Changes in effect for Shell Point Elementary closing

By Tess Malijenovsky
Shell Point Elementary School will close next school year. Here are some of the following changes:
When Shell Point Elementary closes, most students will be reassigned to Broad River Elementary for the 2012-2013 year. Fifth-graders from Shell Point Elementary, Broad River Elementary and Shanklin Elementary will be reassigned to Robert Smalls Middle School.
Students of Mink Point neighborhoods will be reassigned as the following: Pre-K to 4th grade will be reassigned to Beaufort Elementary; 5th-8th grade will be reassigned to Robert Smalls Middle School; 9th-12th grade will be reassigned to Battery Creek High School.
Students from the Laurel Bay area will be reassigned to Whale Branch Elementary and Middle Schools. Students from the Rose Hill neighborhood will be reassigned from Okatie Elementary to Bluffton Elementary (effective 2013-2014).
Students from the Old Carolina neighborhood and who live off Buck Island Road south of Bluffton Parkway from Red Cedar Elementary will be reassigned to Bluffton Elementary (effective 2013-2014). Lastly, students from Bluffton Middle School and McCracken Middle School will go to traditional grade structure of independent middle schools (each housing grades 6-8, likely effective 2013-2014).