New, $4M facility planned for growth

By DIONNE GLEATON T&D Staff Writer

Angel Malone beams with pride when she talks about the students who make up the Orangeburg Consolidated School District 5 High School for Health Professions. She considers them an inspiration.

As her students have grown, so has the charter school. Now it’s preparing for their future.

The construction of a new $4 million, 17,000-square-foot facility on U.S. Highway 601 near the OCSD5 Technology Center is part of the school’s plans to accommodate its growth. The site is being prepared.

The school is currently located in the former Nix Elementary School building on Stilton Road.

The school opened in 2012 with seven classrooms and 73 children. It now boasts 357 students, Malone said.

The new building will house 22 classrooms, four office spaces, a library and a cafeteria.

“We have been planning for probably two years. We have the land,” Malone said.

Malone said she met with Orangeburg County Development Commission Executive Director Gregg Robinson, who put the school in touch with a private investor, Lincolnton, N.C.-based Piedmont Companies Inc.

“They have seen over the scope of two years what we’re doing at our school. They’ve visited, seen the classrooms, talked with kids and liked the idea of what we’re doing here. They’re actually building a school for us. It is a lease option for us,” Malone said.

Andrew Silver of Piedmont Companies stood before Orangeburg City Council on Jan. 19 to request $138,000 to help with infrastructure needs at the site on which the new school will be built.

Malone said the $138,000 is part of the total $4 million cost to build the school. An earlier report based on a discussion in the city council meeting indicated the cost could be $20 million or more.

“The total cost of our project is $4 million, not $20 million. There are various projects that are going on, but our initial project – our project that we’re doing – is $4 million,” Malone said.

“Initially we tried to find a site that was closer to town, but there are a lot of logistics with satisfying South Carolina DOT and the Office of School Facilities with the state Department of Education. As a charter school principal, I’ve learned a lot about roads and traffic and making sure there are enough spaces for buses to come in,” Malone said.

“Because of the tight fit of so many buildings moving further in town, some of those areas would not work, or cost a lot more money than we could afford to pay,” she said.

Charter schools are independent public schools. They receive a portion of the state funding that would otherwise go to local districts for their students.

Malone said the new school construction will not end up costing local taxpayers more.

“With our acquiring the building, there is not a rise in taxes because what we’ve done is gone through an investor that does not raise or ask for a bond referendum of any type. That’s not something that we do. One of the challenges that charter schools throughout the country have is finding suitable facilities,” she said.

Malone said the charter school has enjoyed a very fruitful relationship with OCSD5, which provides the use of the former Nix Elementary School.

“We’re just outgrowing it,” Malone said.

Students at the school come from “various areas within Orangeburg,” but are mainly students from OCSD5.

“We are a sponsored school within our district. We do have some children that come back into the school district,” including students who attended private school in areas as far away as Columbia, Malone said.

“The students come from everywhere, including from within the neighborhood that surrounds this (Nix-Stilton) area. It’s just a mixture of kids throughout the county,” she said.

OCSD5 is the charter school’s “parenting body” which provides it with negotiated services, but operating funds do not directly come from the district, the principal said.

“State and local funds through the state Department of Education are trickled down through our local district and then disbursed to us based on our population and whatever the allocated funds are per pupil for our district. That’s what we get for those children just like any other school,” Malone said.

She said while Piedmont Companies is building the new school, “we will have to pay a lease payment, which is generated through the disbursement of funds that come to our school through the school district.”

In the meantime, the principal said she is pleased with the success the school has seen, including increasing English and math scores and partnerships with institutions including the Medical University of South Carolina, Family Health Centers Inc., the Regional Medical Center and the Orangeburg-Calhoun Free Medical Clinic.

The school has also enjoyed partnerships with Charleston Southern University, Claflin University and South Carolina State University, where students are on campus working in STEM labs as they pursue dual-credit courses.

“I think that’s a strong point for us. We’ve been able to create partnerships with MUSC, where our kids are able to go during the school year and in the summer to be mentored by med students, as well as other health professional students,” Malone said.

“Our students do have the opportunity to get an associate’s degree, or just have college credit. Kids can get the transferrable credits for college and take those college transfer courses at Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College. They’re also able to go into school with 24 credit hours. And it’s free of charge to them,” she said.

The main goal, however, is to offer students choices that will prepare them for future success in the world, the principal said.

“I like the fact that the students on their own want to give back to the community even now. I think that’s a very special quality to see the many things that they do to inform, uplift and support the community,” she said.

Contact the writer: dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5534. Follow “Good News with Gleaton” on Twitter at @DionneTandD.

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New, $4M facility planned for growth