Horry County Schools welcomes students on the first day of the new school year

HORRY COUNTY, SC (WMBF) – The first day of school for Horry County Schools students is officially set for 2024-2025.

“It was a very busy day, a great day and the weather was beautiful,” said Lisa Bourcier, district spokeswoman.

Almost 50,000 students visited 56 university campuses today to restart their education.

“It’s great to see the kids again and to be rested,” said Bourcier.

WMBF News was at the new Whittemore Park Middle School this afternoon to pick up the 1,047 students on the campus roster.

“When we were here this morning, we noticed that there were actually more children here,” said Brittney Gardner.

Gardner, who was on campus to pick up her son, said he was excited about the first day.

“He was up first this morning and ready for class,” Gardner said.

Tammy Grainger stood in line to pick up her granddaughter, who is in sixth grade at Whittemore, and said she was nervous about her first day.

“She’s just not used to it and it’s a big change, a really big change,” Grainger said.

Quintina Livingston, principal of Whittemore Park, says all students were greeted with open arms and a warm welcome that morning. She says that welcome will continue for a while.

“We’ll greet them and of course go through all of our search procedures. Get the kids in. Remind our seventh and eighth graders how things work. We’re just in a different building. There’s no difference at all,” Livingston said.

As of the reporting date, there were no major incidents reported for the first day as campuses across the district optimized their daily operations.

Parents do not have to worry about feeding their children throughout the school year.

The district provides breakfast and lunch for free to each student, meaning there are no additional forms to fill out to participate.

Although the county continues to grow, the problem of overpopulation remains significant in some communities.

“We know that several schools have reached or are close to their capacity limits. We call them red zone Category 1 schools. So we are limiting the number of students transferring to those schools to reduce the population,” Bourcier said. “The two new elementary schools in Carolina Forest should be open by August 2025.”

She added that the district continues to make progress in opening the two new schools in Carolina Forest and completing Whittemore Park to ultimately help alleviate some of the overcrowding issues.

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