JOHNSTON COUNTY - School leaders have an idea what attendance boundaries could look like when two new high schools open next year.

Now they want to hear what the public has to say.

When Corinth-Holders and Cleveland high schools open next August with grades 9-10, hundreds of students will get shuffled around to ease overcrowding at other high schools.

Under the proposed plan, the reassignments would affect students at five of the county's six high schools -- Clayton, West Johnston, Smithfield-Selma, South Johnston and North Johnston.

Drawing boundary lines is a tough task, said Superintendent Ed Croom. To help with the upcoming changes, the school system hired a Raleigh firm, Operations Research/Education Laboratory. The company, known as OR/Ed, followed a land-use study of Johnston County when drawing the lines, Croom said.

The result is "the most fair boundary line as far as what a computer knows," he said.

Who would be affected

The proposal nearly halves the current geographic size of the Clayton High School boundaries. Students who live in the N.C. 42 area east of Castleberry Road would attend Corinth-Holders. Those who live in Archer Lodge would also go to the new school instead of Clayton High.

Students who live as far south as Buffalo Road at Live Oak Church Road would go to Corinth-Holders instead of Smithfield-Selma. Some other SSS students would go to Clayton and North Johnston. And some students who live in the northern peak of North Johnston's current zone would go to Corinth-Holders.

Cleveland High School would draw most of its students from the West Johnston attendance area. To help make up the difference, some students who would typically attend South Johnston would go to West.

And some students who live along stretches of Black Creek Road and Packing Plant Road would go to South instead of West.

Considerations

Croom said those who drew the lines considered several factors. One of the main goals, he said, is to make sure the new high schools don't get overcrowded too soon.

"The last thing we want to do is open them and have to add on to one of those schools," Croom said.

By 2013, when they would have grades 9-12, Cleveland and Corinth-Holders would be at 80 percent of capacity, which is the target, Croom said. Clayton and West Johnston would have room to spare too, with both schools less than 84 percent full.

Those four schools are in the parts of the county that are seeing the steadiest population growth, Croom said.

Under the plan, schools in areas with slower population growth would be closer to capacity. North Johnston and South Johnston would be about 95 percent full; SSS would be nearly 93 percent full.

Other considerations were transportation efficiency and natural boundaries, like the Neuse River and U.S. 70, Croom said. Those who drew the lines also tried not to split up students who live in the same subdivisions.

The school system also considered which elementary and middle schools students attend. But Croom said it would be impossible to ensure that students attend the same elementary, middle and high school in the same district.

"You just got too many students to do that," Croom said.

School leaders will hold a public forum from 6 till 9:15 p.m. Oct. 1 at the Clayton Center. They will hear feedback about Cleveland High from 6 till 7:30 and about Corinth-Holders High from 7:45 till 9:15. To view a map of the proposed boundaries, go to www.johnston.k12.nc.us.

"I'd like to take it to the people of Johnston County and help them shape their maps," school board chairman Larry Strickland said.