District 5: New High School Bid Approved

A bid for a new high school in Lexington-Richland 5 was approved Monday night amid questions and concerns of the school's student enrollment.

Four out of seven board members were in favor of approving Edcon, Inc.'s bid of  $32,595,000 for building the new high school that's set to open as a magnet school beside the district's Center for Advanced Technical Studies (CATE).

Those board members were board chairman Robert Gantt, Ellen Baumgardner, Ed White and Beth Hutchison-Watson.

Board members opposing the bid approval were Jim Turner, Kim Murphy and Jan Hammond.

While Hammond does support the new school, she said she still wanted to wait until March or April to review student enrollment data.

At the board’s Jan. 9 meeting, Hammond made a motion asking the board to postpone the vote until March or April in order to have accurate enrollment numbers at the CATE Center since the high school was dependent upon students choosing to attend.

"Those numbers and course selections can be used to assist the administration in promoting and successfully implementing the new magnet school," according to Hammond's Jan. 9 motion which failed to be approved. 

Hammond said during Monday's meeting that she was concerned and wanted to make clear that the Chapin High School, CATE Center, and Irmo and Dutch Fork high schools' projects wouldn't be shorted to help build the new high school.

District officials say the plans for Irmo and Dutch Fork high schools will cost more than what was set aside in the 2008 bond referendum.

Superintendent Dr. Stephen Hefner said any shortfall wouldn't come from the Chapin High or CATE Center projects and would propose, if needed, the money come from the new middle school project. 

The Chapin High renovation and expansion project is the top priority for the district, Hefner said. 

Hefner said he felt confident that the district would "generate the necessary students (for the new high school) voluntarily without any rezoning."

Turner and Murphy also agreed the board should wait to approve the bids until the board could review student enrollment figures for the new high school.

Turner, who supported the 2008 bond referendum, said he supported having more meetings to discuss the plans in more detail than the hour that has been set aside in the last five board meetings.

There's no doubt the magnet programs will be successful, however, what was being proposed seemed to lead to more questions than answers, he said.

Turner said he had several questions including what the scope of the curriculum was going to be and how much interest is there among the current student body to attend a magnet school.

Murphy said she wanted to see a master plan before approving a bid in order to know which students would attend the school and which attendance lines would be adjusted.

Murphy also asked how the new school would impact Irmo High's enrollment and Chapin's 600-seat auditorium.

According to Hefner's Vision 2015 plan, the district's current high schools would continue as traditional schools and offer one or more magnet programs as well as a wide range of electives.

The new high school, which will be located on Broad River and Mount Vernon Church roads, would have a focus on jobs and more options for flexible scheduling.

Those students attending the school would be requred to earn a certification in a career area as a standard for graduation.