Lake Carolina Elementary School to exclude Centennial neighborhoods in 2010

October 15, 11:10 PMColumbia New Moms ExaminerVivien Stembridge

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In a meeting Tuesday the Richland Two School District's Board of Trustees approved the new elementary school attendance area changes for the 2010/2011 school year. Amongst the changes is the rezoning for Lake Carolina Elementary that will exclude students from the Centennial neighborhoods. The Board of Trustee's decision was unanimous, despite parents' protests.

The necessity for new attendance lines stems from the rising number of students within the Richland Two School District. Lake Carolina Elementary currently has over 200 attending students more than it is set up for.

Elementary school students from Lake Carolina's Centennial neighborhoods will be assigned to Bridge Creek Elementary School in the coming school year. The reason Centennial was picked over other Lake Carolina neighborhoods is due to its geographic proximity to Bridge Creek, which is located on Bombing Range Road in Elgin, SC (an address that does not exactly sound inviting)

Many Centennial residents are upset over the Richland Two District's decision. Most are parents of current LCE students who do not wish for their children to have to change schools. However, the decision does not just affect current students and their parents. There is a large number of residents who chose to live in Lake Carolina because of the excellent reputation of award winning LCE. They are upset over being excluded despite paying the same high Homeowner's Association fees as the rest of Lake Carolina and also fear a loss in the value of their properties.

Richland Two officials are trying to assure parents that Bridge Creek Elementary is a great school, also pointing out that current LCE assistant principal Arthur Newton will be Bridge Creek's new principal in 2010. Furthermore, they state in their website's FAQs that "It was never intended that Lake Carolina Elementary school would always serve all of the residents of Lake Carolina development." Yet, for prospective buyers, Lake Carolina's website can be misleading, listing LCE as the elementary school that is "On site within the community..."