Sumter board debates sequencing of master plan and school realignment; superintendent recommends 2026–27 implementation

Sumter School District Board Chairman Sean Reagan and district leaders debated whether to proceed with student realignment immediately or wait for a formal master plan, after Superintendent William T. Wright Jr. presented a timeline recommending implementation in the 2026–27 school year.

The debate matters because realignment would redraw school attendance zones, affect transportation routing and staff assignments, and could interact with a future facilities bond and construction schedule. Wright told the board his staff and executive leadership team identified roughly 46 tasks that must be completed and that key data work in PowerSchool could take up to three months to verify. "It seems that proper implementation of realignment should be targeted for the 2627 school year," Wright said.

Wright outlined the sequence and timing the district would need: PowerSchool verification, an update of mapping and zone data by Cropper GIS Consulting (Cropper estimated about one month of work and an…