Clover School District Board of Trustees approved a student reassignment plan and several related actions at its monthly business meeting, adopting changes intended to balance school capacity as new schools open and to limit future rezoning.

The board voted to approve the district's reassignment recommendations "as presented tonight," and without objection agreed to authorize negotiation of an easement with Duke Power to connect a new substation near the Lake Wylie High School site. The board also agreed to a one-year hardship allowance that will let siblings of students who must remain at Clover High School stay with their families for the 2026 school year.

The plan rises from a months-long rezoning process that included three community hearings and multiple map iterations. Superintendent Dr. Quinn told the board the administration examined each case individually and in combination with others, and that the team tried to follow the district's guiding principles while making facilities use more efficient. "We have done our very, very best to try to accommodate those things," Dr. Quinn said during the presentation.

Administrators presented four specific recommended adjustments that were added after public feedback and further internal review: restoring some Oak Ridge Road/Riddle Mill Road addresses to Oak Ridge; returning Barrett Road-area students west of Highway 321 to Kynard/Clover Middle; moving a small cluster of properties near Old Cambridge Circle to Roosevelt Middle because their lots share property lines with the Roosevelt campus; and reassigning part of the South Pyramid/Little Branch area to Bethel Elementary, Roosevelt Middle and Clover High. District staff said those targeted shifts create better alignment with feeder patterns and provide capacity relief in pressured areas.

Public speakers urged the board to consider student continuity and community impact. Resident Keith Bagwell, speaking from Heron Cove, said the small number of students affected there made uprooting them disproportionate to the capacity benefit and implored trustees to "remember who you are ultimately serving in this position." Another resident asked the board to reassign specific households to Lake Wylie High School on the basis of proximity and feeder relationships.

Board members repeatedly thanked staff for repeated iterations and community engagement, and several trustees described the rezoning as a difficult but necessary step to address rapid population growth. Trustees said they had tested more expansive scenarios (including ones that would satisfy more individual requests) but found them unsustainable for transportation or future growth.

The board also approved staff's recommendation to permit, for one year only, siblings of students who must remain at Clover High School to apply for a hardship to stay with the senior class. District staff said the measure applies only to this unique cohort in the initial rezoning year because Lake Wylie will not yet have an entering senior class; the allowance is a temporary hardship consideration rather than a permanent policy change.

In a related action, the board approved a staff motion authorizing negotiations for an easement with Duke Power so the utility can build a substation adjacent to the Lake Wylie campus and tie into existing district lines. Facilities staff said the proposed route makes use of an existing right of way that runs across district property; they told the board they will require Duke to restore any disturbed curbing, asphalt and stabilization and will negotiate protections for district facilities before signing any agreement.

Votes at a glance
- Student reassignment plan (as presented): approved (voice/without objection). Motion made and seconded; formal voice vote recorded as approved.
- One-year sibling hardship (allow siblings of seniors to remain for 2026): approved (applied through the hardship process; one-year allowance).
- Easement to Duke Power (option A routing to connect new substation): approved (board authorized staff to negotiate final easement terms; no signature tonight).
- Policy IKAB (progress reports wording change, second reading): approved without objection.
- Policy JFABC (hardship/transfer language, second reading): approved without objection.

What the board said and next steps
Administrators said public information will be posted after the meeting and that the district will send parcel-level maps and enrollment details to affected families. Staff reiterated that some staff accommodations (for employees assigned to schools) will shift enrollment numbers day-to-day. District leaders said they will continue to honor standard hardship processes and that any negotiated easement with Duke Power will include protections for district property and timelines that avoid construction during initial occupancy.

Provenance: the reassignment discussion begins when district leaders present the student reassignment and attendance-lines presentation and continues through the motion and vote to approve the plan and related easement negotiations.