Fort Mill has three schools under an enrollment freeze, and a close eye on another
The Fort Mill School District still has enrollment freezes in place at three of its 20 schools. Another could join the list.
In February, the district announced it would freeze Gold Hill Elementary School, Gold Hill Middle School and Pleasant Knoll Middle School. An enrollment freeze means any new students who lives within the geographic boundaries of a frozen school and enrolls to attend, would instead be enrolled at another district school with more space. The district still provides transportation options.
Current enrollment estimates also put another school under consideration. Springfield Elementary School has 885 projected students, up 13 students from the end of last year. The district hasn’t announced a freeze at Springfield Elementary as of its board meeting Tuesday night.
“We are watching very carefully,” said Grey Young, assistant superintendent for student services. “Our classroom numbers — really kindergarten is the main one we’re looking at — it’s getting a little bit larger than we would like.”
Three Fort Mill schools are under a new enrollment freeze. Here’s what to know
Young told the board Tuesday night he hopes to wait until the start of school before looking at a possible freeze at Springfield Elementary.
For many families frozen out of other schools this past spring, the new school year will put them back where they would’ve gone without the freeze. Frozen schools lose population as students move to other areas or other schools. As they do, schools get more room for students who were frozen out of them.
“The good news is those who were frozen into a different school last year have had an opportunity to be reconsidered,” said board chair Kristy Spears.
Young said most students impacted in the spring now have an opportunity to attend the school they are zoned to attend.
“We’ve been able to bring back almost all of our students that have enrolled since that date where we froze those schools,” Young said.
How long will the Fort Mill School District enrollment freeze last? Here’s what to know
Yet, the freezes remain as those schools continue to tip their capacity points.
“Registration is still going on,” Young said. “We still have a lot of families coming in and some of them are being frozen to those other schools.”
Superintendent Chuck Epps said districts don’t get a true handle on enrollment figures until a few days into a new school year, and sometimes even until after Labor Day. Some students leave the district after enrolling at the end of last school year. Others move from areas where they don’t expect school to start back until after Labor Day.
Last year, Epps said, the district had about 500 more students the first day of school than the second, but then jumped up about 150 students from the second to third days.
“You just don’t know who’s going to show and who’s leaving,” Epps said.
District and state enrollment data don’t list official counts until the 45th day of school, the again at the 135th day and 180th or last day. The final day data is much firmer than school start projections. In May, the Fort Mill district ended the yea with 18,205 students.
Projections as of Aug. 4 list 18,241 students. The biggest gain comes at Catawba Ridge High School, up 143 students. That number is about four times the student increase for the entire district — 10 schools project more students, 10 project fewer — and more than twice the increase of any other school. Increase isn’t a surprise at Catawba Ridge where the school was built to serve coming capacity from new home subdivisions like Massey, Waterside and Elizabeth.
Fort Mill and Nation Ford high schools also are up more than 60 students each. Schools with the biggest enrollment drops in current projections are Fort Mill Elementary School (-82), Pleasant Knoll Elementary School (-53) and Sugar Creek Elementary School (-45).
Epps stresses those figures are estimates and can change considerably in the weeks leading up to and shortly after the Aug. 21 school start date.
