Aiken County parents upset at rumored school closings
AIKEN, S.C. (WJBF)- Tuesday, the Aiken County Public School District is hosting the 3rd of 4 public input meetings regarding the renewal of a penny sales tax. The funds from the tax goes towards improvements to schools in the district.
Parents will have a chance to tell district leaders what they DO and DO NOT want to see happen regarding improvements to the schools. But there could also be a little controversy at the meeting.
There is some chatter on social media about an alleged proposal to close and consolidate three elementary schools.
Many believe that the district wants to use funding from the penny sales tax to close Gloverville, Jefferson and Clearwater Elementary Schools and build one new one in its place. Some parents say they’re concerned about the proposed location, near Midland Valley High School, and the traffic and safety issues that could come with it.
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Parent, Kristen Hill is a former teacher and she said she isn’t a fan of having an elementary school with potentially more than a thousand students attending.
“If they consider putting all of these kids into one school…because if you look at the population right now, if this happens, you’re looking at just under 1,600 children. That’s a lot of kids to put into one elementary school. And my concern is right now, the student to teacher ratio ranges anywhere from 12 to 1 to 14 to 1 in these schools. So I’m concerned about what’s going to happen to class sizes,” she explained.
Aiken County Superintendent King Laurence explained there has been some talk but nothing official has been proposed.
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“There are lots of conversations that are happening. There are conversations about do we have too many schools? Should we combine some schools? Those conversations have been happening as long as I’ve been in Aiken County, which is which is 26 years,” Laurence said. “But the board hadn’t gotten that far yet. So that’s something that that will be part of the conversation. We’ll certainly listen to what those communities have to say and all of that will be taken into account.”
Tuesday’s public input meeting will be held at Langley Bath Clearwater Middle School starting at 6 p.m. There will be one more on Thursday at South Aiken High School- also at 6 p.m.
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