I am in my 6th year serving on the Lexington-Richland Five school board. One of my goals has always been to use my financial education and expertise to ensure tax payer funds are focused on educational outcomes. Student safety is also a major focus for me.
One place those goals intersect is the replacement of the Irmo High School East Wing.
In 2021 the school board reviewed the 2019 MB Kahn Facility Study which rated the East Wing of Irmo High School as poor. The board took a tour of the building and learned:
- The wing was originally a 1 story building
- Years later a second story was later added
- The roof of the original building, with its coal tar pitch roof and HVAC units, was left in place – it is now between the 1st and 2nd floors
- We observed cracks in concrete block walls and concrete floors
- The wing does not have fire sprinklers as they were not required at the time it was constructed
If you have a school building in poor condition you need to address it sooner than later. You make plans to either fix it or replace it. We were told it would cost more to address the old roof between the floors and bring the building up to code than it would to replace it. So, in late 2022/early 2023 the board voted unanimously to build a new academic building to replace the current east wing and demolish the old east wing.
The new academic building has a capacity of 1640 students. Current Irmo High enrollment is around 1240 students, leaving plenty of excess capacity should enrollment increase.
Inexplicably, the current board has now changed course and voted 4-2 to keep a portion of the old east wing without doing any renovations. The current board also voted 4-2 against getting an engineering study, an air quality study and a renovation cost estimate.
Why would anyone vote to continue using a building we don’t need that was rated Poor seven years ago AND refuse to get an engineering or air quality study? I asked and did not get a clear answer.
Not only could there be long term consequences of inhabiting a poor-quality building, there is an annual cost to keeping this space. We must pay to heat it, cool it, make repairs and clean it. These costs come out of the same budget we use to pay teachers and educate students. When we spend that money unwisely taxpayers and students pay the price.
The purpose of this letter is to make you aware of what is happening with the Irmo High construction and why the old east wing is not being demolished as originally planned. I and a couple of other board members will continue to do our best to fight for responsible financial decisions to ensure funding is focused on the classroom and not waste.
Catherine Huddle
Board Member, Lexington Richland School District 5
