Parents of students enrolled in the Green Charter School Midlands Campus in Irmo will be scrambling to find a new school as administrators announced the immediate suspension of operations and their intent to not enroll students in the fall for the 2026-27 school year.
The school cites financial and enrollment problems as the cause for discounting operations. The school originally had more than 300 students but fell to half that this year. The arrest of two school employees in 2025 was a main factor in the enrollment exodus when Sulaymaan Benoit, after school director, was arrested for eight counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct with three students aged 7 to 12 in February of 2025. The school’s principal, Tina Shaw, failed to report the incidents to law enforcement even after the school’s internal investigation turned up another student victim. Shaw waited a week before contacting law enforcement which violated a requirement for mandatory reporters such as hospital staff and educators to report immediately of any abuse.
Irmo Police Chief Bobby Dale said that her failure to report in a timely matter led to her arrest.
Shaw was charged with failure to report child abuse and two counts of assault and battery.
Benoit was arrested again in October of 2025 on four additional counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor under age 11.
The families of the victims have filed a law suit against the school.
The board at Green Charter Schools in Greenville voted on Thursday, June 11 to suspend operations immediately.
Green Charter School Board Chair Justin Varnes said in a statement that the closing is ‘unique’ and ‘should not be interpreted as a reflection of the performance, stability or future of our other campuses.’
The Green Charter School in Irmo opened in 2017.
