Students to be transferred live in the area labeled Scenario 4.

• To view a map of the boundaries for Powhatan Elementary, click here.

Smithfield — The Johnston County Board of Education on Tuesday agreed to send 96 rising freshmen and sophomores from West Johnston High School to South Johnston High School. The board also approved boundaries for the new Powhatan Elementary School.

The first decision will ease crowding at West Johnston while a Cleveland-area high school is under construction. West Johnston's ninth-graders who went to Benson and Four Oaks middle schools will go to South Johnston next year. So will eighth-graders now at those schools.

West Johnston was built for 1,600 students, but principal Brookie Honeycutt said she would likely have about 2,500 students when school starts in August. South Johnston is about 125 students under its capacity.

Board members Larry Strickland and Donna White voted against the plan. Board member Jack O'Hale was absent from the meeting.

“I don’t think this reassignment comes anywhere close to the prospect of our mission to have community schools,” Strickland said.

Strickland said it wasn’t fair to force the children of Johnston taxpayers to switch schools against their will, while students who live in Harnett and Wake counties are allowed to stay at West.

White suggested asking West Johnston students if any would prefer South Johnston and go voluntarily. She also proposed letting West Johnston tough it out with more mobile units. White said the board did that with East Clayton a few years ago, and parents responded by supporting the boundaries for Powhatan Elementary, which opens in August.

School facilities chief Ann Williams said she could add mobile classrooms, but the common areas, such as bathrooms, the cafeteria and the gym, couldn’t take it.

“The most difficult school you can administrate is one that’s got 15, 20, 25 mobile units,” said board member and former Principal Fred Bartholomew. “It is our job to build schools and manage students as best we can. People have voted to support building to manage growth. I know it’s a tough and emotional decision on parents. We’ve got a mother here worried about her son quitting school. I’ve been through that, I know, but we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do.”

Three parents made emotional pleas before the vote to let their children go to West Johnston as they wished. Cheryl Mencome said her daughter, a freshman, would be leaving her friends and classes she can’t get at South Johnston. Another mother, Deborah Morton, said her daughter is looking forward to math classes and others unavailable at South Johnston that would prepare her for a photojournalism career.

The Watkins are one of West Johnston's band families, and mom Pam said her son could lose interest in school altogether if he can’t be a part of the band there. Watkins said her family has invested much of its time and money at West Johnston, and it’s closer to home, too.

The board also set boundaries for Powhatan Elementary Tuesday evening.

When that school opens in August, 500 students from East Clayton Elementary School, 70 to 75 kids from West Smithfield Elementary School, 70 students from Wilson’s Mills Elementary School and 50 kids from River Dell Elementary will go to the new school.