At a recent Lunch and Learn hosted by Lexington-Richland School District Five, attendees received updates on rezoning plans and bond referendum projects. 

The district’s rezoning and redistricting changes will take effect July 1, 2026.

The Academy for Success will relocate to the current Dutch Fork Elementary School. This will be renovated into the RichLex Education Center, adding additional capacity for students to attend Spring Hill High.

Chapin Elementary, Piney Wood Elementary and Lake Murray Elementary will become kindergarten through fifth-grade schools. Chapin Middle School will be redistricted as Spring Hill Middle, serving students in grades six through eight from Lake Murray and Ballentine Elementary. Students will be zoned for Chapin High.

Chapin Intermediate will be renamed Chapin Middle and will serve students from Chapin Elementary and Piney Woods Elementary. Students will attend Chapin High School. A new elementary school will be built to replace the current Dutch Fork Elementary, which will relocate. Students from H.E. Corley Elementary will attend Crossroads Intermediate, and depending on their address, will attend either Irmo High or Dutch Fork High.

With rezoning comes new start times. Elementary schools will operate from 7:30 a.m. to 2:20 p.m., middle schools from 8 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., and high schools from 8:20 a.m. to 3:40 p.m.

Parents and guardians can use the district’s online zoning tool, located on the district's website, to see which schools their child will attend once rezoning goes into effect, as well as their current assignment. 

“I think that’s a huge benefit for us to have an idea as to what’s current and what’s forthcoming in terms of zoning, and in terms of school attendance,” Chief of Students and Planning Michael Harris said. 

Some students, however, have the chance to stay at a specific school. 

Preferred choice is defined as the “process by which a student(s) is eligible to attend a current and existing school through the highest grade level, in lieu of placement into a different school due to a large-scale zoning and/or redistricting initiatives.” 

Preferred pathways “refers to a series of short and long-term educational experiences in a respective school or attendance area that a student/family selects in response to large-scale zoning and/or redistricting initiatives.”

Both options depend on space availability, and parents or guardians must provide transportation. Applications are required, and the application window will open Nov. 20 and close Jan. 28.

The district has secured a new site for Dutch Fork Elementary, Superintendent Akil E. Ross said, adding they hope to have a bid out by December. The location is central to where most Dutch Fork Elementary students live, Ross said.

Orientations will be held in May 2026. 

If funds remain after the completion of all other projects in the bond referendum, covered practice pavilions will be implemented and will give student athletes and band students a place to practice outside that is covered and protected from heat. 

These pavilions would be located at Chapin High, Dutch Fork High and Irmo High.