Richland 2 Charter High School to close at the end of the school year, district says

Richland 2 Charter High School will close effective June 30, officials said Tuesday.

Students of the charter high school who are not graduating in the spring will return to the high school for which they’re zoned, according to a Tuesday news release from the school district.

Last year, the charter high school had 81 enrolled students, according to S.C. Department of Education data. But by the 2020-2021 school year that number had decreased to 39, data show.

Closing the school was a “difficult but necessary” decision Richland 2 officials said was made “after a review of finances, which indicated it would not be able to provide services at the level to which students and staff were accustomed.”

The charter high school’s board of trustees — which is not the same as Richland 2’s school board — approved closing the school on Feb. 15, according to the release.

Richland 2 prides itself on its magnet and choice programs, and parents can plan on them remaining open said school district spokesperson Ishmael Tate.

There are “no other closures on the horizon,” saidTate.

Richland 2 will hold a live-streamed school board meeting Tuesday at 6 p.m. There is also a virtual parent meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday in which parents and staff can ask questions of officials, the news release said.

This story was originally published February 23, 2021 at 12:35 PM.