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Parents and residents urge board to preserve Plantersville magnet school as trustees weigh closure
Summary
Public commenters and community members urged the Georgetown County School Board not to close Plantersville magnet school, citing recent enrollment gains, concerns about broken promises tied to the magnet grant, and questions about grant oversight and long-term impacts on students and staff.
The Georgetown County School Board heard sustained public pleas to keep Plantersville (transcribed variably as Plannersville/Plantersville) open as administrators presented preliminary fiscal and programmatic analyses.
During the public-comment period, Mr. Neil asked the board to show the data and oversight decisions behind magnet funding and enrollment, saying the school has seen gains and asking whether district administrators had “applied all of the resources available” to support the magnet program. He referenced the district’s long-running consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice and asked how magnet grant dollars were being overseen.
Mr. Randy Ford asked whether the district has contacted the State Department of Education about closing plans, when it would do so if it has not, and what the terms of the magnet grant require if a school closes. The administration replied that the magnet grant is a five-year award and that the federal magnet office had provided direction about how funds would be handled if a closure were approved.
A third public commenter, identified in the transcript as Miss C, criticized the board’s outside superintendent search and said the district had overlooked in-house candidates. She told trustees that Plantersville families were promised specific investments when the magnet program was created and urged the board to honor those commitments: “don’t turn your backs on us,” she said.
In a staff presentation, district leaders described Plantersville as a small school with proportionally high per-pupil costs; the presentation noted the district was spending roughly $31,000 per pupil at the school versus a reported district average of about $14,000. Administrators said closing could yield limited immediate savings (staff estimated roughly $1.3 million) but could allow students to access larger schools’ programs, such as expanded GT classes, counseling, media-center services and more grade-level peer groups. Staff also said most Plantersville staff could remain employed within the Carvers Bay area if students moved to other district magnet schools, and that magnet grant dollars would follow students who enroll elsewhere in magnet programs.
Board members repeatedly described the discussion as preliminary and said the decision would be made after further study, community engagement, notifications to the state and federal magnet offices, and consideration of student benefit. One board member said the board must be “sold out” to any closing that proceeds — emphasizing that the move must demonstrably benefit students.
Next steps included further information to be presented later in the agenda and staff outreach to the State Department of Education and federal magnet program officials. No motion to close was made at the meeting.
