Beaufort County School District officials have picked a site for a new high school north of the Whale Branch River, but several school board members are questioning if the school is even needed.

An 86-acre site in Dale between Keans Neck, Morgan and Browns Island roads is the district's favored site for the new $28 million high school, district facilities coordinator Don Altman said last week. District officials settled on the site this month after three months of considering options.

The school has scores of critics who say building a high school in the rural area isn't smart planning, and several school board members said this week they agree with some of those critics' points.

The site is in the Dale Community Preservation District, near James J. Davis Elementary School. District officials started looking there last fall after county Planning Director Tony Criscitiello rejected the district's request to build at the corner of U.S. 21 and Keans Neck Road because it wouldn't comply with the county's comprehensive plan.

Beaufort County Council voted in October to allow new schools in the Dale preservation district, an area with special zoning to protect the local character.

Voicing doubts

While plans are barreling ahead for getting necessary approval for the new site from county and citizens groups, several county school board members said this week they're not sure the high school is a well thought-out project.

"Even if the voters approved we could do this, is this what we actually need? I am a firm believer that we do not," said board member Richard Tritschler, who represents Lady's Island. "It would be negligent to do it at this time. I'm not saying we won't need it in five years, but at the present time, we don't."

The school was approved in 2000 as part of a $120 million referendum for building and renovating schools. Tritschler was elected last November, and was not one of the members who voted to build the high school.

Board member Al Stern, who represents Sun City Hilton Head, said he hasn't seen enough data to prove to him the new high school is needed, or how big it needs to be if it is.

"Let's get out of small town and in to big business because that's what this is," Stern said. "It's a little bit scary to have this much money and this much responsibility and not have a well-thought-out plan. We don't. If we do, I sure haven't seen it."

The board must approve the site for the high school before construction can start. Tritschler said he will not approve the school and Stern said he will be hesitant to, unless he is given more information. Board member Dale Friedman, who represents Beaufort and Port Royal, said she also will be hesitant to vote for the school and member Pam Edwards, from Hilton Head, said she plans to vote against the school or abstain if she isn't given more information about it.

Opposing sides

Board Chairman Earl Campbell said Friday he believes the school should be built and likes the district's favored site.

"I do think it's a good place," Campbell said.

Board member Ron Speaks, who represents Burton, said the high school needs to be built north of the Whale Branch to shorten bus rides for students from Sheldon and Yemassee who often rise early to ride more than an hour to school each day.

"I don't want to get up at 5 or 4 o'clock in the morning, especially for a young kid to do that, especially in the winter," Speaks said Tuesday. "We don't want those kids to be out on the street and get hurt."

Board member Michael Rivers, who represents St. Helena Island, agreed that the students should have shorter bus rides.

"The people in the Whale Branch area should be afforded the same opportunities as students from other areas," he said.

Critics of the new school, like Jacki Martin, director of the Beaufort County chapter of the Coastal Conservation League, say it would cause sprawl because it would require building a water treatment plant on the school site. Altman said this week the water plant will be only for the school and nearby Davis Elementary. Critics say others could hook onto the plant, and that the student population in the area isn't large enough to justify building the school there.

Beaufort-Jasper Water and Sewer Authority General Manager Dean Moss said the plan is to build the water plant to serve only the two schools, but to leave room for expansion in case others want to hook on later.

"Most likely it will happen as someone wanting to develop land," Moss said, referring to potential housing developments in the area. "I will not be surprised to have other people who want to hook onto the plant."

Beaufort Mayor Bill Rauch, several local County Council members and Gov. Mark Sanford have been a few of the school's other critics. John Sanford, the governor's brother, started a group last summer opposed to the school composed of people who live near the Whale Branch.

The governor mentioned the high school in his State of the State address to the General Assembly this month, criticizing it as an example of what his neighborhood schools bill, passed last year, tries to prevent. Sanford, who owns hundreds of acres north of the Whale Branch near the potential school site, has been a critic of the school for several years.

"Unless we want to continue this costly practice of using schools as an excuse to drag infrastructure across the countryside," Sanford said in his address, "all I can say is that I would encourage voters to demand schools are built in communities that reflect the size of that community."

Friedman said she is skeptical about building a school with core facilities -- the gymnasium, cafeteria and library -- large enough to accommodate 1,500 students, which is the plan. The school is expected to open with about 800 students, but the facilities are being built with expansion in mind.

"It would be a good idea for us to revisit the size of that school," Friedman said. "I'm not sure there are ever going to be 1,500 kids in that school. ... Our information is probably outdated."

The last demographic report for the school board was compiled in 2001.

Speaks said there are more students that would attend the school than other board members realize.

"I think there are going to be a lot of students there," he said. "It's going to be enough. We may have more students than we anticipated."

Edwards said she needs more information before she can support building the school.

"No one has shown me any justification that we need a school out there except we do have some kids that ride the bus for a long time," she said Tuesday.

Board member Laura Bush said the school needs to be built.

"The community wants it and our children need it," she said.

Altman said he has submitted plans to the county planning department for building the high school on the site and expects to start working on the site in late spring, with the earliest possible opening in fall 2006. Altman said he doesn't know yet how much the land will cost, but the district is having it appraised. Altman said he expects it to cost about the same as the site at the corner of Keans Neck Road and U.S. 21, about $1.4 million.

If board members approve the site, the water treatment plant must be approved by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, the county planning department and the Lowcountry Council of Governments before they can build on the site. The school will share water with Davis Elementary, Altman said, which was connected to county water lines last year.

"It's a very nice piece of property," Altman said. "An excellent choice."