The Sumter (S.C.) School Board has voted to close two low-enrollment schools and merge them into other larger schools in the same areas of the county.

The Sumter Item reports that Mayewood Middle School in the eastern portion of the county and F.J. DeLaine Elementary School in the Wedgefield area will close at the end of this school year.

The district administration's facility proposal calls for Mayewood to be absorbed into R.E. Davis Elementary School, about two miles away, which will be a K-8 magnet school. F.J. DeLaine will be absorbed by Cherryvale Elementary School, three miles away, and will be a combined K-5 elementary school. Cherryvale will have a science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) concentration.  

The administration revised its initial proposal, which also had called for closing Rafting Creek Elementary School in the Rembert area.

After an independent consultant’s study said major upgrades would be necessary to support more students at Hillcrest Middle School, the potential closure of Rafting Creek was taken off the table. Rafting Creek will remain open at least for next school year.