Superintendent Hefner Presents Plan for the Future

In an effort to move the district forward as a world-class system in the state and around the world, Lexington-Richland 5 Superintendent Stephen Hefner laid out his vision plan for the next four years with the top priority being Chapin High School.

The plan calls for renovation and expansion of Chapin High on its current site; building a new magnet high school on the Spring Hill site; facility improvements at Dutch Fork and Irmo high schools; building a new elementary school; and expanding the district’s magnet and choice programs.

During his superintendent report Monday night, Hefner opened his almost 30-minute speech with talk of getting rid of the feelings of fear and mistrust in the district and the community at large.

“We need to spend a greater proportion of our time and energy focusing on teaching and learning and to spend a significantly smaller proportion of time and energy in mediating disagreements among adults,” Hefner said. “We need to spend more money on classrooms and less on courtrooms. We need to make our students’ educational experiences rich, not just our attorneys rich.”

“If we can succeed in changing the dialogue away from political issues and toward educational issues we will be more likely to re-capture our reputation as an innovative, forward-thinking district,” he said.

Hefner speaks of board member Kim Murphy’s current appeals against state environmental officials’ decisions to allow a section of a stream to be filled.

Hefner said he has given the OK to district personnel to “proceed with all deliberate speed to the fullest extent allowed under the law” to get the project started.

“Chapin High is about much more than brick and mortar. Its history is rich and needs to be preserved. The present condition of the facility poses undeniable safety and security issues that must be addressed ASAP,” he said.

The next item would be to build a new magnet high school on the Spring Hill site, which would partner with the district’s new Career and Technical Education Center that’s now under construction. The partnership would foster a learning environment where both students and residents could receive job training.

The facilities at Dutch Fork and Irmo high schools also would receive an improvement. At Irmo, Hefner said the school’s athletic facilities needs major renovations and an auditorium was needed. Dutch Fork also needs its athletic facilities improved, a health science facility and auditorium upgrades.

Chapin High, the new elementary school and the Dutch Fork and Irmo high schools’ projects are part of the 2008 bond referendum.

Hefner said the “quality of the school district must not only be maintained, it must be enhanced.”

“If we’re not getting better, we’re getting worse,” he said.

Board chairman Robert Gantt said he was 100 percent behind Hefner’s 4-year plan for the district. The plan was presented for the board to review and no action was taken.