Community outcry saves neighborhood school in proposed LR5 bond referendum
A community push to save a local elementary school has changed district plans that would have seen the property sold and its students moved elsewhere.
Lexington-Richland 5 unveiled plans last week for how outdated facilities would be updated through a new bond issue. One component of those plans — dependent on whether voters approve a potential $150 million bond — would be to move students who attend Harbison West Elementary School on Crossbow Drive near Columbiana Drive to a new school at the current site of CrossRoads Intermediate School some two miles away, on St. Andrews Road near Irmo middle and high schools.
After the move, the current Harbison West campus would be sold for an estimated $3 million. The intermediate school would be replaced with sixth grade academies at Dutch Fork and Irmo middle schools.
But on Monday, Superintendent Akil Ross told the Lexington-Richland 5 school board that community members had pushed to preserve the school. That led the district administration to revise its plans to keep the campus open and connected to the local community.
“We wanted to go back to the drawing board and have another opportunity for the public to weigh in,” Ross told the board, noting he’d heard from several Harbison community members about the fate of their neighborhood school.
Under the new plan, many functions would still be transferred to the CrossRoads site, which Ross described as a more modern facility with space for science and art classes than would be possible at the older, smaller elementary school site. But Harbison West would live on as an early childhood education center.
In response to concerns about students who can currently walk to Harbison West, Ross said the early education center will double as a bus stop from which local schoolchildren can be transported to classes at CrossRoads.
The bond proposal would now include $200,000 for improvements to the Harbison West campus, but would see savings from dropping plans to set up an early education center at the CrossRoads site instead. The price tag for renovations at CrossRoads would drop from $3.5 million to $1.97 million.
Ross also proposed saving money by dropping $1.67 million in planned district-wide security improvements. Those projects will instead by funded through the district’s capital projects fund.
Ross said even this version of the potential project list is not yet final. He said the school district will hold another community forum to discuss referendum projects at noon on Tuesday. Residents can register for the online webinar on the district’s website.
The board took no action on the bond options on Monday, but tentatively scheduled a first vote on a referendum package for May 23. Ross has said major changes are in store for the Chapin-Irmo area district either way, as a growing student population puts a strain on existing school buildings.
If the district doesn’t address any of its facility needs, Ross projects Lexington-Richland 5 will have to rezone 13 elementary schools in the coming years to handle growing enrollment. If a bond of $340 million is approved, all of the issues could be addressed, but would require a property tax rate increase. A smaller $150 million bond would mean current property tax rates would stay at or below current levels. Voters would have to approve the bond issue in a November referendum either way.
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