Horry County charter school moves ahead on new facility

Work has begun at the site of the new Bridgewater Academy charter school, although it may not be apparent just yet, according to a school official.

Jennifer Walters, who chairs the school’s board of directors, said funding has been released from the bank, and the school is in control of progress at the site on River Landing Boulevard, off U.S. 501 in Myrtle Beach, near the Intracoastal Waterway.

Walters said the first of the three-phase construction process is “below the ground,” including drainage, a retention pond, sewer and the infrastructure for the parking lot and foundation. Once that work is done, a 22,120-square-foot building will be constructed using modular units, which will come pre-wired and with plumbing assembly.

“Pray for a mild winter,” Walters said. “Pending no building issues as far as weather is concerned, we should be on target [to open] in February, or we may wait until spring break, just to make it easy on the kids.”

Bridgewater, established as Horry County’s first charter school in 2003, serves students from kindergarten through eighth grade. Classes have been held at Christ United Methodist Church in Myrtle Beach since last year, and Walters said they have an agreement with the church that they can remain there all year if necessary.

School officials began planning for a new facility in early 2010, but funding kept construction on hold longer than anticipated. The school currently has about 154 students, Walters said, but can take up to 180 students under the terms of its recent charter renewal.

Walters said even with future growth, the school would maintain its small class size, 17 students or less, which has been a drawing card for Bridgewater and Horry County’s other charter schools.

Palmetto Academy for Learning and Success in Myrtle Beach, in its second year of operation, serves students from kindergarten through eighth grade and has an enrollment of 146, said Heather Sheehan, director of program evaluation and assessment for Horry County Schools. She said the school’s contract limits it to no more than two classes per grade, with a student-to-teacher ratio of no more than 18 to 1.

Courtney Fancher, PALS executive director, said the school has waiting lists for several grades: kindergarten, third and fifth.

The Academy of Hope, which opened this past summer as a year-round school in Conway, is chartered for 200 students and limited to two classes for each grade from kindergarten to fourth grade, with no more than 20 per class, Sheehan said. The school will expand one grade level each year through the eighth grade.

While the school district lists Hope’s enrollment at 140, Joseph Washington, the school’s founder, said the school now has 115 students. He said several families have had to move from the area, although he said at least six potential students were set to visit the school this week.