STEELE CREEK NEWS

Attendance Boundary Adopted for New Middle School

(December 15, 2002) At its December 10, 2002 meeting, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Board adopted home-school boundaries for three new schools that are scheduled to open in August 2003. One of these is the new, informally named Southwest Middle School located on Steele Creek Road (Hwy 160) just north of S. Tryon Street/York Road (Hwy 49).

Click on map for larger image.

The new boundary splits the current Kennedy Middle School attendance area in two. The new middle school attendance area will include all of the current Lake Wylie and Nations Ford Elementary School attendance areas plus that portion of the Steele Creek Elementary School attendance area east of S. Tryon Street and south of Arrowood Road. The remainder of the Steele Creek Elementary School attendance area will comprise the Kennedy Middle School attendance area. Students in the Nations Ford Elementary School attendance area will have to travel farther to the new middle school than they would to Kennedy Middle School, but including them in the new school's attendance area contributes to the diversity of the new school's student population.

Below is the projected enrollment of the two middle schools within elementary school areas:

The new school is projected to be at 55% capacity when it opens. It should have about 650 students in a building able to hold 1,200 students. Its attendance area includes the new Palisades development, which is expected to add many students to the school's enrollment in the coming years.

Kennedy Middle School has a projected enrollment of just under 500 students, which would be 60% of its 792 capacity. The boundary between the Kennedy Middle School and Wilson Middle School attendance areas splits the planned new Berewyck development west of Steele Creek Road along Dixie River Road. That boundary must be adjusted once new houses are built and occupied, and the Berewyck development may contribute to the Kennedy Middle School enrollment.

All middle school students within the two schools' attendance zones are guaranteed seats in those schools. However, they may request assignment to other schools through the student choice plan, and students from outside the area can request to attend these schools.

The principal for the new middle school should be named in early 2003. The School Board will select a permanent school name before school starts next August.