Harnett Dispatch

Harnett County Board of Education Evaluates Proposed Middle School Attendance Boundaries

At their March 11, 2014 work session, the Harnett County Board of Education formulated a plan to evaluate the proposed middle school assignment patterns that were presented by the School Assignment Planning committee on March 6, 2014. The Board of Education members established the following plan during their
work session:
With the exception of the sixth grade at Highland Middle School, any changes to middle school attendance areas will not be activated until the 2015-2016 School Year.

The Board of Education is dividing the middle school assignment planning into two components: (1) Highland Middle School in isolation, and (2) the remaining five middle school attendance areas.

Since Highland Middle School will open for sixth grade students in August, establishing an attendance area for Highland Middle School must be addressed immediately. Establishing this
attendance area will only impact Overhills Middle School and Western Harnett Middle School by decreasing the sixth grade student population count at each of the two schools.

The Board will plan to take action only on the Highland Middle School assignment plan at the April 7, 2014 Board of Education meeting. During the meeting, a public hearing regarding the
Highland Middle School proposed attendance area, as presented by the School Assignment Planning Committee, will be held.

The proposed Highland Middle School attendance area can be found on the Harnett County Schools website under the School Assignment Planning link (http://goo.gl/gO2YnY).
A copy of the proposed attendance area map for Highland Middle School is also posted at the Board of Education building, located at 1008 South 11th Street, Lillington.

The remaining middle school attendance area recommendations require further intensive evaluation.
The Board will continue its evaluation of the remaining proposed middle school assignment plan at the upcoming work sessions.