Updated July 22: There's not a whole lot to update here other than to say that the Beaufort County Board of Education vote on these school closures is expected to come down Aug. 5.
Sure The Island Packet story from this morning has a lot of upset parents.
Sure it has one school board member who expressed confusion as to why the task force recommended Port Royal Elementary be closed.
But when it comes down to it, Aug. 5 is when the rubber will hit the road.
Updated 4:15 p.m.: We're starting to see the first reporting out of today's Beaufort County Board of Education work session, at which the board was briefed on recommendations for school closures.
WSAV's Holly Bounds posted a photo of the proposal that was presented to the board. No suprises there as they included both Port Royal and Shell Point elementary schools along with St. Helena and James Davis early childhood centers.
Port Royal Town Councilman Joe Lee was at the work session and offered his opinion of it in a Facebook note.
Lee said the school board will hold a special meeting in early August to debate the proposal.
Reported July 21: Well it's official, the advisory group tasked with coming up with a list of potential school closures has completed its report, and Port Royal and Shell Point elementary schools still are on the chopping block.
WSAV has a very brief report, and the area's only live coverage, of yesterday's task force meeting. You can check that out here.
So what's next?
Well the advisory group will present its report to the full school board at 1 p.m. today.
Also, we've come across a note from Suzzanne Baisch a Port Royal parent and a member of the school's School Improvement Council.
Baisch's frustration with what's going on speaks for itself. And so we'll let her do just that:
Well, I attended my last Task Force meeting this evening and as usual we were wonderfully represented, yet clearer minds have not prevailed and our school is still their recommendation for closure.
The meeting was a bit contentious at times tonight and though I sighed and nodded a great deal I did not interrupt as I so many times desired to do so!
The worst moment was when they could not find a community member to present their own findings! So, tomorrow the Task Force will be presenting their findings to the school board at 1pm at the district office off Mink Point Blvd.
Though my babysitter is getting weary I am going to try to make this meeting and urge any of you with lots of free time on your hands to do so as well!
We assume the board will vote to discuss these results at another time, but once again until this presentation is completed we will not know.
If nothing else I can say over and over again I am so grateful, thankful, and blown away by the support from members of our wonderful town.
Just ten short years ago, as a lifelong Beaufort resident I knew we decided to live in a great town, but this experience has shown me living in Port Royal has been the best decision!
So, hope to see you then, wonderful to see so many of you last night, and thank you for your efforts for Port Royal Elementary!
Susanne Baisch, SIC Port Royal Elementary
