11 Beaufort Co. schools to close this summer for first wave of referendum projects
Beaufort County School District’s Board of Education has announced the first wave of schools to receive the district-wide upgrades promised in November’s referendum, approving architects to plan upgrades to safety and security, technology, playgrounds and athletic facilities across the county at Tuesday’s meeting.
Eleven district schools will be closed over the summer as they get these upgrades, which accounted for approximately a third of the referendum’s $345 million price tag.
The board voted 7-0-2, with William Smith and Rachel Wisnefski abstaining, to enter contract negotiations with four architectural firms for the upgrades: McMillan, Pazdan Smith of Greenville, LS3P Associates Ltd. of Charleston, Jumper Carter Sease of West Columbia and Rosenblum Coe Architects, Inc. of Charleston. JoAnn Orischak and David Striebinger were absent.
Nine schools will receive safety, security and technology upgrades in summer 2020. They are:
Beaufort Elementary
Bluffton Elementary
Hilton Head Island Elementary
Whale Branch Elementary
H.E. McCracken Middle
Lady’s Island Middle
Whale Branch Middle
Right Choices
Beaufort High
Whale Branch Early College High School will get upgraded athletic facilities this summer, and St. Helena Early Childhood Center will get an improved playground.
According to a district press release, “most summer referendum projects will occur at schools already scheduled to be closed for other large projects.” The architectural firms will be assigned specific projects after contract negotiations are complete.
“The summer projects and accompanying school closures will be spread across the district, and across grade levels, to allow summer school programs to be operated in all areas of the county,” district spokesman Jim Foster said in a Wednesday press release.
The first projects of the referendum are already under way at River Ridge Academy and May River High School, which are slated to receive 12 and 23 new classrooms, respectively. The board approved Columbia’s M.B. Kahn Construction to build at both schools for $20.9 million, about $5 million lower than the estimated cost that voters saw on their Nov. 5 ballot.
District chief operations officer Robert Oetting said construction, which began in December, will be “substantially completed,” meaning the state will permit students to use the classrooms, at River Ridge by Sept. 1 and at May River by Jan. 1, 2021.