School building plan gets approval
Charleston County School Board unanimous on $369.2 million program

BY SEANNA ADCOX
Of The Post and Courier Staff
Published on August 23, 2005

Charleston County School Board members gave final approval Monday to a $369.2 million building program for 2005-09.

The unanimous decision followed a tongue-lashing from residents who were upset about the plan given initial approval last week. So many residents signed up to speak Monday that the board allowed them just one minute each. North Charleston resident Bill Jones called the time limit a "sad" testament to the board's lack of communication with the public.

 "You ought to be ashamed of yourselves," said the Rev. Michael Mack, one of a half dozen residents asking why the board left Johns Island out of the initial building plan. "I'm sick and tired of it."

Johns Island residents talked about the deplorable condition of Haut Gap Middle School, a school where students "studied with the rats and ate with the cockroaches," said the Rev. Eric Mack, a Johns Island constituent board member.

The district did not give the school its worst condition rating because student enrollment numbers have dropped, putting the building far below capacity. But the reason it's losing students is because of its poor physical condition and academic performance, said Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson. For that reason, the district recommended putting a new Haut Gap School back on the construction list.

A new school would bring the students back, said board member Hillery Douglas, a coach at Haut Gap in the 1960s, when the building was a high school. "We haven't done much with it since then," he said.

The revised construction plan also replaces rather than renovates E.B. Ellington Elementary School in Ravenel and expands Thomas C. Cario Middle School instead of replacing Laing Middle School in Mount Pleasant. The district doesn't own enough land to replace Laing, so it's postponing that project until a future building plan.

The money saved with that switch will fund a new Haut Gap and the extra cost of replacing E.B. Ellington.

Ravenel residents and Mayor Opal Baldwin said E.B. Ellington is not suitable for renovation. The school, located on a dead-end street, is heated by oil and is not on a public sewer system. Its rural students deserve a new school, they said.

"We have been waiting our turn," said Sammy Hiott, a member of the District 23 constituent board. "Where did our money go?"

He and his fellow constituent board members had voted unanimously to push for a new school wherever the district wants to build it. Some residents had fought for the district to rebuild the school on the current, isolated site to preserve the community, rather than move the school closer to the area's growth. But state regulations won't allow a new school on that site. Residents who spoke Monday said it was more important to get a new school than to keep the site.

The final tally of projects fell below the $380 million goal because the board took renovating Orange Grove Elementary School off the list. Parents and teachers protested the board's decision to renovate, rather than replace, the West Ashley school.

The district can't renovate the school for more than 600 students, yet the board approved earlier this month allowing the school to enroll up to 725 students when it converts to a charter next school year. Spending more than $15 million to renovate a school that would immediately need trailers makes no sense, parents said.

The school is rated in the worst condition of any school in West Ashley. Mold and mildew is a constant problem, and the teachers can't even open windows for fear it will put lead paint dust in the air.

"There is nothing worth renovating at Orange Grove," parent Jim Deavor said to loud applause. "Whenever you build too small, you pay for it a million times over."

But the district's revised construction list was already over the $380 million mark, which meant the board needed to trim not add. So board member Gregg Meyers proposed taking the project off the list, with plans to put a new Orange Grove back on the list this fall.

 That's possible because the district will finish paying off some old debt, which allows it to take on more and still stay within the maximum debt permitted by law.

Bill Lewis, the district's building program director, said the board could designate money to design a new Orange Grove now and approve the construction money later this year without slowing the project down.

So the board approved adding $1.5 million to the list to design Orange Grove.

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