Photo by Cindy Kubovic/The Aiken Standard
GRANITEVILLE — Aiken County Public Schools started the new year Wednesday with 60 percent of building projects funded by the 1 percent county sales tax complete or nearly complete.
District Superintendent Dr. Sean Alford visited the new Leavelle McCampbell Middle in Graniteville, the first school finished with revenue from the tax, during his third-annual tour of schools and industry on the first day of classes.
“Isn’t this something?” asked Alford, watching students have lunch in the new school’s cafeteria. “You look at the kids, and you look at their faces. They’re in heaven. They’re having a great time, and that’s really what it’s all about: to encourage them to be the best they can be.”
Leavellle McCampbell Principal Michelle Padgett directed some of the school’s more than 500 students to the different lunch lines in the cafeteria, which is defined by tall, white columns that mirror architectural elements of the former school, built in 1921, on Canal Street.
“They’re learning the structure,” said Padgett, taking a quick break from directing traffic. “We have plans, but once we put those plans into action, we have to see how they work, and we’ll make adjustments. There are still students who get lost or turned around, and we’ll help them get where they need to go. This is a learning process for all of us.”
Padgett called the first morning in the brand new building “a very, very great day.”
“We’ve had a lot of anxiety, nervousness, excitement – every emotion you can think of in our kids today and in our teachers and staff,” she said.
Alford said he estimates that students and teachers will be in the new classroom wings at Aiken High and North Augusta High, also funded by the 1 percent sales tax, before Thanksgiving.
Once those phases are complete, construction will begin at Aiken and North Augusta on supplemental space, including classrooms for band and chorus, culinary arts, ROTC and career and technical education, Alford said.
Alford said the district would focus on the new high school planned for Ridge Spring-Monetta after Thanksgiving.
“We’ll bring a design for the new Ridge Spring-Monetta High School in early fall for the board’s approval and make sure we get that new school up and going,” he said.
Revenue from the 1 percent sales tax, which Aiken County voters approved in a referendum in November 2014, also will fund a new Ridge Spring-Monetta Elementary School on the same campus as the high and middle schools and renovations for the Aiken County Career and Technology Center on U.S. 1 in Graniteville.
Alford said he is pleased that three of the five building projects funded by the tax are complete or almost complete in just the first three years of the 10 years it will be in effect.
“Isn’t that something? To have three of the five projects either complete or substantially complete really puts us on the back side of the mountain,” Alford said. “We always have to be thoughtful to thank the community who extended to us their trust, so when the community drives by and they see this facility and they see what’s happening, we hope that they believe their trust has been ratified.”
As of Feb. 28, the district has collected $34.4 million in revenue from the sales tax.
Alford said he expects this year’s student population in Aiken County Public Schools to crest at 25,000.
“We’re projecting an incremental growth, and we anticipated that to be the case,” he said. “We’re going to meet as a senior staff in the next couple to days to make sure our resources are allocated well.”
Alford said he plans to continue his tradition of visiting schools and industries across the county on the first day. This year in addition to Leavelle McCampbell, he also stopped at Silver Bluff High, Belvedere Elementary, Byrd Elementary, Oakwood-Windsor Elementary, Ridge Spring-Monetta Middle/High and Hubbell Systems.
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