Thousands of Berkeley County students return to the classroom

MONCKS CORNER, S.C. (WCBD) – After a slight delay because of Tropical Storm Debby and flooding, thousands of students in Berkeley County returned to the classroom Thursday for a new year of learning and growing.

“Our first day of school was delayed, and we opened our doors today. Originally, we were supposed to open our doors yesterday; however, we were impacted in Berkeley County pretty severely with weather last week that resulted in tornadoes in the area and flooding—major flooding,” said Katie Tanner, the district’s chief communications officer.

Some schools in the district are dealing with improvements.

“We are in the middle of constructing schools as part of a penny sales tax. We have two areas of our district that are under construction currently for new schools that are going to come online in 2026. And then specifically in our Hanahan area, we are doing a full site renovation for Hanahan Middle School. So, new this year for our Hanahan Middle School students was a location in a modular school at Hanahan Elementary.”

And attendance numbers are up for the 2024-25 school year.

“We are at 39,600 students registered currently but we will see enrollments climb over the next 10 days. […] We will be watching that number as it nears 40,000,” said Tanner.

Over at St. Stephen Elementary School, all 103 students from JK Gourdine Elementary merged with St. Stephen after the board closed JK Gourdine this summer.

“We’ve had nothing but positive feedback,” said Tanner. “Our security team was out there this morning and said traffic was better than great. Everything was running smoothly. That principal has been very excited, and they have really come together as a community. And so, we have been very pleased with the reports we have received from St. Stephen Elementary.”

School bus driver numbers are still short a few, but fewer than some past years.

“We do have 171 drivers. We do have nine additional positions that we would like to fill, but they are currently being covered by substitute drivers,” she said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WCBD News 2.