FORT MILL — Brandon Dunford had expected his two oldest daughters to be enjoying their second month of classes at the newly opened Flint Hill Elementary School.
“We moved to Fort Mill from Illinois in February of 2020 because of the school district,” he said, after considering locations in Mecklenburg County in North Carolina. “Education is every parent’s focus, and when you can get an incredible public school system like you can in Fort Mill, that’s what drew us.”
Instead, his 8-year-old is taking online classes, and his 6-year-old attends a Rock Hill charter school.
He and his wife made the decisions in light of the construction of the Silfab Solar plant, practically next door to the new elementary and Flint Hill Middle School, which will open in 2026. The plant, when completed, will manufacture solar panels.
Silfab officials have said their facility, also in vicinity of many homes and businesses, will be a safe addition to the area.
That wasn’t enough to calm the fears of parents like Dunford, who also saw the concern affecting his children and others.
“That was a point, as a father, that I wasn’t going to let my daughter have anxiety and worry about this,” he said.
In response to community concerns, the Fort Mill School District in June contracted with Citadel EHS for an environmental health and safety assessment for the schools.
The district will host a community meeting with a question and answer session on Oct. 21 at 5 p.m. at Nation Ford High School. It will share Citadel’s assessments and recommendations for emergency preparedness.
Citadel officials have made presentations of their work at school board meetings the last several months. Silfab has been engaged in the process as well, they said. Experts have laid out how air and water quality can be monitored at the two schools along the north side of Gold Hill Road, just east of Interstate 77.