The Richmond County Board of Education held a full-day work session Wednesday at the RCBOE office downtown. The board spent several hours reviewing boardroom design updates and long-range plans for school facilities across the district.
The early part of the work session focused on proposed updates to the RCBOE boardroom. Board members discussed that crowding and limited seating have become persistent problems during high-attendance meetings.
The district’s facilities team walked the board members through a redesigned layout aimed at opening additional space and improving sight lines to monitors.
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Board members also noted that large student-recognition nights often leave visitors standing along the walls. This prompted a discussion about adding flexible seating options which included the idea of adding folding chairs if extra seating was necessary.
Aging schools pose major safety concerns
Beyond the boardroom redesign, one of the bigger portions of Wednesday’s work session focused on Richmond County’s long-range school facilities plan. District leaders and consultants outlined the growing challenges posed by aging buildings, shifting enrollment patterns, and the rising costs of maintaining more than 50 school facilities.
Board members reviewed data showing that many campuses are decades old and approaching the end of their usable life, making renovations increasingly expensive and, in some cases, impractical.
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With the data presented and safety concerns rising because of the aging buildings, the possibility of closing down or replacing some schools became a hot topic for the board.
President Shawnda Stovall said the board must be willing to make difficult decisions when the data warrants it.
“If the right thing to do is to close the school for financial reasons, program reasons, safety reasons, then that’s the right thing to do,” she told members.
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She highlighted the deteriorating state of several buildings, underscoring that student safety cannot be compromised.
“We’ve got schools that are 60-something years old… roofs falling in, the ground is not level.” Stovall said. “The last thing we need to happen is something falling on one of our kids.”
The board also discussed the capacity and utilization of schools in the area as concerns raise that some schools are not being utilized enough while others are. A chart showing utilization and school capacity can be found below.
