Mount Pleasant Magazine July/August 2017

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JENNIE MOORE ELEMENTARY
In the early 1950s, a new elementary school for
African-American students opened about seven miles
north of Mount Pleasant. It replaced five other elementary
schools in the rural area and it was named after civic
leader Jennie Moore. Originally a feeder school for Laing,
Jennie Moore eventually became East Cooper’s first
magnet school in the 1980s. Jennie Moore Elementary
still operates as a magnet school; its focus is the creative
arts. The updated building, opened in fall 2015, shares a
campus with Laing on Bulrush Basket Lane.
SULLIVAN’S ISLAND ELEMENTARY
The original Sullivan’s Island Elementary, a wooden
structure approximately 50 years old, was replaced in
the mid-1950s thanks to CCSD leasing the old Battery
Thompson site. Though the lease was approved for
a total of 99 years by U.S. Secretary of the Interior
Douglas McKay, plans to build a brand-new Sullivan’s
Island Elementary came to fruition in 2014. A beautiful
maritime-themed structure welcomed students back from
their temporary home at the old Whitesides Elementary
on Rifle Range Road, where the school was located after
2010 due to structural concerns.
LINCOLN MIDDLE-HIGH
In the early 1950s, students from a rural school in
McClellanville known as Old Lincoln School were treated to
an upgrade: the new Lincoln Middle-High, which consisted,
according to an article in The News and Courier from 1953,
“of 18 classrooms, offices, multipurpose room, library,
domestic science laboratory, shop and agricultural study
rooms.” More recently, students at Lincoln were displaced to
Wando in 2016 when the district decided that low enrollment
made the school unworthy of maintaining. McClellanville
families took the news hard, as a new high school for this
quaint Southern town is still likely several years away.
MCCLELLANVILLE PUBLIC SCHOOL
The stately McClellanville Public School, still bearing
its original name across the top of the building, began in
the 1920s as an elementary school, then shuttered in the
early 1980s. It opened as McClellanville Middle School
in 1991 but closed again in 2009 due to low enrollment.
After standing vacant for several years, the district
reopened the doors in the 2016-2017 academic year as
a temporary abode for Oceanside Collegiate Academy.
This year, Oceanside will move into its new location at
Carolina Park in Mount Pleasant. Discussions for the
future of McClellanville Public School continue.
The original Sullivan’s Island Elementary was replaced
in the 1950s, thanks to the district leasing the old
Battery Thompson site.
Originally a feeder school for Laing, Jennie Moore
was named after a civic leader.
In the early 1950s, students from a rural school in
McClellanville were treated to an upgrade: the new
Lincoln Middle-High.
The stately McClellanville Public School operated
in the 2016-2017 academic year as Oceanside
Collegiate Academy.
Photo by Bill Fitzpatrick.