Board begins process to build new Rincon Elementary School
The Effingham Board of Education voted 3-0 to change the borders for three elementary schools – Blandford, Ebenezer and Rincon.
One parent spoke at the board meeting on Feb. 20 to protest the change.
Cindy Brousseau said under the plan, her daughter Gracie, 7, will have to leave her friends in first grade at Rincon Elementary to attend Ebenezer Elementary next year.
“I’m not real happy about it,” she said. “Lots of parents will have to scramble for new day care. … I just wish you’d consider the children more than you do now.”
School Board Chairman Lamar Allen took exception to Brousseau’s remarks. “I understand your frustration but beg to differ that we do think of kids,” he said. “Things change and things move on and we don’t have a choice sometimes.”
Board member Troy Alford also said the board didn’t have a choice.
“One thing you can’t question is my love for kids and getting them educated,” he said. “To question my love for kids is unacceptable. You’ve heard the saying, ‘There’s no room at the inn.’”
The purpose of the change is to make all the elementary schools in the district have a similar number of students.
“It’s never an easy decision because folks don’t like leaving their home schools,” Superintendent Randy Shearouse said. “But with the county growing, this decision will have to take place from time to time. Kids are resilient. Kids adapt very well.”
The school board announced the proposed changes in November and held a meeting at Rincon Elementary in January to answer questions about them. Parents whose children are affected received telephone calls notifying them about the plan.
Board member Vickie Decker said she tries to see the view of parents when making these decisions. She said one of her children had to change elementary schools in the Effingham system and she adapted well.
Two people walked out of the meeting without speaking to the board, one of them saying, “They’ve already made up their minds.”
Allen, Alford and Decker voted to approve the change. Eddie Tomberlin was out of town and Mose Mock’s seat has not yet been filled.
Brousseau said after the meeting that she will seek a school choice waiver so her daughter can continue to attend Rincon Elementary, as long as the family provides transportation.
In other action on Feb. 20, the school board started the long process to build a new Rincon Elementary School.
Shearouse said a new building will take at least “a few years” and will cost $10 million to $12 million.
The oldest building at the current school was opened in 1962.
The first step in the process was to adopt a resolution saying the current buildings will be “phased out.”
Shearouse said the new school will be built across the street from Dasher’s Landing, on property the board already owns.