Robert Smalls International Academy is changing its name -- and getting a new building
Robert Smalls International Academy is getting a new name, along with a new building, in the fall of 2023.
The new campus for the K-8 school will be named the Robert Smalls Leadership Academy, the school board voted unanimously Tuesday night.
“As a School Improvement Council whose children attend Robert Smalls International Academy, we would like the board to consider changing the name of our school to reflect the leadership of our namesake,” wrote James Morrall, the chair of the council, in a letter to the school board.
“Currently, our school is named as an International school; however, our new focus is on leadership within the global perspective.”
Principal Bradley Tarrance said Tuesday that the new name was approved by the school improvement council and alumni association, and will match the school’s Leader in Me curriculum.
“We’re considering this now because we’ve broken ground on the new building,” Principal Bradley Tarrance said. “We’re in the process of buying items for the new school building, and we’d like to be able to purchase items to reflect the name change.”
The name will still honor Robert Smalls, a Beaufort native born into slavery who commandeered a Confederate battleship, the C.S.S. Planter, in 1861 and delivered it to the Union, earning his freedom in the process.
Smalls went on to become a media darling and Union soldier, helping to persuade President Abraham Lincoln to allow Black soldiers to serve in the Union Army and Navy.
After the war ended, he was elected to the South Carolina legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives, where he advocated for compulsory public education and civil rights for newly-freed slaves.
Beaufort County School District broke ground on the school’s new building on Dec. 7.
The new building, which has a budget of $62 million and was the largest project on 2019’s $345 million school bond referendum, is expected to open in August of 2023. New athletic facilities will open in 2024.
The old school building will eventually be demolished, and the new building will include expanded parking, outdoor learning spaces and several touches honoring Smalls, including a two-story mural in the lobby and a timeline of his life in the hallway.