Community Project Review Committee (2.0)
The Board of Education played a key role in the development of the Facilities Master Plan for the Beaufort County School District and a lead role when they developed the Bluffton Growth Committee and the Northern Beaufort County Growth Committee. The purpose of the committees was to visit schools, talk to parents, teachers, students and community members about the needs of the community.
A joint committee from the merger of these two committees met in July, 2022, to discuss the progress and similarities of each committee’s work and how to address capital needs for the entire district. Following the July presentation to the Board from the joint committee, the Board directed Superintendent Dr. Rodriguez to bring a plan on how to address the capital needs of the District. In September, Dr. Rodriguez recommended to the Board a committee to analyze the capital needs of the District which lead the Board to dissolve the joint committee and form the Community Project Review Committee (CPRC) 2.0.
CPRC 1.0
In 2019, at the recommendation of the then interim Superintendent, Dr. Herbert Berg, CPRC (1.0) was formed. Members of the CPRC 1.0 visited 26 schools in Beaufort and other districts and received presentations from outside experts before producing the district-wide projects list for the 2019 Referendum. CPRC 1.0 members also received presentations from a safety and security consulting firm, a demographer, four architectural consultants, the Town of Bluffton, a playground equipment vendor, a furniture vendor and district staff. CPRC 1.0 identified $629 million in district-wide facilities needs, and the Beaufort County Board of Education specified $344 million in projects for voters to consider in the 2019 referendum. The Board stated that the remaining $285 million in projects recommended by the CPRC 1.0 but not included in the 2019 referendum would be a Phase II to be considered as part of a future referendum.
CPRC 2.0
The end goal of the CPRC 2.0 was to bring a recommendation to Superintendent Frank Rodriguez in the spring of 2023. Dr. Rodriguez requested each board member nominate constituents from each district to serve on the CPRC 2.0. Additional members came from school SIC groups and nominations from the Superintendent. The initial CPRC 2.0 meeting was held on November 29, 2022. The group met through the spring of 2023 to study the capital project needs of the district, visiting schools within BCSD and outside BCSD, as needed. They brought a recommendation forth to Dr. Rodriguez addressing the District’s capital project needs which was used to construct the 2023 referendum project list that he presented to the Board of Education for approval in June 2023.