School board must make best use of high schools

Beaufort County Board of Education member George Wilson was correct when he said rezoning the county's high schools -- which will number five by next fall -- is sure to be an emotional and contentious process.

Wilson also was correct when he said the board has little choice but to shift students to different schools to alleviate over-crowding at Beaufort and Bluffton high schools.

Attendance zones for all four existing high schools could change next fall to address that overcrowding and to accommodate the opening of Whale Branch High School in Seabrook, according to a series of proposals presented at a Dec. 1 board meeting.

The possibilities include some that have been resisted in the past -- shifting Beaufort High students in some portions of Port Royal to Battery Creek, for example.

Other proposals would push students across geographic (and psychological) borders -- for example, Battery Creek's attendance boundary could extend south of the Broad River to capture many of the students in the Okatie area currently zoned to attend Bluffton High, and Bluffton students in and near Colleton River Plantation could be shifted fromBluffton High on the mainland to attend Hilton Head Island High School.

It's easy to predict the ruffled students:

• Those who don't want to transfer to a high school perceived to be a rival.

• Those who don't want to make any change whatsoever for their senior year.

• Those who don't want to go to a school that doesn't "represent" their community.

• Those who don't want to move to a school perceived as academically suspect.

• Those who don't want a longer drive time from their home to school.

Understandably, few people want to disrupt their lives or their children's lives by leaving a school where they are comfortable.

By the same token, it makes little sense to draw attendance boundaries that produce empty classrooms in one school and brimming portable units in a neighboring one.

As such, these proposals deserve a fair appraisal.

The district should go into this process willing to make reasonable concessions -- for example, allowing rezoned seniors to stay put if they desire.

In return, parents and students should realize the district cannot make everyone happy, even if its decisions produce the most efficient and equitable use of available resources.

In other words, a little understanding -- not overwrought sentimentality -- is in order.