Will Lake Wylie get a new high school? It’s all up to Clover district voters now.
Clover and Lake Wylie voters will have another opportunity in November to add a new high school.
The Clover school board voted Monday night to put a question on the Nov. 8 general election ballot requesting funds for a new school in Lake Wylie, on district-owned land off Daimler Boulevard. The new high school would have capacity for 2,100 students.
The bond question voters will see in November will read:
“Shall the Board of Trustees of Clover School District No. 2 of York County, South Carolina (the “School District”), be authorized to issue and sell, in two or more separate issues, general obligation bonds of the School District in the aggregate principal amount of not exceeding $156,000,000, the proceeds of which shall be applied to defray the costs (including architectural, engineering, legal and related fees) of all or a portion of constructing and equipping a new high school to be located on property purchased by the district at the Tax Map ID of 4880000011, currently named Daimler Blvd.?”
The district will launch a website and other information resources to answer questions about the bond request. On Monday, superintendent Sheila Quinn committed the district to meet with community groups between now and the vote.
“If you have any place that you want us to be, any day of the week, any time, we will be there to make sure that people’s questions can be answered,” Quinn said.
The bond question is scaled down from a previous request at more than $200 million.
“We had a bond referendum in September,” Quinn said. “That bond did not pass. And we have spent since September engaged in several listening sessions, several community meetings, lots of forums. Really looking at the opportunity to move forward with a new building plan.”
Scaling down continued Monday. Another version of the bond request put to voters would’ve added a second question, adding up to $8.6 million for a stadium and related additions at the new school. The board opted not to include that second question in November.
“The main thing as far as I’m concerned — I’m not a stadium person — is that you get the school built,” said board member Sherri Ciurlik. “And the simplest, cleanest, easiest way to do that is to have one question.”
The board still intends to work toward a stadium at the new school, just not via the same bond vote that allows for the school.
“The goal is to have the funding to make it be a reality,” Ciurlik said. “And there are other ways to fund it, impact fees being one.”
Board chairman Mack McCarter said there was discussion on whether to have both high schools utilize Clover Memorial Stadium long-term as a cost savings. Similar to what Northwestern and Rock Hill high schools have for years done with Dist. 3 stadium in Rock Hill. Board members in Clover, though, say that decision isn’t just about football. Varsity and junior varsity teams in soccer, lacrosse and other programs would make one stadium a tight fit.
“It’s not a cost savings long-term,” McCarter said. “It’s a short-term fix that we’re going to have to come back and address pretty soon.”
As Lake Wylie continues to grow, in an area already with some of the most traffic in the area along the S.C. 49 corridor, the distance to the stadium in Clover also is a concern.
“It is an inconvenience,” McCarter said. “And when you’re living there you do want your own identity.”
There also would be costs if the district were to make Clover Memorial Stadium neutral to serve two schools, board members said. The board has more planning to do on the stadium piece, but won’t let it hold up the school plan.
“We don’t need to let the stadium dominate the need,” McCarter said. “The need is a high school. If we do not build this high school and create more capacity, it’s only going to get worse.”
Plans would have a new high school ready in four or five years. Quinn said there are more than 3,000 coming homes planned within the district already. McCarter said incoming population already is outpacing capacity, something that isn’t likely to change before the new high school could be built.
The $156 million in the November bond request would get the district a new middle school as well, with the conversion of the ninth grade campus at Clover High — a former middle school property — to a third district middle school.
Despite the failed bond vote last year, Quinn said a survey with more than 3,000 responses since found 82% of participants would support a scaled down building plan this November. Board members say the question they approved is what the district needs and not more.
“That is the actual building of the high school,” Quinn said. “That is not the furniture, the fixtures, the equipment. Those items are things that we are already planning to use capital funds to include in the building of that high school.”
