The Hardin County Board of Education approved two redistricting measures meant to relieve overcrowding at G.C. Birkhead Elementary and to consolidate a bus route serving homes near Round Top Road.

Board members voted to move portions of the G.C. Birkhead boundary into adjacent elementary school zones and to reassign a small area around Ballard Lane, Round Top Road and Knollwood Lane from Creekside Elementary to Lincoln Trail Elementary. The board approved both motions by voice vote after presentation and brief discussion; no roll-call tallies were recorded in the transcript.

District staff said the redistricting responds to constrained classroom space at G.C. Birkhead: the school’s art teacher has been holding classes in the media center because there is no dedicated art classroom. The district estimated about 105 students would be reassigned into the Lincoln Trail attendance area and about 60 into Cecilia Valley, a combined total of roughly 160 students intended to free space at G.C. Birkhead and return related-arts classes to regular rooms.

Staff emphasized that the changes do not alter middle- or high-school feeder patterns for affected students. Families in the affected area will receive a mailed notice and are invited to an open house on April 25 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. to visit the receiving schools, the district said.

The district also said fourth-graders who would otherwise be moved and who become fifth-graders next year may opt to remain at G.C. Birkhead for their final elementary year, but the district will not provide bus transportation for those students. Officials cited driver shortages as the reason the district cannot add separate routes for opt-in transfers.

Board discussion included questions about timing and future redistricting. The district said it anticipates further redistricting over the next several years if population growth continues, and that it evaluated plans to avoid redistricting the same families again in the near term.

Motions: the board approved (1) the G.C. Birkhead Elementary redistricting plan and (2) the redistricting of Ballard Lane, Round Top Road and Knollwood Lane from Creekside to Lincoln Trail. Both motions were moved and seconded on the record and carried by voice vote.

The changes take effect for the 2024–25 school year, the district said. Families with questions were directed to contact Mr. Bender at G.C. Birkhead Elementary for more information about individual student assignments and the transportation policy for opt-in students.