The Dawson County school board took a final vote last week to redraw attendance zones, making way for the district’s fourth elementary school.

Riverview Elementary School, located in southern Dawson County, is scheduled to open this fall after district lines shift.

Superintendent Keith Porter said Robinson Elementary School will lose the highest number of students, as many as 150. The chief goal behind redistricting, Porter said, is relieving Robinson.

Robinson currently has 690 enrolled, a greater number than the other two elementary schools in the system.

Black’s Mill Elementary has 445 students, and Kilough has 476.

Officials sent a letter home to parents last month informing them of what school their child would attend. An accompanying survey asked parents if, given the option, they would take advantage of school choice.

Porter said there have been “a number of parents who have indicated they will request school choice, and we will be getting word out to them before school’s out about the window in which they can formally apply for school choice.”

Added Porter: “We have to be really careful that we don’t create a situation in which we’ll need to add teachers, but we’ll accommodate as many [parents seeking school choice] as we possibly can.”

An open house is planned, so that parents with children who will attend Riverview Elementary will be able to see the new facility firsthand.

A formal dedication ceremony for the new school is also in the works.

For more information, visit www.dawsoncountyschools.org.