Lexington-Richland School District Five broke ground Friday on a new Dutch Fork Elementary School Academy of Environmental Sciences in Irmo, marking a major step for a project meant to replace the oldest continuously used school building in the district. The 9 a.m. ceremony took place at Hope Lutheran Church on Kennerly Road, located next to the school's new site, and drew school board members, community members and district leaders.
The new campus will rise at 1709 Hollingshed Road in Irmo, part of the district's 2024 bond referendum that voters approved to fund major facility upgrades across the system, according to Lexington County Chronicle. The project is designed to address the needs of students and staff working in the district's oldest continually used school building, while also responding to the impacts of the ongoing expansion of Broad River Road, according to the district's 2024 bond referendum materials.
Dutch Fork Elementary Principal Rebecca Dilley spoke at the groundbreaking, saying the new school is a home for students and faculty, built on hard work, planning and community investment. She added that Dutch Fork carries a legacy sustained by teachers, families and supporters, and that the school will retain its people, relationships and commitment to children even as it moves to a new site.
A New Building With Room to Grow
Lexington-Richland Five Superintendent Akil E. Ross Sr. said the groundbreaking represents an investment in students, staff and community, adding that the district looks forward to welcoming students into the new building. District leaders have said the new campus will foster discovery, collaboration, creativity and connection for the students who will eventually walk its halls.
Earlier plans released by the district describe a building under 90,000 square feet with 160 visitor parking spaces and dedicated bus, car and pedestrian routes, the Lexington County Chronicle previously reported. All classrooms are planned to exceed 700 square feet and feature eight-by-eight windows, with outdoor learning opportunities, playing fields and structured play areas also part of the design, per the same outlet's earlier coverage. The new school is located along Hollingshed Road, close to Oak Pointe Elementary School.
The project carries a reported budget of $41.4 million, the Chronicle's bond-tracking coverage shows. That figure differs somewhat from an earlier 2022 bond proposal, which described the new Dutch Fork Elementary as a $41 million project, according to the Post and Courier.
What Happens to the Old Campus
Once the new campus opens, the current Dutch Fork Elementary site at 7900 Broad River Road will transition into the RichLex Education Center, bringing together adult education, the Academy for Success and the Flexible Innovative Virtual Education program, also known as FIVE, under one roof, per the district's bond referendum documents. The 2024 bond referendum authorized up to $240 million in general-obligation bonds for facilities and related costs districtwide, and district materials state that the referendum would not increase the tax rate.
The referendum marked the district's first bond issue in 16 years, according to The State; the Lexington County Chronicle reported a 68.54% approval rate in Lexington County.
Part of a Broader District Overhaul
The new Dutch Fork campus arrives alongside a larger restructuring effort set for the 2026-27 school year, when rezoning will concentrate changes in the Chapin and Dutch Fork attendance areas, according to the district's bond referendum page. About 988 students are expected to be rezoned into a new elementary campus that year, as the district works toward a more typical elementary-middle-high school progression meant to give students cleaner feeder lines and create more balanced enrollment, the Post and Courier reported.
The Dutch Fork project is one piece of a wider bond-funded building push. Other projects include a 20,000-square-foot wing at Lake Murray Elementary and a 16,000-square-foot addition at Chapin Elementary, both expected to be completed in 2026, per reporting from The State and the Chronicle's project-tracking coverage. The bond package also set aside $30 million for a small-business incubation center at Irmo High School and $10.5 million for a construction and infrastructure workforce-development lab, while the district has said it plans to spend more than $5 million upgrading security at 12 school entrances, according to ABC Columbia.
District officials track each bond project through a public dashboard covering seven stages: procurement, design, documents, permitting, construction, occupancy and closeout, the Chronicle has reported. With the groundbreaking complete, the new Dutch Fork Elementary now moves into that construction phase, as families in the attendance area watch for further updates on rezoning and the eventual transition to the new building.
