Hearings to discuss rezoning of schools

Parents wishing to take a closer look at a planned rezoning for some area elementary schools will get that chance Tuesday and Thursday.

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Two public hearings are scheduled for this week to look at a rezoning effort under consideration by the Columbia County school board that affects a new elementary school on Baker Place Road as well as Cedar Ridge, Lewiston and Euchee Creek elementary schools.

The first meeting takes place at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Cedar Ridge Elementary in Grovetown. The second will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday at Lewiston Elementary on Hereford Farm Road.

The initial rezoning plans calls for moving about 430 pupils to the new school behind Grovetown High from the current Lewiston Elementary zone. The zoning also shifts about 390 pupils out of Cedar Ridge Elementary, with most going to the new school and some attending Euchee Creek Elementary.

Though Euchee Creek Elementary will lose 66 pupils to the new school, it will gain 130 from Cedar Ridge.

At the meetings, forms will be passed out for those wishing to comment on the rezoning plan. Comments on the plan also can be e-mailed to zoning@ccboe.net.

The new school's proposed zone will cover pupils living south of Columbia Road from Euchee Creek to High Meadows Drive and some living south of Euchee Creek to William Few Parkway. That area includes the Ivy Falls, Misty Woods and High Meadows neighborhoods.

Also attending the new school might be pupils living north of Wrightsboro Road from Baker Place Road to William Few Parkway and east on William Few Parkway to Chamblin Road at Interstate 20. In addition, the school might take pupils living north of Wrightsboro Road from Euchee Creek to Harlem-Grovetown Road and I-20 at Horizon South Parkway.

School board members intend to approve a rezoning plan by Dec. 14, according to a timeline provided by the school system's central office.

Information, including maps, on the rezoning is available online at www.ccboe.net.