It was emotional and controversial. There was misinformation and worry that their child’s school — one their parents often had attended themselves decades before — would close. There was outrage, anger and a court case settled last year.
“We had quite a bit of that,” recalled town of Santee Mayor Donnie Hilliard, an Orangeburg County native.
By summer, however, the last three Orangeburg County school districts will consolidate into one, merging offices and administration, but not schools. Last fall, Orangeburg voters elected a new, nine-member school board, charged with crafting policy and hiring an interim superintendent, to oversee the merged school district.
