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District outlines attendance-zone plan and student projections for three new schools
Summary
Clover School District staff presented guiding principles for creating attendance lines for Liberty Hill Elementary, Roosevelt Middle and Lake Wylie High and projected roughly 1,267 new students from approved developments — figures staff used to model attendance zones ahead of public meetings and a fall vote.
Mark Hopkins presented the district’s "opening-school playbook" and described the principles staff will use to draw attendance zones for three new schools: avoid splitting neighborhoods, use major thoroughfares for boundaries, preserve feeder relationships where possible, aim for about 80% capacity, and limit student moves. "We started: thou shalt not split neighborhoods," Hopkins said as he laid out the guiding principles used in modeling.
Hopkins showed maps and cited development counts that informed projections: he reported 3,191 approved housing units in the Lake Wylie area (2,718 remaining) and 284 approved units in Clover (247 remaining). Using the district's student-generation rate from a prior impact-fee assessment, staff estimate about 1,267 potential new students as those permits are built out — roughly 548 elementary, 302 middle and 426 high-school students.
Hopkins said staff will begin modeling attendance lines in January 2025 using ArcGIS and PowerSchool data, hold community meetings on proposed models in fall 2025, and aim for board finalization in the fall prior to opening; the district is targeting opening the three schools in fall 2026 with routes and lines established in advance. Staff emphasized they will present multiple models for public feedback and work to limit reassignments where possible.
