Old school, new life

By Cindy Landrum  

MARCH 17, 2011 9:27 a.m. (0)

They will again thanks to Legacy Charter School.

Legacy has turned the old Parker High into its middle and high school campus.

Now, it is in the midst of a $5 million renovation and expansion of the old Fine Arts Center on West Washington Street that will double the capacity of the school’s elementary program.

“These children have never been told they can go to college and graduate from college,” said William Brown, the school’s board chairman. “We’re telling them they can and they will.”

The old school had been vacant since 2006 when the Fine Arts Center moved to its new facility on the campus of Wade Hampton High.

Prior to being the Fine Arts Center, the facility had housed Hattie Duckett Elementary, named after the woman who founded the Phillis Wheatley Center.

The building is being gutted.

The new school will be about 42,000-square-feet, nearly twice the size of the old Fine Arts Center building, and will have 25 classrooms.

The school plans to have five classes per grade level from kindergarten through fourth grade, Brown said. A kitchen, library and computer lab will be included.

Construction should be finished this summer.

Brown said the school has carved out a geographic area surrounding the schools it calls the “Legacy Zone.”

Greenville County Schools has an 83 percent high school graduation rate. In the “Legacy Zone,” only half the children earn high school diplomas.

Legacy Charter believes it can change that.

“We’re a college prep school from kindergarten all the way through and we tell the students they will go to college and they will graduate from college,” Brown said. “If you say that often enough, they’ll believe it and they’ll achieve it.”

Brown said Legacy has longer school days and a longer school year.

“If you want to achieve, you’ve got to put the work in because there are no shortcuts,” he said.

But Legacy believes their students have the ability, just like students from neighborhoods with higher incomes.

“It’s a matter of leveling the playing field,” Brown said.

Kenny George, the principal of Legacy’s elementary school, said the school differs from traditional public schools in another important way – it requires students to take physical education class every day.

“Research shows physical activity really stimulates the brain,” he said.  Being active allows children to focus more and decreases bad behavior, he said.

The school is conducting research to see whether regular physical activity increases academic achievement while reducing behavioral problems.

The school has exercise equipment more commonly found in gyms and teaches students how to check their heart rate, their pulse and how to design an exercise program they can follow.

The school does not serve fried foods in its cafeteria and offers only healthy snacks.

“If you feel better, you’re going to do better,” George said. “That’s true for all of us.”

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