$4.8M more to finish Crestwood stadium project before school board on Monday

In two action items Monday, Sumter school board will vote on whether to approve a total of about $4.8 million more to a new high school football stadium that now exceeds $9 million in cost projections.

Early cost estimates from a year ago projected a new stadium at Crestwood High School at $3.5 million, but district Chief Financial Officer Shatika Spearman said at the last school board meeting that total will now reach an estimated $9.5 million or possibly more, based on remaining project priorities.

Since June of last year, there have been repeated cost estimate increases and changes in project scope provided by district Executive Director of Operations Samuel Myers and Spearman, and trustees have questioned the delays and the administration's project management approach.

As of Friday, Monday's school board meeting agenda does not include further discussion on the Crestwood athletic field complex, but trustees will vote on two related actions near the end of the night. One involves a $5 million spring capital bond projects proposal that includes about $1.6 million for two, top stadium "Priority List" items.

The priority list with cost estimates of remaining needs for the Crestwood project was completed by Myers, Spearman and Superintendent William Wright Jr. working in conjunction during the last several weeks with the school's administrators, athletic director and football coaches.

The second vote at the meeting will be on the entire stadium priority list, which totals an estimated $4.8 million and includes items grouped in seven categories, or rows.

The additional $3.2 million for the project would come from an upcoming fall 2025 capital bond issuance that is projected to total $12.4 million, Spearman said.

With $4,723,716.42 spent to date on the project, the full priority list takes the Crestwood stadium up to an estimated $9.5 million to complete.

In project presentations this spring, Spearman has emphasized inflationary pressures in recent years and that the totals listed are "estimates" and could end up higher or lower.

Last summer, the total project estimate rose from $3.5 million to $5.1 million, then $5.3 million in December, $5.9 million in February and now more than $9 million.

In late June last year just before the close of fiscal 2024, district administration held a special-called meeting of the previous board with the request to transfer $1.7 million "to complete the project," administrators said. The measure on June 24, 2024, passed in an 8-1 vote. At that meeting, trustee Bonnie Disney asked Spearman and Myers if the total project cost would reach $6 million total, and Myers said "no."

The stadium involves numerous components to include an artificial turf field, track, seating, scoreboard, additional restrooms, new LED lighting, fencing, a fieldhouse apparently added this spring and more.

The field and track are ready and have been used this spring by Crestwood soccer and track and field teams, Myers said, but work on the stadium continues.

Administration never produced an original plan or itemized list for the project to the board, and the current priority list is a first comprehensive listing with cost estimates that has been provided to the trustees.

MORE ON THE PROJECT

As background, since Crestwood opened in fall 1996, the school has never had a dedicated football field on its campus where it played varsity home games and instead hosted games at Hillcrest Middle School in Dalzell. That school was formerly a 4A high school in Sumter County, and the field did serve the purposes as a high school field for Crestwood but was about a 20-minute drive away.

Spearman and Myers have continued to say that Crestwood has provided district administration invaluable experience with completing future renovations to the district's other two high school football fields at Lakewood High School and Sumter High. Currently, $2.5 million has been allocated to those projects

Trustee Phil Leventis asked at the last board meeting on May 5 if those two projects could also change in scope like Crestwood, and Myers and Spearman could not answer the question.

Numerous items make up the current priority list, including three additional mobile restrooms, fencing, stanchions, field goal netting for safety purposes, a visitors' press box, 600 additional seats on the visitors' side of the football field, the new LED lighting, parking additions and the new fieldhouse.

The fieldhouse obviously will not be completed for the upcoming football season that begins in August, Wright said, and administration added it will do all it can for completion of the other items before the first home game if funding is approved.

The whole project dilemma has several trustees calling for better project management within district administration. In recent years, the district has struggled in this area. One example is about 15 months ago, in February 2024, when the board approved a new bathroom and concession stand area option costing about $400,000 for a middle school football field. That project is still not finished on the books with the district.

A shortage in staff in the district's maintenance department could be at least part of the problem.

Trustee Tarah Johnson, who represents the Crestwood area on the board, said at the last board meeting that all the trustees need to see the project through to completion because the high school has never had complete facilities to operate its athletic programs on site.

"So, now we are faced with the dilemma of getting it done," she said. "We have started the project. We cannot turn back now, and we need the public to get behind us on this because these are your students if you are in that area. If you are not in that area, you may be OK because Lakewood or Sumter High may have what they need, at least foundationally."

Fellow trustee Phil Leventis, who was a state senator representing the greater Sumter region for 32 years in the General Assembly, said he is not comfortable with the project, given the continued changes in scope and lack of a budget.

He came on the board in March after winning a special election to fill former board member Jeff Zell's seat. Zell won the state Senate District 36 seat in November.

"In my brief experience on the board," Leventis said, "it sounds like we are almost just being polled for how we feel, and that's not it. We have a responsibility to the students, parents, teachers, staff and the public for over a $160 million budget that we spend, plus the bond issuances. Our role is not to just say, 'Well, we hear what you are saying and go ahead and do it.'

"The staff is more stable over time than some of the board members. But, by the same token, the staff is not the one to be held accountable by the public; we are."

MONDAY'S MEETING

Monday's board meeting will begin at 6 p.m. and will be at Crestwood High, 2000 Oswego Highway, Sumter, SC 29153. It is being held there because administration and the board will be honoring numerous students with special recognitions, and there is a need for a larger venue than the boardroom at the district office, according to a district spokeswoman.

Because the meeting is the board's monthly work session, public participation is not listed on the agenda.

For those not physically attending, the district broadcasts meetings live on YouTube.

Anyone wanting to attend the meeting virtually can do so via YouTube Sumter School District Board Meeting and the district's Facebook page, @SumterSCSchools.