Limestone Co. parents concerned about school re-zoning

LIMESTONE COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) —The Limestone County School District may be adjusting “attendance lines”. On Monday evening, many families within the district received either a robo-phone call or an email informing them of the possibility of zoning changes.

One News 19 viewer sent us a copy of the email.

“Limestone County is one of the fastest growing counties in the State of Alabama. Due to current and anticipated growth at several schools, there is a need to change attendance lines. Your current location in the East Limestone school attendance area has been identified as an area that could potentially be moved to the Ardmore High School area. An informational meeting will be held on Monday, February 5 at 6 p.m. in the Ardmore High School cafeteria. We look forward to seeing you there!“

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This news came as a shock to many families in the school district.

“We were stunned, we had no idea this was coming,” said Rebekah Clemons, a mom of three. “This was thrown at us over a phone call,” she said.

Clemons has three children who attend Limestone County Schools. Her oldest daughter currently attends East Limestone High School.

However, after receiving the phone call from the school district, she’s concerned her daughter may be re-zoned to attend Ardmore High School.

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This would not be ideal for her family, as they live closer to East Limestone High School.

“You know, we’re two minutes away from the high school [East Limestone] and four minutes away from the elementary school and now we’re going to be bussed 30, 35 minutes away,” Clemons said.

It is about a 20-25 minute drive with no traffic for a regular vehicle between the two high schools. That doesn’t account for stops that a bus would be taking.

Clemons said they have stayed in the same part of Limestone County for more than a decade so all her children could attend East Limestone High School and the other schools they are currently zoned for.

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“We built our second home in the same school district for this reason,” Clemons said. Clemons also said she is concerned for dual-income households like hers, where both parents work.

She said her family relies on busses and childcare programs that won’t be able to provide their services if her children are moved to a different school.

Based on their address, the Clemons family may not be re-zoned to different schools, but based on the little communication they’ve received from the school district, they aren’t sure.

“We’re being told to attend these meetings, the meetings may or may not release what zone you are going to be in,” she said. “That’s a lot” she added.

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News 19 reached out to the Limestone County School District for more information regarding the re-zoning process and the upcoming meetings.

A spokesperson for Limestone County Schools said there will be five meetings over the next week to discuss various schools, however, they did not answer further questions regarding zoning.

The meetings will be:

• Thursday, Feb. 1 at Johnson Elementary for Creekside Primary and Creekside Elementary students who will potentially be moved to Johnson Elementary

• Monday, Feb. 5 at Ardmore High School for East Limestone students who will potentially be moved to Ardmore High School

• Tuesday, Feb. 6 at Elkmont High School for Johnson Elementary, Creekside Primary and Elementary students potentially moving to Elkmont Elementary, along with Ardmore and East Limestone High School students potentially moving to Elkmont High School

• Thursday, Feb. 8 at Clements High School for Tanner Elementary potentially moving to Blue Springs Elementary, along with Tanner High School Students potentially moving to Clements High School

• Monday, Feb. 12 at Tanner High School for Creekside Primary and Elementary students potentially moving to Tanner Elementary, along with East Limestone High School students potentially moving to Tanner High School

The spokesperson for Limestone County Schools said the change to “attendance lines” was “due to current and anticipated growth at several schools.”

Clemons told News 19 that she knows there has been growth in the area, but she isn’t sure re-zoning is the way to address it.
“We just feel like we’re being pushed out, you know?” she said. “It’s just not where we thought it was going to go.”

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Clemons said she hopes the meetings can inform parents of the proposed changes and that the school district listens to input from parents and students.

News 19 also spoke to the parent of an Ardmore High School student about the proposed zoning changes.

Hannah Riley, the mother of a 9th grader at Ardmore High School, said the school has been a “blessing for her family.”

“We pulled him from Giles County [Tennessee] on the first day of school and moved him to Ardmore, and it’s been one of the best things ever, so we really love the high school,” Riley said. “It’s been great” she added.

Riley said she believes Ardmore provides the same level, if not better, academics and extra-curriculars, as East Limestone High School. However, she understands parents’ frustration about the lack of communication and the surprise of re-zoning.

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Riley said she’s seen people talk about it all over social media.

“There were a lot of parents who were really upset about that,” she said. “There was one lady who commented on the Facebook thread saying, you know, that she lived like 3 minutes from the school [East Limestone High School] and now she’s got to drive like 20 minutes all the way to Ardmore, so I know a lot of people are really upset about it and understandably so.”

Other parents that News 19 spoke to off-camera expressed frustration about having to drive further away to attend the informational meeting.

One parent with a child who is zoned for East Limestone said they were frustrated they had to drive 20 minutes to Ardmore High School to learn more about whether their child would be re-zoned for that school. Similar to Clemons, that family only lives a few minutes away from East Limestone.

News 19 is working on getting more information on the proposed school re-zoning process. We will keep you updated.

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