New attendance lines proposed for Spartanburg School District 5

Update: The Spartanburg District 5 school board unanimously approved the new attendance zones.

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (WSPA) Two years of planning and a $295 million bond referendum later, Spartanburg School District 5 is unveiling new proposed attendance lines for the first time.

“Here in District 5 we’ve known a long time that our district is growing,” said Melissa Robinette, Spartanburg School District 5. “This growth has been coming for years and really has accelerated in the last 5-10 years.”

The bond referendum brought the addition of two new schools, and got rid of the intermediate school concept in the district.

“We’re going from six elementary schools to eight elementary schools and from two to four middle schools and so our district will look very different in the 2024-25 school year,” said Robinette. 

This brings the need for new attendance lines. Factors like enrollment capacity of current and future schools, as well as bus transportation and traffic patterns are what the district took into consideration when creating the new lines. But above all, the county’s growth is what dominated the conversation.

“They’ve been looking at all kinds of things that affect attendance lines and that includes where the traffic is, where the growth is, specifically where we know neighborhoods are going in and where current neighborhoods are expanding as well,” said Robinette.

Spartanburg County School District 5’s other six projects include adding additions to current schools, as some transition to middle schools. But, leaders say still, they’re continuing to look toward the future.

“Industry has not stopped moving to this area and with that industry comes more people, more families and more students in our schools so we will continue to update those studies and look at our demographics,” said Robinette.

The district is opening up a school choice option for the 2024-2025 school year for anyone that would like it, with applications opening in October. There will also be a grandfathering option as well for rising 5th graders and 8th graders who wish to finish their last year at their current school. 

Parents and students who are unsure of how this will affect them can click here, where they’ll find an option to type in their address in exchange for where they will fall under the new lines.