School trustees OK the deal

Oconee School District will pay $834 thousand dollars three groups of property owners for a little more than 40 acres on which the district will build a replacement Seneca middle school. The property fronts both Wells Highway and Garrison Road, not far from the 59 intersection. The deal, agreed to last night, is contingent on approvals from the South Carolina DOT and the school facilities office in the state Department of Education. Those approvals, according to associate superintendent Steve Hanvey, are anticipated. At one point, seven separate properties were considered for the new school. Administrators say they will use the footprint from the last middle school built in the county, the West-Oak Middle School, as a “starting point.”