Lexington students could be switched to new school if this plan is approved. What to know
Next year, some students in Lexington 1 might be shifted to a new school as the district prepares to open a new middle school.
The Lexington 1 school board on Monday considered the zoning lines for the new Lakeside Middle School, slated to open next year on Old Cherokee Road as a replacement for the current Lexington Middle School.
Zoning lines are usually adjusted at the end of the school year, but Lexington 1 officials said they wanted to get an early idea of what their staffing needs will be, especially as the state deals with a shortage of teachers.
The new lines will largely follow those for the existing Lexington Middle School on North Lake Drive. Attendance lines for Beechwood Middle School and Pleasant Hill Middle School won’t be affected for next year.
Instead, the lines will shift to the northeast, so that children in some Lake Murray-adjacent neighborhoods could end up moving to Lakeside from Meadow Glen Middle School.
“We wanted to balance between Lakeside and Meadow Glen,” said Jeff Salters, Lexington 1’s chief operations officer. The Lakeside/Lexington attendance zone’s western boundary at Old Chapin Road “will not change.”
The new line north of Sunset Boulevard passes through the Fourteen Mile Creek area south of Hope Ferry Road, then moves north of the creek behind Pope’s Lane and continues along Mill Stream Road and Lee Kleckley Road up to the Saluda River.
Parents can see where the new school lines fall around them on the district’s web site.
While balancing out the two middle schools, the new line tries to avoid splitting neighborhoods and provide for efficient bus service through the area.
Once it’s operational, Lakeside Middle will take students moving up from Lexington Elementary, New Providence and Midway Elementary — each of which will also feed into other middle schools depending on where the student lives. Other Midway students will continue to graduate to Meadow Glen. Students from both middle schools will move on to River Bluff High School.
If the change affects a current seventh-grader at Meadow Glen, that student can opt to continue to attend Meadow Glen for eighth grade, but their parents will be responsible for transporting the student to school because of the change in bus routes, Salters said.
The district’s Chinese immersion program will continue to be offered at Meadow Glen, but French immersion will move to Lakeside. The district is still considering options for rising eighth-graders immersed in French who may not change schools.
This story was originally published December 16, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
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