BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – The school board in Berkeley County will discuss several new school projects during a meeting Tuesday night.

The first phase of several projects for the Berkeley County School District is a plan to construct a new elementary school at the corner of Black Tom Road and Cane Bay Boulevard.

Darlene Thigpen and her husband, Gary, purchased a home in the Nexton community when moving to the Lowcountry from New York.

“It’s a weird story,” she said. “My husband looked on Google Maps, found out there was water here, and we just decided to move here from New York – that’s how we picked Nexton.”

But there is one minor issue: their middle school-aged son attends classes at a different school from the one they expected.

“Well, they actually do need another school in this area because actually, this area is booming. We have a son who’s 13 and he goes to Sangaree which is on the other side of town,” she explained. “When we moved here, we were just assuming he was going to go to Cane Bay, but it’s overcrowded so they actually do need a school in this area.”

The overcrowding is why Berkeley County residents passed a sales tax referendum to build new schools. The district anticipates about $385 million from the one-cent tax that begins in March.

School board members are set to discuss, and possibly pass, approval for phase one of that plan during a meeting Tuesday night. The plan would build a new middle, or possibly even K-8 school at the corner of Nexton Parkway and Blueway Avenue.

A new elementary school would be built at the corner of Cane Bay Parkway and Black Tom Road. Hanahan Middle School would have a new wing built as part of that phase.

Another K-8 school and major renovations at several other schools are planned for later phases to address the growing population in the district.

Darlene and Gary say they are looking forward to the new school in Nexton.

“We’re happy to have the school in the area. The kids need a school, someplace to go. I mean look at all the homes they are building back there,” said Gary Thigpen.

The regular session of Tuesday night’s school board meeting is expected to begin around 6:30 p.m.