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Controversy over the school flared again last week at a Beaufort County school board meeting. Board member Joan Deery of Hilton Head Island moved to stop construction on the school after a consultant's report revealed declining enrollment in the northern part of the county. Her motion was tabled until the board's Feb. 3 meeting.
But a majority of the 11 board members opposes Deery's motion, despite predictions that the new school -- Whale Branch High School -- and neighboring Battery Creek High School would be less than half full by the 2013-14 school year.
Kelley Carey of Hilton Head's Associated Planning & Research, a nationally recognized school planning consultant firm, reported that the combined enrollment of the two schools by 2013 will be less than 1,000 students, though they'll have a capacity for more than twice that -- 2,155 students.
"In all my years, I've never seen such an overtly bad project go forward," Carey said. "And when the reason for it was lost, people are trying to invent one that doesn't exist and hasn't been documented."
Other arguments against the school:
• Even if enrollment in the area were increasing, Carey said, the new school is unnecessary because plenty of space is available at Battery Creek, which already is under capacity.
• Deery, who represents northern Hilton Head Island, said that spending $35 million for a school where enrollment will be anemic is unjustifiable, especially in a "dire" economy. She said she's even more concerned about the estimated $2.5 million it will cost annually to operate Whale Branch.
"We have so many other academic needs that are unfunded," she said.
• An array of individuals and groups have opposed Whale Branch since 2000, when voters were asked to approve it and several other school building projects. Gov. Mark Sanford has spoken out against it, as have members of the Beaufort County Council and past school board members. Plans for Whale Branch also have been entangled in zoning battles and a lawsuit.
A LONG HISTORY
Voters approved Whale Branch in a $120 million bond referendum in 2000. The project has been delayed by debates over where to build it -- and whether to build it at all. Since 2000, the number of students expected to attend the school has decreased from 1,000 to 650, while cost estimates to build it have risen from $28.7 million to $35 million. To cover the higher cost, the district asked for $4 million in a 2006 referendum, which voters approved.
Carey, who did research for the school district before the 2000 and 2006 referendums, said there never has been sufficient need to build the school and advised against including it in the 2000 referendum.
His latest research, released last week and based on 2008-09 enrollment data, shows declining attendance at several middle and elementary schools that feed students into Battery Creek. Whale Branch would open for the 2010-11 school year with about 450 students, most of whom are expected to come from Battery Creek's attendance zone.
LOYAL SUPPORTERS
Why is the school being built in the face of declining enrollment? Several school board members echo the answer given by board chairman Fred Washington Jr.
Having the new school will reduce the dropout rate in northern Beaufort County, Washington says. In addition, the school would become a cohesive force in the mostly black, generally poor community.
Washington and other board members who support Whale Branch say Carey's research doesn't tell the whole story:
"We have to look beyond numbers," Washington said. "We have to look at the history of failure in that area. We have to do something to correct that history of failure, and that's part of what drives me."
Pointing to Battery Creek's 66 percent graduation rate last year, supporters of the new high school say students get discouraged because they endure long bus trips to and from Battery Creek, which is 8 miles south of the new school. The bus trips -- 45 minutes or more for some students -- prevent them from participating in sports and other after-school activities, said board member Earl Campbell. Battery Creek's distance from their homes also makes it difficult for students' families to get involved with the school, Campbell said.
Washington and Campbell acknowledged having no hard data showing that shorter bus rides would reduce dropout rates. Washington, however, cited research on the state Education Oversight Committee's Web site that concludes strong community schools help students in poor, rural areas.
School board vice chairman Bob Arundell of Hilton Head, also a supporter of the new high school, said it would cost too much to hire a researcher to delve into the theory that students who live close to a school are less likely to drop out.
But he predicted taxpayers will save money in the long run if the new school really does reduce the dropout rate.
"How many of the dropout kids wind up incarcerated, in trouble with the law, on welfare or use Medicaid?" Arundell asked. "How many are putting burdens on the social service branches of government? ... My point is, if you add all those things up, all those costs that excessive dropout rates lead to, is (building Whale Branch) still a bad idea?"
TOO LATE TO STOP?
Other board members say the project has come too far to be scuttled.
"The best thing for us to do is to go ahead and follow through," board member Herbert Burnes of Beaufort said. "We've already done the ground-breaking, construction is under way and to stop in the middle right now would be awful."
About $2 million has been spent on Whale Branch since work began at the 72-acre site at the intersection of Martin Lane and Detour Road in Seabrook, said Chris Poe, the district's director of facilities. Workers are beginning to pour concrete floors and put up walls, he said.
If the district stopped construction, it could be sued for breaking its $27 million contract with Aiken-based construction company H.G. Reynolds, Poe added.
Board member George Wilson of Okatie said he opposed building the school when he joined the school board in 2007 but changed his mind when he realized that other board members' support for it was solid and genuine.
"Their (support) is purely emotional about what is best for those kids," Wilson said. "It's to get them a better education, to help them feel a part of the school they are in and help the dropout rate."
Wilson said he has focused on shrinking the size of the school rather than eliminating it. He said he's considering abstaining from the Feb. 3 vote because it's nearly certain that Deery's motion to halt construction will fail.
"I think this motion is useless, and all it does is bring up bad blood between various board members," Wilson said.
Carey warns that proceeding with the school could cost the district the confidence of voters, who might look askance at future projects if they think their tax money has been squandered. On top of the $35 million the school will cost to build, there's also the $2.5 million annual operating cost to consider, he said.
In his 35 years as a school planner, he said, he's never encountered a similar situation: Building a new school that would siphon off students from an existing school that has too few students.
"What sour peach is going to be in the mouth of voters after spending $35 million for a school that wasn't needed at all?," Carey asked.
