Darlington school board asks architects to revisit plans, estimates

DARLINGTON — The plans for the renovation at Brockington Elementary and the new proposed gymnasium for Hartsville High School will have to be revisited.

Members of Darlington County School District Board of Education requested that architects from Jumper, Carter and Sease revisit plans and cost estimates of the two proposed projects after hearing suggestions from the board at a special called meeting Thursday.

Joel Carter, of Jumper, Carter and Sease, discussed plans and construction cost estimates for two proposed projects at Brockington Elementary Magnet School for Science and Technology and Hartsville High School.

Carter began the meeting by discussing the Brockington project, which would create a bigger kitchen and cafeteria area, add additional classrooms and office space and other renovations. Also included is a new physical education area with a stage for performances.

The cafeteria can only seat a little more than 100 students, but could increase to 256 students.

Architects previously presented several designs and options for the Brockington Elementary project. The options ranged from $3.8 million to $5.3 million.

The project was estimated to cost $3.2 million, but that figure increased because it wouldn’t solve the school’s seating problem and could potentially hinder any building projects in the future.

After much discussion, the board seemed to be in favor of the $4.8 million option, which included no new media center, the new kitchen and cafeteria area, additional classrooms and office space and other renovations. Several board members were in favor of moving the four classrooms that would be a part of the new construction to the back of the existing campus to connect with the rest of the rooms. It also was suggested that the new construction be moved closer to the rest of the building, and the plans for the office and parking areas be worked on.

The board also discussed a new gym at Hartsville High School that would be constructed adjacent to the school’s existing gym.

The gym project includes a 2,223-seat facility, a boy’s varsity locker room as well as a junior varsity physical education and visiting team locker room. The gym also would house two girls’ locker rooms and would share a new lobby area with the school’s existing gym, which would be used for other events. New group toilets would be installed for use by both gyms. After including renovations to the existing gym facility, the estimated cost would be $7.3 million, which the board didn’t favor.

Several board members suggested scaling down the number of seats to at least 2,000. To reduce costs, they suggested shrinking the lobby area or renovating existing locker areas and have both gyms share that space.

Carter will meet with the school’s principal and other staff to determine if the changes would be feasible.

Superintendent Dr. Rainey Knight later presented two versions of proposed project needs, which included the Brockington and Hartsville projects. Included in the packet was information about the amount of capital funds available.

Board member Tom Henson said the board should use $1.6 million the board had available from Barnwell Nuclear Waste, Education Improvement Act debt and remaining capital funds to be used toward the Brockington project, which could free up about $700,000 for the board to use for other project needs.

Knight said she would bring back another version of proposed capital needs for the board to review at its next regular meeting at 6 p.m. Aug. 11, in the Darlington County School District Administrative Annex 1, 102 Park St., Darlington.