Trustees mull attendance line changes
By SCOTT POWELL Ledger Staff Writer spowell@gaffneyledger.com

School trustees will consider a request Monday to change attendance lines for Northwest and B.D. Lee elementary schools.

Board member Lindley Auton has asked the school district for the past several years to consider redrawing attendance lines for B.D. Lee and Northwest elementaries. Trustees will discuss the proposed changes at a 7 p.m. school board meeting in the district office.

The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) in Washington sent the district a letter last week, giving approval for the school board to consider Auton's request. Any attempt to change attendance lines must first win the approval of the OCR.

The OCR has monitored the school district annually since the district settled a complaint from the Cherokee County NAACP in 1998. The complaint claimed the student minority populations were not distributed equally within the district.

Auton said she wants the district to change attendance lines to help balance student populations in schools along the Highway 29 corridor.

The district built a 4-classroom addition at Northwest Elementary in 2003 to relieve overcrowding at the 470-student school. The district's limited enrollment policy produced a 50-student increase at B.D. Lee Elementary in 2005.