Parents, teachers upset over decision to close 3 Rock Hill elementary schools

ROCK HILL, S.C. — Rock Hill Schools will close three elementary schools as part of a plan to save more than $25 million in operating costs.

Rosewood, Finley Road and Belleview elementary schools will permanently close after this school year. All three schools have low enrollment -- under 60% -- and aging buildings.

The school district said it has too many schools, and the declining enrollment is due to charter schools and schools of choice that are now available to families.

Rock Hill will close 3 elementary schools as part of a plan to save more than $25 million in operating costs. Rosewood, Finley Road and Belleview will permanently close after this school year. All three schools have low enrollment, under 70 percent, and aging buildings.
— Greg Suskin (@GSuskinWSOC9) February 9, 2021

The school board has been weighing its decision with parents’ input since the fall, and has talked about shutting down the schools.

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Cost savings:

$616,670: Yearly maintenance and utilities
$25.7 million: Improvements over 10 years

No one at Belleview Elementary took the news well the day after Monday’s vote to shut it down.

“The other kids, they just broke down and all of us are just so upset,” teacher Samantha Carver said.

She said she is angry and ashamed that the 60-year-old Title 1 school is shutting its doors.

“That’s what we have here at Belleview,” Carver said. “We have children who really need, extra compassion, extra help.”

Nikki Burton has a first-grade student at Finley Road Elementary and attended the school, herself. She said the decision can’t be just about money.

“If it’s all about the money, why not put this money into our schools where are kids are at now,” Burton said. “Where they’re comfortable. They’re thriving.”

Some parents wondered why the district won’t just upgrade the schools they have.

The board’s decision could reassign about 3,800 elementary students to other schools, change busing and impact class sizes.

Helena Miller chairs the Rock Hill School Board, and she said she acknowledges it was a difficult decision that will likely uproot thousands of students. She said teachers won’t lose their jobs.

“Everybody is going to have a job,” Miller said. “This is absolutely not a reduction in force.”

Parents will find out which new school their children will attend likely within a month.