Sea Islands YouthBuild home at last

Charter school finally gets suitable space; students work on interior

Grace Beahm
The Post and Courier

Larry Blasch, chairman of the board for Sea Islands YouthBuild Charter School, takes a look as teachers instruct students in how to build a wall in their new location in North Charleston.

Sea Islands YouthBuild Charter School finally has found a home.

The school for at-risk students hasn't had a place to call its own for the past four months, and students have attended classes in temporary sites that included the Boy Scout camp on Wadmalaw Island and St. James Presbyterian Church on James Island.

School officials recently signed a three-year lease for part of the former Cameron and Barkley warehouse off Azalea Drive at a cost of about $7,000 per month. Larry Blasch, chairman of the school's board, said the 7,000-square-foot building was the best space the school found, in part because it already had a sprinkler system, a requirement for schools. The school will spend another $30,000 improving the space so it can clear state and local inspections and be occupied by students. He would like that work to be finished by mid-May.

"We think it's worth it," he said. "It's not going to be fancy, but it's going to be what we need to teach kids."

Buildings often are the biggest struggle for start-up charter schools, but the county school board has agreed to give one start-up charter school, the Charleston Charter School for Math & Science, free mobile units and space on the former Rivers Middle School campus.

Blasch said that charter school had the wherewithal to ask for space, and he was glad they got it. He said he hasn't decided whether Sea Islands will request the same accommodations, and his focus is on getting Sea Islands into its new space before making waves with the district. "We're just happy we have a place to live now that's suitable," he said.

This is the first year Sea Islands has been open, and the charter school has faced problem after problem, including battles with its former landlord and two attempts by school officials to shut it down because of concerns about students' safety and education.

District officials have been monitoring the school and will update the school board on the school's progress at its next meeting. Chief Academic Officer Randy Bynum declined further comment through the district's executive director of communications until the board is briefed.

Sea Islands takes a hands-on, no textbook approach to education, and students are supposed to acquire construction skills while earning their diploma. Four students were helping erect steel wall dividers in the new building this week. They measured the pieces, ensured proper spacing among the beams and pushed them into perpendicular positions.

During the past few weeks, junior Karland Duffy said he's learned how to properly remove carpet and how to divide classrooms. He does some academic work daily before heading to the work site, he said, and he likes being a part of improving the building the school will occupy.

"I can say I worked on this building," he said. "I helped make it what it is."

Reach Diette Courrégé at 937-5546 or dcourrege@ postandcourier.com.