Old Gettys Middle School Sale

Dear Editor,

In mid-October, Legacy Charter School bid $250,000 for the old Gettys Middle School. At the October meeting, the board declared Gettys a surplus property. In November I made a motion to sell it for $250,000 and that was tabled by the board. In December, I made a motion to give Legacy a counter offer of $300,000; I think Legacy would have bought it there. That was voted down by Judy Edwards, Herb Cooper, Jim Shelton, and Ben Trotter

The insistence we had to wait yet another month for an appraisal seemed like an excuse by those who didn’t want to sell the school. The board requested an appraisal from the district administration in October, and normally it takes weeks, not months to generate an appraisal.   

In the past, we had appraisals for $1 million or more for the other buildings the board sold, but that didn’t stop us from selling Dacusville Elementary for $150,000, Liberty Middle for $160,000 and Simpson for $125,000. There isn't much of a market for old broken down schools full of asbestos.

Selling Gettys for $300,000, twice as much as the others was a good price. The district needs the money for its mounting building maintenance needs for things like roofs and HVACs.

Now the old Gettys building will sit there, costing the district $200,000 a year in electric, property insurance and grass cutting. Just like the old Pickens Middle, by the way which had sold as well, but that sale was voted down too.

Initially I zeroed in on the financial angle of the issue, but when a couple of school board members said they opposed the sale because the buyer was a charter school, I asked why? Charter schools are public schools.

Legacy is also backed by a non-profit or 501(c)(3). Legacy started a public K-12 charter school in Greenville. Using millions in donations it receives, it bought and renovated Parker High School, costing county taxpayers nothing. Legacy planned to do the same with the old Gettys Middle, giving Easley that additional school so many there seem to want, at no cost to Pickens County taxpayers.

Finally, Legacy’s focus is students who have fallen off the graduation path and are likely to drop out of our system. If we are going to try something new to boost the graduation rate in this county, I thought this was something we should try. 

This was a missed opportunity all around.  

Alex Saitta

School Board Trustee – Pickens