rss
mobile
Board considers shifting some high school students to other schools
Feeds
In other action:
The Beaufort County Board of Education on Tuesday:
• Gave final approval to an "early college" magnet program for Whale Branch High School. Initial approval was given in September for a model that will compress the time it takes students to earn a high school diploma and complete the first two years of college.
• Voted to opt out of a proposed tax increment financing district to fund improvements in Beaufort's Boundary Street area. The city of Beaufort is exploring the creation of a TIF district, which would require local governments to forgo some property tax revenue to encourage redevelopment.
• Hired Jesse Washington III, now the principal of an elementary school in Columbia, as the district's director of public information. Washington has taught at the college and elementary school levels and worked in banking.
• Hired Charles Johnson, now an assistant principal at Robert Smalls Middle School, to be the first principal of Pritchardville Elementary School, opening in the Bluffton area this fall.
• Approved The Arts Center at Beaufort High School as the name for the 650-seatauditorium. The $9.8 million facility is scheduled to be finished this month.
• Approved an intent to award a contract for student transportation to Durham School Services. The contract, which is still being negotiated, would allow up to five one-year renewals, beginning July 1. After its current bus contractor raised prices by about 18 percent this year, the district investigated whether it would save money by managing student transportation on its own. Staff determined bringing services in-house would not save a significant amount of money.
Attendance zones for all four Beaufort County high schools could change next fall to accommodate a new school opening in Seabrook and alleviate overcrowding, according to a series of proposals presented at Tuesday's Board of Education meeting.
Both Battery Creek and Hilton Head Island high schools are under capacity, while Bluffton and Beaufort high schools are overcrowded and use mobile classrooms.
Bluffton High School has a capacity of 1,434 and serves 1,528 students.
Beaufort High School has a capacity of 1,595 and serves 1,730 students.
The board directed district staff in October to balance enrollment among the district's high schools and explore options that might change traditional barriers. Staff presented several options Tuesday, which include a combination of the following:
• Extending the Battery Creek attendance zone south of the Broad River to the intersection of S.C. 170 and S.C. 462 near the Beaufort-Jasper Academy for Career Excellence. Students living in the area who now attend Bluffton High would move to Battery Creek.
• Assigning students in some Bluffton neighborhoods to Hilton Head High from Bluffton High. Those neighborhoods include the Colleton River Plantation, Sawmill Creek Road and Malphrus Road areas.
• Assigning students living on the Laurel Bay military base and surrounding neighborhoods who now attend Battery Creek to the new Whale Branch Early College High School. Neighborhoods would include Irongate, Pinewood, Capehart and Ramblin Acres.
• Assigning the entire Beaufort Elementary attendance area to Battery Creek. Some of the Beaufort Elementary attendance area now is zoned for Beaufort High. The rest of the students already attend Battery Creek.
• Assigning students in the Port Royal Elementary attendance area from Beaufort High to Battery Creek.
Superintendent Valerie Truesdale said public information sessions would be held on the proposals early next year before the board votes to adopt any of the changes.
Board member George Wilson said although he realizes changing attendance boundaries is an emotional issue, the board has no choice but to rezone some students.
"We can't leave the situation the way it is because Bluffton High School and Beaufort High School are bursting at the seams," Wilson said.
@Nyx.CommentBody@