Mt. P. hears 3 options for new school
Town looks to handle growth in next decade
By Diette Courrégé
Updated 03:27 p.m., May 7, 2008
MOUNT PLEASANT — Future possibilities for East Cooper high school students include a second school, a center for ninth-graders or a "middle college."
Mount Pleasant school options
Mount Pleasant residents were asked to discuss and provide feedback on three school options:
OPTION A: A "middle college" on property adjacent to Wando High School. This option would involve construction of an additional 1,200-student building for those in 10th through 12th grades. Its program offerings could include a partnership with Trident Technical College or courses in areas such as nursing, engineering or culinary arts.
OPTION B: Ninth grade center on existing Wando High School campus. This option would involve building a center solely for 1,200 ninth grade students.
OPTION C: New school at the original Wando High School campus (Wando South). This option would involve building a 1,200-student comprehensive high school that would operate as an independent high school.
Those were the three options presented to roughly 200 residents Tuesday night during a meeting about how to handle the community's burgeoning student growth.
Demographic predictions show the area's high school population will grow by 1,000 students in less than 10 years, and the existing high school, Wando High, can't handle those students in its current space. Officials and residents are trying to decide the best way to serve the additional students.
The school district held a meeting in
April to discuss factors that should be considered in high school planning for Mount Pleasant, and a key stakeholder committee of parents, residents and teachers took the feedback and whittled down 28 ideas to three possibilities.
One of the ideas is to build a "middle college" on property adjacent to Wando High that would provide 10th- through 12th-graders options to earn dual credit courses or to pursue a certain career track in areas such as engineering or nursing. Another option was to build a ninth-grade center on the campus of Wando High solely for freshmen, and the final proposal was to build a second and separate high school to serve Mount Pleasant.
Specific details on the three options were few, and school officials said that's because it's early in the planning process and those decisions would be hashed out in later years.
A number of parents took issue with the scarcity of details, saying it was difficult to choose an option without knowing exactly what that choice would mean for their child.
For example, if the district decides to build a second high school, it's undecided as to whether students would be able to choose the school they attend or would be forced to attend a school based on their neighborhood. Not knowing the answer to that question made some, such as Katherine Howell, leery about that possibility.
Reader poll
Which school option is best for Mount Pleasant
- OPTION A: A "middle college" 23% 26 votes
- OPTION B: A ninth grade center 14% 16 votes
- OPTION C: New school on original Wando HS campus 61% 68 votes
110 total votes.
Howell has a kindergartner and third-grader at James B. Edwards Elementary School. Although she would live closer to the new high school, she said she would want her children to be able to take advantage of the opportunities that a big school such as Wando offers. She said she would rather drive farther for those options rather than be forced to send her children to a smaller school with more limited offerings.
Her preference was for the school district to build a middle college, in part because of the uncertainty surrounding the second high school but primarily because it could happen sooner. The earliest the new high school would open is August 2014, while the middle college or ninth grade center could open in August 2012.
Some parents were concerned about the potential rivalry that a second high school could create. Others said they liked the idea of a smaller school that would be closer to their homes, but they still would want the options available to a larger school.
In conversations with attendees, none of the options was an overwhelming favorite. A formal public vote was not taken, and information received from residents will be compiled, analyzed and presented back to the committee. That group will develop a report to give to the superintendent, and the school board ultimately will approve the plan.
Reach Diette Courrégé at dcourrege@postandcourier.com or 937-5546.
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RTC (anonymous) says...
They don't need to build anything else at the old Wando H.S.
The traffic congestion on Mathis Ferry and Whipple Rds. is already a nightmare.
A 9th and 10th grade would be okay in the existing building.
With the growth pattern it may be wise to build more up 17 north. The prediction is that the area of Hwy 17 and Hwy 41 will eventually be the hub. Hard to say.
May 7, 2008 at 9 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
proudmomma (anonymous) says...
I agree- what would happen to the schools that are currently using the old Wando campus?
May 7, 2008 at 9:02 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
RTC (anonymous) says...
proudmomma, those schools are having new schools built.
MPA and Moultris Middle are getting new schools on their original sites.
May 7, 2008 at 9:09 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MSC (anonymous) says...
No brainer-ninth (and tenth graders if necessary) at the former campus.
May 7, 2008 at 9:54 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
zoomru (anonymous) says...
If there is a future plan for mass transit somewhere in the BOWELS of City HALL, these schools need to be built within a few blocks of those proposed stations! Hopefully they are planning for ELEVTATED MASS TRANSIT in the next 10 YEARS. How much wider are we going to make 17 and 41 ...????
May 7, 2008 at 9:57 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
DCartisan (anonymous) says...
This argument came up while they were building the current WHS. They had the option to keep the old Wando open & have two schools. Everyone wanted their kids to go to the "new" school and now they are in this quagmire. The "new" Wando doesn't even have a football field. When they built that school they already knew that in a very short amount of time it would be severely overcrowded. Voila!
May 7, 2008 at 10:20 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Slick50 (anonymous) says...
"Specific details on the three options were few, and school officials said that's because it's early in the planning process and those decisions would be hashed out in later years."
Sounds like the school district is softening the blow for a future tax hike.
May 7, 2008 at 11:33 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
wjhamilton3 (anonymous) says...
I'm currently working on transit issues as a member of the CARTA Fixed Route Advisory Committee. We have a meeting tonight at 6 pm. CARTA ridership in the East Cooper area has been increasing steadily. Express Bus ridership is up over 100% in the last year and ridership on the #40 is up about 17%, which is remarkable when you understand that the Express Bus draws on a lot of the same people. It's a huge expansion in ridership in a single year.
Getting CARTA to the new Wando Campus is a challenge, but not impossible. The #40 and Express already go as far as Super Wal-Mart on North 17 where there is a park and ride lot. However, pushing those routes out further makes it impossible to complete the trip downtown in the hour. Some sort of shuttle using the Flex bus would be needed.
The ultimate problem is that bus transportation only works when enough people live within walkable distance of the bus line and there are sidewalks to get them to the stops. I ride the #40 to and from I'On and it's stop at the intersection of Johnnie Dodds Blvd. and Shelmore Blvd. several times a week. It's a great ride in, but the ride out requires crossing the highway on foot, which isn't for the faint of heart.
West Ashley High School has a CARTA stop which sees lots of business. North Charleston High School has lots of students using CARTA as well. Burke probably does too, but that impact would be hard to identify since its spread between several routes and stops.
If Mt. Pleasant wants to sustain improvement of it's transit system it needs to do several things:
Put high density residential development, employment, shopping and educational institutions near major transit corridors and concentrate them to the extent possible in appropriate parts of town.
Establish safe pedestrian and cycle connections to stops on those bus routes from the surrounding communities. Park and ride lots for smaller electric vehicles and standard vehicle will be needed in some areas.
Have comfortable, safe places to wait for the bus at the most actively used stops.
Once ridership increases, you can increase frequency which makes the sytem much more convenient to use.
If Mt. Pleasant keeps spreading out, it will end up with an older population that needs transit in 15 years and a landscape which makes transit service too expensive in most places. If you price a cab ride from Dunes West to Charleston, you'll be in for a shock. They also won't promise when they'll actually be out to pick you up except for Black Cab, which is very expensive.
Unless the price of transportation and the time it takes can be reduced, there is a limit to how much you can sprawl. Mt. Pleasant is out of money for road expansion and the property taxes collected on the new development aren't going to cover the cost of the roads it demands, even with the impact fees which have been assessed. Taxes are going to have to go up or municipal services are going to have to be cut.
May 7, 2008 at 12:37 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
boucka (anonymous) says...
I am a parent of elementary school aged children in Mt Pleasant, and I support a new, albeit smaller, high school built at the Old Wando campus. No 9th grade academy, pls.
New Wando was built for an enrollment of 2,500; the enrollment now is 3,026. Whatever shape the new, planned facility takes, its enrollment will be significantly less that Wando HS. That is, the two high schools are not going to be the same size, not going to have the same classes or facilities. And that's OK -- great, even -- by me.
McKibben Demographics, Inc., the demographer hired by CCSD to project enrollment in East Cooper, projects that in the 2016-17 school year (the last year for which projections were made), high school enrollment will be 4,004 students. Thus, numbers: 4,004 students planned - 2,500 current capacity = 1,504 needed capacity for new school/facility.
Compare: Wando HS enrollment, 2,500 : Planned/To Be Built High School enrollment, 1,500. There is no way that CCSD will build a new, second high school with an equal enrollment, equal-sized facilities, as the now-existing Wando High School.
Some, I understand, are worried that this in inequitable. Not me. I understand smaller enrollment, and I welcome smaller enrollment. Smaller is, all things considered, better, in my book and educational research proves it. If a student at the planned new high school wants a particular course offered only at New Wando HS, let's build in the opportunity for that student to take that course. We can build in a degree of flexibility, I hope. If a student at new HS wants to be part of the Jazz Band, and that's only offered at Wando HS, hopefully, we can make that happen. If a student is zoned smaller/planned HS, but wants big/existing Wando, we can allow that student to be at the big, existing HS. And, vice versa, we can allow students zoned for the big Wando to attend the smaller/planned facility. We are flexible now (we allow Laing zoned kids to go to Moultrie; allow Jennie Moore zoned kids to go to Mt P Academy), we can continue our flexibility.
Folks, write/email Nancy McGinley at CCSD to let her know of your desire to see a second, smaller high school at the old Wando campus.
May 7, 2008 at 2:22 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
justafan (anonymous) says...
This town as well as others in the area are messed up because everybody screams for improvements but nobody wants to pay for them. We all say we don't give a damn how you did it up north but look at the school systems. They are light years ahead of us. The teachers get paid a fair salary and have great benefits. The can actually live in the community in which they teach. What a concept.
But guess what, their school taxes are much more than what we pay around here. That is one of the big attractions to moving here. Lower taxes.
We all bitch about the schools, development, government but nobody wants to pay to fix it. We tell the people who actually know what it is like to live in a successful system to keep their opinions to themselves or move back up north.
We deserve what we get.
May 7, 2008 at 6:51 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mdtpace (anonymous) says...
Well said Mayor
May 7, 2008 at 9:23 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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