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Overall enrollment came in lower than expected, forcing the school to lay off three teacher's aides hired to accommodate additional students, say Riverview officials.
About 15 percent of the 249 students enrolled at Riverview are black, according to enrollment figures provided by the school district after the third week of class.
About 70 percent of those students are white.
The school's target was to have a student body of at least 13 percent black and no more than 64 percent white. Riverview meets the federal directive governing its percentage of black students, but its percentage of white students is still too high.
Riverview officials, however, say they are confident the school will meet its goals.
"I think that we're delighted by the current composition and are certainly optimistic about recruitment efforts this fall," said Alison Thomas, chairwoman of the Riverview board. "We look forward to opening in full compliance next fall."
An agreement in July between the federal Office for Civil Rights and the Beaufort County Board of Education required Riverview to recruit more black students and faculty or close next year.
Before the school's extra efforts to recruit black students, it had a projected student body that was 76 percent white and less than 10 percent black.
To try to meet the federal order, Riverview offered admission to the 50 or so minority students on its waiting list. School officials estimated that would have increased enrollment from 247 to nearly 280.
However, several students who planned to attend Riverview withdrew the week before classes started and others moved out of the county, Thomas said. About five students withdrew during the first week of classes.
Because Riverview is funded on a per-pupil basis, it could not afford to keep the additional assistants after the second week of school, Thomas said.
