The Troup County School Board unanimously passed the elementary school attendance boundaries Thursday. The boundaries are changing because of the opening of Clearview Elementary School in August 2018 and the closure of Whitesville Road Elementary School. 

The zoning changes will move between 65 and 88 students from Callaway Elementary School to Clearview Elementary School; 73 to 95 students from Rosemont Elementary to CVES; and move 19 to 21 students from Ethel Kight and Whitesville Road to Berta Weathersbee Elementary School. 

BWES will open with 319 students for the 2018-2019 school year, and 100 Franklin Forest Elementary School students would move to BWES in the 2019-2020 school year. 

Superintendent Cole Pugh said that CES, FFES and RES are near or at student capacity already and that BWES is underutilized.  

The exact number of students moving to the schools depends on how many are grandfathered into the zoning change. The rezoning applies for one year to rising fifth graders or siblings of rising fifth graders. Parents can choose to grandfather their children in to a school.

At the public hearing on April 10, some parents showed concern over the rezoning. Some were worried about their children having to make new friends and readjusting 

Board member Kathy Hunt said at a work session Monday that her two daughters went through rezoning from Mountville Elementary School to Cannon Street Elementary, and they went through trepidation before making new friends. They were reunited with their Mountville friends the next year at Callaway Middle School.

“In my experience as a parent, our kids are resilient, and they know how to grow where they’re planted,” Hunt said Thursday. “With the right kind of support at home, they will do that.”

Hunt said that while having children who are rezoned is difficult, it happens all over the state every year.

“They have an opportunity to attend a wonderful new school, and, unfortunately, we’re faced with decisions, and sometimes old buildings,” Hunt said. 

“You can put band aids on them for a long time and, finally, you just have to say it makes better financial sense to build a new school instead of adding trailers and propping up things that need to be propped up. And when that happens, you just have to redistribute the population.”

Board chair Kirk Hancock said at the meeting Monday that Clearview is going to be the best school in the county. 

“Our pledge is to make sure Clearview is everything that you love about Rosemont and more,” Hancock said.