Draft facility study urges additions, flags elementary priorities and proposes Old Farm Road site

Consultants Lori Long and Joel Carter presented a draft facility study to the board (date not specified) that re-evaluates Spartanburg 02’s school capacity using current operational enrollment rather than only building code capacity.

The study, which draws on a 35-page MGT forecast and an internal district facilities assessment, argues that several elementary campuses will reach practical need sooner than the MGT charts suggest. Long said the team “re-graded [the MGT] chart and we recoded it for the intensity based on the current enrollment, which we feel is your operational capacity.” The presentation listed first-tier elementary priorities as Hendricks, Sharon and Boiling Springs, with Sugar Ridge and Parham as second-tier and Mayo and Cooley Springs third-tier.

Why it matters: the team told the board that enrollment projections combined with classroom reconfiguration, special-education placement and added itinerant spaces have already reduced usable classroom capacity at many schools. Using Wine Springs Middle School as an example, the consultants noted that the facility’s design capacity (listed as 1,250 students) was based on older classroom-sizing norms and does not reflect contemporary instructional practice.

What the study recommends: consultants proposed targeted additions and renovations at specific campuses where site geometry and parking make expansion feasible; examples included small modular classroom wings, admin-area enlargements, and selective cafeteria expansions to avoid moving a school to a less practical multi-service lunch schedule. Long said some campuses (for example Oakland) have topographic or drainage constraints — a deep ravine makes major redevelopment impractical — while other campuses (for example Shirley Creek) were master-planned for future additions and could be expanded with limited disruption.

Old Farm Road proposal: the team presented an early engineering sketch for the Old Farm Road property and described it as large enough to accommodate two buildings. They suggested the district could consider either two separate schools or a single building designed to function as two schools, depending on projected needs. Long said the map showed the site sits near the areas the team identified as highest need in the near term.

Operational constraints and trade-offs: the consultants emphasized that adding classroom capacity frequently requires operational adjustments — more lunch periods, reworked circulation or temporary student rerouting during construction — and that special-education rooms and split classrooms reduce available capacity without changing permanent seat counts. They also noted recent additions at several campuses (for example, eight-classroom additions completed in 2024 at some sites and six-classroom additions in 2023 at others) as part of their assessments.

Next steps: the draft will be issued in electronic and hard copy to Dr. Newman and staff for distribution; consultants asked the board for input and indicated these are planning-level concepts rather than finalized designs. No formal action or vote was recorded during the presentation.

The presentation continued into a board Q&A about site constraints, parking and traffic coordination with DOT, and possible phasing; staff will bring the complete report to the board for review and comment before any project is advanced.