ROCK HILL, S.C. — Many parents were outraged to learn four months ago that three elementary schools in the Rock Hill Schools district were permanently closing. Today on this last day of school …it’s not the kind of goodbye they ever expected to say.
“I just hate that it’s shutting down,” parent Tiffany Dixon said.
Her children went to Belleview Elementary School. Tuesday was their last day of class there.
“It hurt me as a parent,” Dixon said. “That’s a good school. I don’t have any complaints. That’s the best school in the Rock Hill district, honestly.”
[PAST COVERAGE: Parents, teachers upset over decision to close 3 Rock Hill elementary schools]
South Carolina Bureau reporter Greg Suskin heard similar praise for Finley Road and Rosewood elementary schools. The schools also closed Tuesday.
The district cites aging buildings with high maintenance costs and declining enrollment as the reasons for the closures. The schools were only about 60% percent full.
Officials said that $25 million will be saved by closing them.
Kiki Cole’s children attended Finley Road.
“To just switch schools and not know the teachers anymore and the staff, that’s not good for me,” Cole said.
Geneva Steele is a mother and an active PTA member at Rosewood Elementary. She said the school was wonderful for her children.
She is worried about what will happen to the building.
“We live across the street,” Steele said. “My kids will now watch it be empty.”
Officials have not said what will happen to the empty buildings.
Sherilyn Brewer attended Rosewood Elementary as a second-grader when it opened in 1961.
“I was there at the beginning. I just never ever thought I’d be here at the end,” Brewer said.
Students at all three schools have been reassigned to other schools for the fall.
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