CSD Board on proposed attendance zone changes

CLOVER, S.C. - Clover School District’s Board of Trustees met in a special called meeting on September 15, 2025, at 6 p.m. to hear feedback from the first two CSD Reassignment Community Input sessions and the feedback form. Alternative zoning options were also presented. There will be one more Community Input Session on September 16, 2025, at 6 p.m. at the Clover School District Auditorium. District officials analyzed the input from both community sessions and the 243 survey responses to determine the themes of concern regarding the proposed new attendance zones. Based on the analysis, ten specific neighborhood concerns were identified and presented to the board. Out of those ten, three recommendations were made. Options without recommendations were presented for the other seven major concerns.

One concern addressed pertained to the high school boundary west of Five Points, located between Timberlake and Paddlers Cove. The residents are asking to be grouped with their neighbors in Paddlers Cove and be assigned to the new Lake Wylie High School (LWHS). The primary reason behind the request is that, although they are technically two neighborhoods, they share trails, a pond, and recreational areas, so the children feel like it is one neighborhood. The proposed zoning has students going from Bethel Elementary (BTHL) to Roosevelt Middle (RMS) to Clover High (CHS). The alternative presented was to break the clean feeder pattern rule and send the students to LWHS. This would affect 44 elementary students, 17 middle school students, and 25 high school students.

Another area of concern discussed at both input sessions and in online comments was the redistricting of the Lake Wylie Rd. area from Crowders Creek Elementary (CCES) and Oak Ridge Middle (OMS) to BTHL and RMS. An alternative option presented for Lake Wylie Road was to move them from BTHL to Liberty Hill Elementary (LHES), continuing to RMS. Parents expressed in the sessions that they would prefer to stay at CCES and OMS, but if that were not possible, they would like to go to LHES and then RMS. The capacity at CCES was not an issue with these additional students; the capacity at OMS was the district’s concern. Likewise, adding these students to LHES would move the school close to capacity now, which does not leave room for the growth of already approved neighborhoods to the south. This would affect 92 elementary students and 53 middle school students.

Parents in the Montgomery Rd. area of Lake Wylie, including the Heron Cove neighborhood, shared concerns about the proposed zone change from Oakridge Elementary (OES) to CCES. If Montgomery Rd. residents were to stay at OES, the school would remain at a 94.3% capacity, before growth. With the projected growth, another rezoning will likely be necessary sooner rather than later. This would affect 47 elementary students.

An additional area of concern that affects a large group of students is the request to reconsider the proposed zoning change for the Penley Place and Clover Meadows neighborhoods. If Penley Place and Clover Meadows were changed at the elementary school level, 144 students would be affected, and Kinard Elementary would lose 25% of its enrolled students, which would then be considered too low to sustain all of its programs. It was noted that this request came through the feedback form, rather than the community input sessions.

One change that was not proposed by the district but requested by the community pertained to Old Cambridge Road. This area backs up to the fields of RMS, so the consideration of allowing students living there to attend RMS was brought up. The district provided two alternatives to the current lines: one was to break the feeder pattern and allow these students to attend RMS, and the other was to shift the students to Griggs Road Elementary (GRES) and RMS. The district recommended shifting the students to GRES and RMS to maintain a clean feeder pattern as much as possible. This affects 22 elementary students and eight middle school students.

Only two concerns about the proposed changes were recommended to the board for change. Barrett Rd. could be changed to Kinard and Clover Middle School as recommended by Dr.Hopkins due to their proximity to these schools. The Clarendon Estates line was not drawn along the major road, so the suggestion to the board is to maintain its current attendance pattern. Both of these recommendations were made because district officials felt the proposed lines in these cases were mistakes and should not have been changed in the first place.

During the presentation of potential attendance line changes, Dr. Mark Hopkins, CSD Chief Operations Officer, reminded everyone that making tough decisions now would delay the next round of redistricting for all students in the district.

The rest of the concerns impacted smaller numbers of students and can be seen in the slide show that was presented to the board, linked here. Most of the meeting was spent discussing the proposed attendance lines, but other themes of concern were also mentioned. One theme centered around 5th and 8th grade students staying at their current schools, as well as siblings being allowed to stay at CHS if they had a senior sibling there, so families would not have to split schools. Dr. Sheila Quinn, CSD Superintendent, and Mr. Rod Ruth, Chief Student Services and Secondary Education Officer, shared that these were not yet part of the hardship policy, but it was within the Board’s purview to change the policy if they thought it was best. Ruth did share that he had the number of siblings who would be eligible to stay at CHS if this became policy. This would affect 35 freshmen, 32 sophomores, and 18 juniors.

Another question raised by board members concerned varsity athletes being allowed to stay and complete their sports careers with their current team. This spurred quite a bit of discussion around the need to change the board policy, if this was a consideration, and ended with Ruth stating he would get the number of varsity students in Fall sports to provide an idea of how many students might be affected by this change.

To express any comments or questions, you may fill out a survey or go to the final meeting at the Clover School District Auditorium at 6 p.m. on September 16. There will be no further public meetings, but you can still reach out by emailing here or calling 803-810-8000 and asking for Stephanie Knott or Ginger Marr.

Decisions regarding attendance zones will be made at the Board of Trustees meeting on September 22 at 6 p.m. at 604 Bethel Street, Clover.