CHELSEA- Shelby County Schools recently announced that Chelsea Park and Forest Oaks Elementary Schools will be rezoned for the 2017-2018 academic year. Students from kindergarten through the fifth grade who live in certain areas of the U.S. 11 corridor and a small area on Shelby County 47 will start at FOES this fall.

“We’ve been seeing that Chelsea Park is growing at a much faster rate,” Shelby County Schools Deputy Superintendent Tom Ferguson said. “All of the Chelsea school zones are quickly growing.”

According to Ferguson, CPES is overcrowded to the point where it currently has three outdoor classrooms and is scheduled to receive more, while FOES still has classrooms to spare.

Ferguson said the rezoning could also be more convenient to the families of about 80 students who will be affected.

“They might actually be closer to Forest Oaks than they were to Chelsea Park,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson said rezoning the two schools is the best way to account for the rapid growth the city’s schools are experiencing, and said he believes the change will yield positive results.

“We felt like these two areas more than likely should have been zoned for Forest Oaks when it was first built,” Ferguson said.

For more information about the school board’s rezoning plans, visit Shelbyed.k12.al.us or send an email to bcopes@shelbyed.org.