PCSD approves Fox Creek expansion to add middle school grades

The South Carolina Public Charter School District Board of Trustees voted April 10 to approve Fox Creek High School’s amendment to expand by adding middle school grades 6–8, with phased enrollment beginning in the 2026–27 school year.

District staff presented an amendment memo describing Fox Creek as a high-performing high school serving nearly 660 students across Aiken and Edgefield counties and reporting a 94% graduation rate. Staff said the expansion would begin with roughly 400 middle-school students in year one, grow to 600 in a subsequent year, and ultimately cap combined middle and high school enrollment at 1,400 students. The school has secured a $21,500,000 USDA rural development loan to construct a 55,000-square-foot middle-school facility on its existing property, with the building scheduled to open in fall 2026, staff said.

Fox Creek’s executive director Josh Trahan and the proposed middle-school principal, Tiffany Shepherd, attended the meeting to answer trustees’ questions. Trustees asked about a recent decline in the school’s fund balance (noted in staff materials as a 1.1 decline), enrollment projections, staffing diversity and certification, and contingency planning for the USDA loan. Trahan said the decline reflected recent capital projects (turf field, bleachers, scoreboard) and required local match and initial borrower contributions tied to the USDA loan, and added that the school had arranged a third-party lender and seen no indication the loan would be withdrawn. He described staffing as improving in diversity compared with the school’s early years and estimated roughly 5–6 Black certified staff members (the speaker said exact counts were not at hand).

Trustees also asked about the school’s financial projections in years three and four after the interest-only period on the loan. Trahan said the loan included an initial borrower contribution and furniture/fixtures/equipment (FF&E) within the loan but that the school plans conservative staffing and enrollment growth to meet mortgage and salary obligations. Trustees noted Fox Creek had no financial audit findings in the last three reports, and the motion to approve the amendment carried without recorded opposition.

Trustees approved the amendment by voice vote. Staff recommended approval; the board recorded the motion, a second, and the voice vote; no roll-call vote with member-by-member tallies was recorded in the transcript.