Construction projects continue for Aiken County public schools

Jun. 26—The Aiken County Public School District has been busy lately with construction projects at multiple schools.

Dr. Corey Murphy, chief officer of operations and student services, said there are ongoing and upcoming projects at Midland Valley High School, Hammond Hills Elementary School, Belvedere Elementary School, Millbrook Elementary School, Highland Springs, North Augusta High School, Aiken High School, Ridge-Spring Monetta High School, Wagener-Salley High School and the Aiken Technology and Career Center.

New construction

Highland Springs Middle School and Highland Springs Elementary School are two new schools being built in North Augusta that will be able to hold 750 students each. These schools are needed due to growth in that area of the county thanks to the Fort Gordon Cyber Command Center, Murphy said.

"We have a lot more people in this area," Murphy said. "The concentration, the population growth, as you can look the construction is booming. You can go down any road and see trees being cleared (and) housing permits going up, so we expect a rapid influx of students on that side of the county."

Murphy said the total price for both schools is $75 million, with the middle school costing around $45 million and the elementary school around $25 to $30 million. The walls have started being built for the middle school and some of the footers have been put in.

Wagener-Salley High School is being rebuilt as a brand new school at a new location. Murphy said the school was originally built in 1939 and has had some work done over the years, but more work was needed.

"That school, it was deteriorating," Murphy said. "We looked at the cost of renovating the school ... as opposed to purchasing a new school and it was right there at that tipping point. We realized we were at the point where we could just as easily build another Wagener-Salley than continue to work on that other one. Also, it's cheaper to build on a new site than to tear down a cafeteria, build a cafeteria, tear down a classroom, build a classroom, it takes so much longer."

Another benefit of building a new school instead of remodeling the old one is that it was easier to get the work done. A remodel would have had to be done while students were there.

"We saw they were going to lose at least two seasons of football, and that town loves football," Murphy said. "I've got to put stuff places and that's going to be on these fields outback, I'm not going to put it across the street on land I don't own, so it just would've been at least a three-year process before we finished. With the escalation of construction costs, that would've made that project a whole lot more."

With the growth of the county and additions of new schools, the school district is looking at the redistricting that will be needed, Murphy said. The school district has hired MGT to come up with some scenarios, which will be sent out to the community for their input. He added that they try and start with the younger grades first when it comes to redistricting because it's easier on them. Also, school zoning affects where people purchase their houses.

Elementary schools

At Hammond Hill Elementary School, they are demolishing parts of the older building and then adding in the newer building, but they are building more than they are taking away, Murphy said. Besides adding new classrooms, the school is also getting two new playgrounds and a new car rider line.

"Their problem also was the car line was backing up all the way to Martintown (Road)," Murphy said. "The traffic was getting ridiculous, so now we have a stacking car line that we're excited about having."

With phase 1 done at HHE, phase 2 is getting ready to begin, which will involve the cafeteria and computer lab. Murphy said they are looking at being done with it around the fall of 2023 and/or beginning of 2024.

At Belvedere Elementary School, they received a two-story classroom, Murphy said. The school is also going to get its cafeteria done, but there is no definitive timeline for that. The school is also waiting on a playground.

Playgrounds are a common theme among several of the schools, with Millbrook Elementary School also waiting on its playground.

"We got it (the playground) in and we started to realize there were some rainwater issues," Murphy said. "We have this beautiful turf surface because Millbrook is an adaptive playground because they have several kids that are wheelchair bound. We realized it's not enough to put the turf there, you've also got to make sure the dirt on the outside...we had to go back and clean that up. It's a learning process, especially when you're doing something for the first time. But that site is looking a lot better."

High schools

North Augusta High School has several projects, including the refurbishment of the auditorium, moving the baseball and softball fields to campus, new concession stands and new visitor bathrooms at the football stadium, Murphy said.

"North Augusta's auditorium is being refurbished, so we're going to make that more accessible," Murphy said. "Also making it a wider stage and redoing some of the interior of the auditorium. Along with that is to bring the baseball and softball fields on campus. They've been using a community field for all these years, that should start 2024."

Aiken High School is getting a new auditorium built on the backside of the campus. Murphy said it will have 767 seats and will be able to be used by the schools in the area.

"It was needed. It was always in the plans, a performing arts venue," Murphy said. "It's on Aiken High's campus, but the entire cluster, the area can use the performing arts venue. All of our schools in this area will probably be renting it out and doing their big presentations, their plays, their concerts. It's going to be a very beautiful arena."

To build the auditorium at AHS, the bus depot and area 1 bus parking will have to be moved, Murphy said. That will be moved to Aiken Intermediate School and is a future project.

Aiken career center

The Aiken Career and Technology Center is looking to move to the Aiken Tech campus, Murphy said. This would allow for a partnership between the school district and Aiken Tech.

"We'll be able to share a lot of the facility with the college and that also starts with a vertical agreement to where they know where they are going next," Murphy said. "You already know the instructors in some situations, you know the campus, so it may encourage the kids to go to the next level of their education. We're excited about that because we want participation to go up. Those jobs pay good money now, instead of going to college and going to grad school, those kids, heating and air, mechanics, they're making excellent salaries ... we have to wait for the governor to sign the budget, so once he approves it and says that, then we can start looking at getting the architectural review done and moving forward with that. Since half of that money is coming from the state, then we have to wait until it gets approved."

Funding

The projects are funded through several different sources. The bond referendum funded MVHS, HHE, BES, MES and HSES. The penny sales tax funded work for LMMS, NAHS, AHS and RSMHS. The penny sales tax is also funding about half of the work for the career center, with the other half hopefully coming from the MOX settlement, Murphy said.

On Friday, June 10, the state budget conference committee reached a deal in regards of how to spend the MOX settlement. In the compromise, $30 million was allocated to the Aiken County Public School District for the construction of a new career and technical center on the Aiken Technical College campus.