Mount Pleasant Magazine July/August 2017

feature

BY DENISE K. JAMES

Old School

Knowledge

New School

Families

A Refresher Course

ecently, the Charleston County School District

sold the old Laing Middle School and its site,

located here in Mount Pleasant, to corporate

giant Home Depot. The building is still there

as I write this article, as Home Depot has yet to tear it

down, but I know it’ll soon be gone, and I’m trying not to

be unhappy about it. While I never actually went inside

the building, its dilapidated appearance and overgrowth

of weeds and tall grass intrigued me. I longed to go inside,

wander the silent halls and daydream about what scholarly

discussions took place there, but a heartfelt email to Home

Depot’s PR department for permission yielded nothing.

There aren’t many schools left in the district,

especially East of the Cooper, that are part of the “old

guard.” The former Laing on Highway 17 is one of them,

at least for now, but most have been torn down to make

FOR

way for newer, larger buildings. In fact, according to

Rebekah Dobrasko’s report from 2005, “Architectural

Survey of Charleston County’s School Equalization

Program,” the city of Charleston and its outlying rural

areas (that included Mount Pleasant, y’all) had the

Jennie Mo