• Search for Superintendent Underway – Local Attorney Seeks Position
• Possible Changes to Football Stadium

Superintendent Search

The Edgefield County School Board has announced that the search for a new Superintendent is officially underway.  Prior to this announcement, Attorney Greg Anderson, long-time attorney for the Edgefield County School Board, made public at last week’s school board meeting his intention to seek this open position.  Mr. Anderson spoke with the Advertiser on Monday regarding this decision and provided the Advertiser with a statement that he made to the school board at the Feb. 14 meeting.

In this statement, Mr. Anderson highlighted the nearly 30 years he has been attending school board meetings and reminded the board that he knows “where the current problems are.”  Mr. Anderson also addressed his lack of a degree in the field of education, a fact he was sure would cause some questions as to his qualifications, but insisted he did not lack an understanding of the importance of educating the county’s children.  He listed several courses and classes he has taken over of the years and expounded on the insight and training he has gained while serving as school board attorney.  He called the county’s teachers “the best asset our school district has” and stated how he wished to provide the teachers with an environment in which to flourish in their jobs.  Mr. Anderson further pointed out the savings that could be attained by hiring him and forgoing a full search for the Superintendent position.  He asked for a three-year contract and offered to step down at the end of that term.  Mr. Anderson insisted that he did not wish to use the job as Superintendent as a career stepping stone.  Additionally, if hired for the position, Mr. Anderson made it clear in his statement that he intends to step away from his law practice to focus solely on serving the children of Edgefield County.  “Let’s get back to the task of educating the children,” Mr. Anderson told the Advertiser. The Edgefield County School Board has hired a group to conduct the Superintendent search.   More information on this position may be found on http://www.edgefield.k12.sc.us/vacancies.asp

Football Stadium

In other school board news, the issue of possible changes to the football stadium has garnered much interest.  The discussion of up-grades began upon a request to redo the stands on the home side and visitor’s side, which would include switching those sides, and to embark on other improvements to the stadium area as well.  After much discussion, the Board did agree to give approval for the hiring of an architect to draw up plans for the possible refurbishment of the stadium area.

Insiders have told the Advertiser that work must be done on the stadium but whether or not it will be a complete overhaul is yet to be determined.  What is viewed as the main issue that must be addressed and corrected for legal reasons is the stands.  A child did fall through the open stands last year and not seeking to enclose the stands could leave the school system liable in the event such an accident should occur again.  Progress on any of the proposed changes cannot be made without drawings and bids, thus, by hiring an architect to provided drawings of proposed improvements, the school board is going through the preliminary procedures to possibly move forward with improvements in the near future.

Possible Cost

The original rough estimate for these upgrades was cited to be close to $2.5 million, but one person, close to the issue, stated that the figure could be much lower once actual drawings are presented.  The school board does have access to bond money for these improvements.  The Advertiser was advised that this is a process which will take several months before any decisions are made.  The Advertiser did make repeated appeals to Edgefield County Board Chairman Brad Covar for his comments on this matter, but we did hear by press time.

This article ran in the print edition of The Advertiser on Wednesday, 2/29/12.

  Brad Covar, Edgefield, Football, Greg Anderson, School Board, School District, Search, Stadium, Strom Thurmond High School, Superintendent