Charleston Co. Schools planning to reconfigure three schools on Dorchester Road

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The Charleston County School District is planning its next major project aimed at realigning several schools on Dorchester Road.  The realignment includes merging and repurposing a combination of Lambs Elementary, W.B. Goodwin Elementary and Hunley Park Elementary.

The district has budgeted $103.7 million for the new school and the early learning center.

At Monday’s school board meeting, district staff announced a recommendation to build a 900-student elementary school on the current Lambs campus. The school would cater to the students in grades 1-5 currently at Lambs and at Hunley Park.

Students at Goodwin would remain at the current school and it’s unclear what will happen with the Hunley Park building.

The proposal would also include a 500-student early learning center at Joint Base Charleston – which the district would have to lease space from, but it would be open to infant and kindergarten students who would go to Lambs, Goodwin or Hunley Park.

There are two other options the district has proposed but is not recommending.

One option would see a 1200-student elementary school built on the Lambs campus that would serve students in grades 1-5 from all three elementary schools. Then the Goodwin building would transition into a new, 500-student early learning center, again for students from all three schools.

The other option is to construct a 900-student elementary school on the Lambs campus for students in grades 1-5 from Lambs and Goodwin, while students at Hunley Park would stay at their current location. The district would then put a 500-student early learning center on the Goodwin campus to serve infants and kindergarteners at all three schools.

The new elementary school is tentatively scheduled to be completed by May of 2026 and the early learning center should be done the following May.

All three options will be discussed at a community meeting on Sept. 19 at Zucker Middle School. The meeting starts at 6 p.m.  District staff will seek school board approval on the configuration of the schools at the board meeting in October. They hope to have construction started in June 2024.

For more information on the proposals click here.

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