DARLINGTON COUNTY, SC (WBTW) – The Darlington County School Board approved a bid for the district‘s new elementary school.

The bid the school board approved for the new Darlington area elementary school is $18,273,810.

Superintendent, Dr. Tim Newman, said the bid is an important step for the new school.

“What was very good to see was that the bid came in about four percent above what we had originally budgeted for,” he told News13. “But truthfully, what we’re seeing around the state right now is that prices are up 25 to 30 percent. We feel very fortunate for this particular bid for the Darlington County area elementary school; that it was within four percent of our original budget, and we definitely have a plan in place to take care of that, and to move forward.”

Dr. Newman said student safety is important this school year because the new school will be built on the land of the existing Cain Elementary School.

“We want to make sure that we take care of the safety of the students, and to route everything the way it needs to be routed so that we can start construction,” he said.

The new school is a merge of Brunson-Dargan and Cain Elementary Schools. 

“I know the community is excited,” said Dr. Newman. “I applaud the board for putting a plan together that gives students a new facility to learn in that’s stat-of-the-art, that allows our community to come together because these are two schools that are actually merging together,” he continued. “So it’s a really exciting time in Darlington County School District, and we’re looking forward to getting started.”

The Superintendent said a school hasn’t been built in the county in 12 years.

“When you’re looking at buildings that are 30 to 40 years old, and you’re able to put students in a new school with new safety features, and security features? That’s number one priority,” he said.
 
Dr. Newman said the new school will offer more security and technology upgrades than older schools in the district.
 

“Students learn differently now than they did when schools were built 40 years ago, so having new spaces and new technology is really exciting for our kids,” he said. “Technology needs today versus buildings that were built 30 or 40 years ago; the demands on the system, bandwidth, and wireless access all of those in the new building are going to be such a great upgrade for our kids.”

Dr. Newman said the district hopes to open the new school in 2020, and the new school’s name will be decided by the community when it opens.

The groundbreaking for the new school will be held at 10 a.m. on Aug 28.