Permitting issues leave 200 Lexington County students in limbo with new school year weeks away

IRMO, S.C. (WIS) - More than 200 students are looking for a new school with just five weeks until the new year begins. The charter school Ascent Classical Academies will not be opening its newest school in Irmo due to permitting issues with the town of Irmo. 

The school had been in the works for the last 2 years, it was under contract to be built on Koon Road in Irmo but after persistent issues, closing on the property and construction was delayed.

Ascent Classical Academies Executive Director Derec Shuler spoke Monday to WIS News 10 about the “frustration” the school has had in recent months.

The school submitted plans to retrofit the St. Andrews Presbyterian Church to use temporarily for the upcoming school year. However, Shuler said a review found issues with the facility – including fire code and ADA accessibility/compliance issues.

In requesting permits through the town of Irmo to address the issues, the town denied issuing needed permits, saying in part, “these permitting issues fall outside the scope of their existing contract.”

Shuler said the town’s decision came one week after having a positive meeting with the town leaders regarding the plans.

“The really painful aspect of this situation, again any concerns or objects from the town or contractor should’ve been thoroughly vetted in April when they approved the project,” said Shuler.

The South Carolina Department of Education distributed a memorandum to superintendents in September of 2023. In it, it outlines a plan for charter schools that use spaces like a church.

The memorandum read, in part:

“As interim steps to designating most if not all inspections outside of OSF, the following process improvements will be implemented in the 2023-2024 school year: Offer all charter schools who are utilizing preexisting commercial spaces for school buildings to use local building departments/AHJs. The reason for this change is that local inspectors already know the history of these buildings and are more qualified to judge the quality of improvements by charter schools. These existing commercial buildings represent 75% of the 40 current charter school projects, freeing OSF resources.”

State Superintendent Ellen Weaver designated the town of Irmo in May as the “designee” to serve as the authority having jurisdiction to conduct building inspections for schools.

Below is the letter sent by the State Department of Education.

However, on July 2, the town of Irmo said in a statement, “The Town of Irmo did not formally request or accept this designation.”

WIS reached out for an additional statement on Monday. In response, Mayor Bill Danielson said, “We did not ask to be the jurisdiction in charge. The department of Education delegated to us without speaking to us. The department of education knew the project would not get done on time and kicked the can down the road to us. Ascent failed to correct deficiencies in their design per our inspectors back in May.”

Without the needed permitting from the town, Ascent Classical Academies had to suspend operations for the upcoming school year.

“We are hearing from a lot of families that are just left not having options at this point, and again this is an extremely unfortunate, and again, we would have loved to have this conversation with the town earlier rather than finding out in the middle of June, on their position or change of heart to longer continue this project,” said Shuler.

Shuler said staff members who planned to relocate to South Carolina have been impacted by this, in addition to teachers who left their previous jobs.

“We definitely feel like we were moving in good faith, the project was moving forward, we are disappointed, we are frustrated, as many parents and hundreds of families in the community we are just frustrated, left without an option in the last minute, we feel like this could’ve been handled better,” said Shuler.

WIS News 10 reached out to the authorizer, or sponsor of the school, Charter Institute at Erskine, they declined to comment stating “the institute has no further comment at this time.”

According to the South Carolina Department of Education, students who were enrolled must reach out to their zoned districts to get their children enrolled for the upcoming school year.

A statement from the SCDE was issued saying, “The SCDE has had and continues to have extensive conversations with all parties involved. We are hopeful a resolution can be reached to best serve students and families.”

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