Roanoke school officials have revised proposed attendance area maps after hearing from parents and teachers during a series of public meetings over the past few weeks.

School board members called the new maps a step in the right direction, although they are still refining the attendance areas for several schools, a process that will likely take several more days. The school district will hold a public hearing on the attendance area plans at 6:30 tonight at Lucy Addison Middle School. The board is set to vote on the matter April 7.

Some of the more significant changes concern Addison Middle, which was originally projected to gain almost 200 new students. Many of those 200 students would have come from William Ruffner Middle School, which will close next year.

Under the revised options, Addison would see only 100 new students. James Madison Middle School would pick up about 100 new students under one of the options, although not necessarily from Ruffner. Board members on Wednesday also suggested shifting the Addison and James Breckinridge middle school areas to increase diversity at Addison, where black students are expected to make up about 90 percent of the enrollment.

The board is also thinking about moving a neighborhood near Fairview Elementary School out of Addison's attendance area and into the Woodrow Wilson Middle School area.

The latest maps add hundreds of new students to Lincoln Terrace, Crystal Spring, Grandin Court and Roanoke Academy for Mathematics and Science elementary schools. At the same time, Wasena and Garden City elementary schools could lose students under the revised plans. Fishburn Park Elementary School's enrollment would drop by almost half under one of the options, although administrators said preschool programs could use the freed-up space.

Of particular concern to officials is Lincoln Terrace, which could find itself with 373 students, more than its capacity.

To counter these discrepancies in enrollment, board members spent hours looking for ways to ease pressure on Lincoln Terrace without increasing it at other schools. For instance, some students could be moved out of Lincoln Terrace into Roanoke Academy or Round Hill Intermediate School, even though Round Hill's special Montessori curriculum could complicate children's academic transition. Some students in the Crystal Spring attendance area under the new options could also be moved to Garden City, and some students from Roanoke Academy could be rezoned to Westside Elementary School.

Other suggestions would move students from Fishburn Park to Wasena and from Grandin Court and Hurt Park into Virginia Heights. All these changes will likely find their way into later drafts of the maps.

"The one we clearly have to do something with is Lincoln," said school board Chairman David Carson, as he and his colleagues squinted over maps trying to redraw the lines to balance lopsided enrollments with concerns over diversity in the schools.