The Fayette County School System took another step this weekend towards relieving overcrowding at some of the more popular schools in the county. But doing so may put a crimp in the plans of many dozens of school system employees who live outside Fayette County but who have the job benefit of sending their children to Fayette schools.

School spokesperson Melinda Berry-Dreisbach confirmed Tuesday the school system sent out 260 letters to employee-parents of fifth and eighth-graders this weekend warning that special permission to attend out of district schools would be curtailed.

In the letter which went to many employees of the Fayette County School system, Assistant Superintendent Sam Sweat said the “Operations Department will not grant special permission when a student changes educational levels.”

“The student will need to go to the middle school or high school in his or her attendance area. This decision is based on the number of schools we have in Fayette County (28) as well as the number of students we serve (22,500),” Sweat added.

Berry-Dreisbach said it is state law that students can attend school where a parent, who is a full-time employee, works. The significant change is that parents who worked for the system were able to cherry-pick the school for their students, which will now be coming to an end.

“Let’s say you have someone who works at Peeples Elementary. The student can still attend Peeples. But when the student is ready for middle school, the parent may want to have the student attend Rising Starr Middle School. If the school is already overcrowded and the person doesn’t live in that district, they would have to pick another school,” said Berry-Dreisbach.

She added the letter and its results should bring relief to overcrowded schools, such as Peeples, Whitewater High School and Burch Elementary.