Changing the identity of a school doesn’t happen in a day or a week, but downtown Sanders-Clyde Elementary School plans to do as much as possible this year to begin transforming into an arts-infused school.
The genesis of the idea to take the highest poverty school in Charleston County and give it an arts makeover dates back about three years to the tenure of former Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson and a partnership she developed with nationally known artist Jonathan Green.
They hatched the idea to give Sanders-Clyde a new arts-related focus that would coincide with the opening of its new building, slated for January 2010.
“I do see this as an opportunity to be at the forefront when people are talking about arts infusion,” school Principal Melvin Middleton said. “I think we’re really on the cusp of greatness.”