

By Karen Bair, The Herald, Rock Hill, S.C.

Jun. 2--Veterans of redistricting, members of the Rock Hill school board Thursday night stoically heard the public criticize proposed new attendance lines to accommodate a new elementary school.

Elementary school redistricting in the fast-expanding northwest part of the district is necessary because Rock Hill's new elementary school opens in 2007 off Twin Lakes Road near Mount Gallant and India Hook roads. It is expected to alleviate crowding at Ebinport, Finley Road, Mount Gallant, Old Pointe, Richmond Drive, Rosewood, Sunset Park and York Road elementary schools.

About 40 people attended, and 10 of them spoke. Many issues the board has heard in previous rezonings for new schools resurfaced: Children's need for structure and stability, broken childhood relationships when a student is moved, arguments for neighborhood schools.

"Why should free lunch have anything to do with where a child is placed?" asked Tim Moll, whose children would move from Old Pointe to Richmond Drive under the proposal. "If PACT (standardized test) scores are a problem, address that, not just mask the problem by moving children around."

When elementary schools were redistricted in 2001 to accommodate Old Pointe Elementary, the school board agreed to consider socio-economics, academic achievement and race -- not just where a student lives -- in determining attendance lines. That plan was challenged in court by a group that supports neighborhood schools, Neighborhoods United. Eventually, a settlement was reached.

G.W. Rechtenwald, a senior citizen, spoke of wasted expense and air pollution involved in transporting students farther than the nearest school.

"I liked seeing that your number two item (of concern) was distance, but I don't think you're following that," he said.

A number of people said Ebinport would have capacity for more students under the proposed plan and asked that their children be sent there. Tim Templeton pointed out that children in his neighborhood would not qualify for school busing because of their proximity to the school and would have to cross Celanese Road on foot.

"Leave some of these children at Ebinport," he said. "It would improve the capacity at Rosewood and protect kids who would have to walk across a seven-lane highway at the height of the rush hour."

Board member Jason Silverman said he recognized a number of the people in the audience as residents of his district, which includes Ebinport, Old Pointe and Richmond Drive.

"I know exactly what you feel because I cast a vote a few years ago that sent my child to a different high school than any child in my neighborhood has ever attended," he told the audience. "I am sensitive to the sacrifices my district has made, and as long as I am here, no neighborhood is going to be picked on."

'Pretty tough spot'

Board Chairman Bob Norwood told the group that no matter where the district sets the boundaries, "there will be people upset."

"We're all sitting in a pretty tough spot," he said. "Please understand there's nobody sitting up here with any dark agenda against your children. We're going to have to do this for three straight years."

The district plans to build another new elementary school on the heels of this one in the southern part of the district. Southern attendance lines will be redrawn at that time. Middle school attendance lines will be redrawn as well when a planned new middle school opens at about the same time.

Proposed elementary school attendance line maps for the northwestern portion of the Rock Hill school district are available for public viewing at the affected schools, at the school district office, on the district's Web site, rock-hill.k12.sc.us, and on The Herald's Web site, www.heraldonline.com

WANT TO SEE THE MAP?

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Herald, Rock Hill, S.C.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Herald

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