Summerville, South Carolina – Dorchester District. Two leaders are altering their long-term facilities plan in response to delays in a large housing development that shifted the timeframe for a new primary school.
The district had intended to build a new primary school in the Yerby Tract development, but work has yet to begin. Superintendent Chad Daugherty stated that the land is still years away from being ready for a school.
“We don’t feel like we should be building a school in the Yerby right now because we would have all those houses that would not be built out,” says Daugherty. “We’d have to bus students in that don’t even live in that area.”
Instead, the district intends to use the referendum funds to increase capacity at schools that already serve increasing communities. The latest proposal includes classrooms at Knightsville and William Reeves Elementary Schools, which Daugherty claims will equal the size of a new elementary campus.
The plan for Knightsville Elementary includes a new classroom wing, a larger cafeteria and kitchen, and an improved traffic circle on Orangeburg Road. Daugherty stated that the project also resolves safety issues related to the future Orangeburg Road extension project, which would add five lanes of traffic directly in front of the school.
“We know that we need those classrooms,” Daugherty stated. “This project helps address safety concerns and the growth we are seeing right now.”
William Reeves Elementary will receive 12 to 15 new brick-and-mortar classrooms, as well as an expanded cafeteria and kitchen area. The goal is to eliminate the need for portable classrooms while providing permanent space on both campuses to handle enrollment expansion.
The district also intends to repurpose James H. Spann Elementary as a district education center. Daugherty stated that the building would house adult education, special education, child find, and the district’s parenting center. He stated that the James H. Spann Education Center will continue to be named in commemoration of the community’s history.
“We put our people first. “Our students come first,” Daugherty explained. “We want to make sure they are taken care of.”
Students now attending Spann will be relocated to Summerville Elementary and Eugene Sires Elementary starting next school year. Daugherty stated that the district has already met with Spann staff and has arranged meetings with parents for November to explain the changes.
District officials stated that the amended plan allowed them to remain within the five-year referendum financing window while addressing crowding and safety problems at current schools.
The Dorchester District Two Board of Trustees is slated to consider the Spann Elementary proposal in December.
