Liberty County school board members approved, with one dissenting vote, new attendance zones for six elementary schools and two middle schools.

New housing developments and population shifts have increased enrollment at several schools, schools chief operations officer Arnold Jackson told board members, and the new attendance zones will redistribute students more evenly across the schools. With population shifts and some schools either at or near their capacity, school system officials came up with new attendance zones to go into effect next school year. The plan calls for 50 Joseph Martin Elementary students to be sent to Liberty Elementary and 80 others to be shifted to Button Gwinnett. Those students live off Leroy Coffer Highway and in Fraser Acres and Oak Crest subdivisions. Joseph Martin, with a capacity of 700 students, is over that allotment.

Taylors Creek Elementary will lose 62 students living off Kelly Drive and Belmore to Frank Long Elementary. Taylors Creek, built for 800 students, had 779 students last month.

Seventy-one students living along Veterans Parkway are shifting from Waldo Pafford to Frank Long, 48 students in Tranquil South will go from Snelson-Golden to Midway Middle and 25 students east of Freddie Walthour Road will go from Frank Long to Liberty Elementary.

The school system based its new zones on analysis from PowerSchool and information from the Liberty Consolidated Planning Commission. The LCPC, Jackson said, is projecting 400 new homes a year for the next 10 years, and 37 subdivisions or communities will be developed in the next two years.

“Liberty County is growing,” Jackson said. “There are new developments coming all around the county, especially on West 15th Street and on Airport Road and Tranquil South. It’s booming, all over the county.”

Dr. Marcus Scott, who cast the lone dissenting vote, said the system’s enrollment hasn’t increased since the last zoning change and argued that it’s even lower now than it was then.

“Are we planning on doing this again next year? We said we wouldn’t be in this position and we’re back here,” he said.

Jackson replied that there is no indication the school system will redraw zones again after the coming school year.

Superintendent Debra Frazier defended the rezoning and said the school board will look at its long-term needs for schools and school capacity.

“We are trying to prepare for next school year. We know what the enrollment is projected to be for next school year,” she said. “What we do know is we need to adjust so that our class sizes are not over for next school year. We don’t want to make a shift in the middle of the school year. Start now to notify parents and students.”

School board chair Verdell Jones pointed out the system’s enrollment hit 11,000 at one point last year and it is expected to surpass that in the coming years.

“The forecast is that growth is coming,” she said. “We cannot wait until it happens. We are seeing growth in the more congested areas.” School board members have been presented possible locations for a future school, and Jones said the board has to do a strategic plan, looking at all ends of the county in deciding if a new school should be built and where it might go. She also said Fort Stewart leadership has expressed an interest in being a part of any long-term strategic plans for the schools.