Home RemodelingIn Clover, SC

Folks in Clover, S.C., who haven’t seen Aiden Adair for awhile will get their chance on Sunday night. So will the rest of the country.

The former Clover High School student traveled to Nashville for an American Idol tryout. Adair’s episode begins at 8 p.m. and airs on ABC. Adair couldn’t say ahead of Sunday’s new episode how the tryout went, but did say Thursday morning it was a great experience.

“It was a lot,” Adair said. “I’m very introverted and to myself, so definitely out of my comfort zone.”

Adair, 19, was born in Pennsylvania but moved to Clover at age 6. Adair went to Clover High, and followed in siblings’ footsteps through the popular Choraliers singing program.

The COVID-19 pandemic hit when Adair was a junior, which was the last time he sang live in front of crowds prior to American Idol.

Adair started creating music and went through a physical transformation since the pandemic sent him online for his senior year of high school, so even old friends may not recognize him. After high school Adair briefly moved to Los Angeles and just recently to Charleston — both places where he has family — while pursuing passions of music, fitness and boxing.

Adair hasn’t started live music performances yet.

“I just don’t really know how to play instruments, so that’s kind of been the thing that’s holding me back,” Adair said.

Adair began making music during the online days of pandemic. His Tik Tok following grew to more than 350,000 followers. Adair prefers to sing indie, folk music. The online presence led to an invitation to try out for Idol.

Adair watched American Idol with his family when he was younger. He recalls artists like Scotty McCreery and Phillip Phillips. Adair didn’t watch as much through high school. Then, music became a more serious passion.

Adair covered a song of another Idol contestant who blew up on Tik Tok, Benson Boone. Adair spoke with Boone ahead of the recent audition.

Adair said he was more nervous than he expected he’d be at the Nashville audition. Like other hopefuls, he had to perform in front of Luke Bryan, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie. But the invitation fit Adair’s no-regret philosophy.

“I felt like it was a good opportunity for me to take, and I would be dumb not to take it,” Adair said.

As a high school sophomore, Adair vowed to never settle.

“I decided that I would dedicate my life to only doing the stuff I love doing with people I like being around,” Adair said.

Adair didn’t listen if someone said he had to go to college, or get a job straight away. Now Adair plans to live with a friend and continue to pursue music.

“There’s no backup plan,” Adair said. “I believe if you have a backup plan you don’t believe in your first plan.”

Adair said he only has to get a job, until he doesn’t. He said he sees everyone on a rock spinning through space, with one life to live. Adair said he believes people should do what makes them happy, which for him means betting on himself and pursuing dreams.

“No one really does the out-of-the-ordinary,” Adair said.

The American Idol audition certainly was extraordinary. Adair went to Nashville with his dad and walked the city. Adair isn’t sure if it will show on the coming episode, but the experience opened him up in unexpected ways. Adair also recalls the most beautiful sunset he’d seen -- on audition day.

American Idol is old enough now for generations to have grown up watching it. Perhaps dreaming what it might be like to audition. The show is older than Tik Tok or many of the other platforms artists now use to grow a following. For anyone who may watch the show and consider a tryout, Adair shares his philosophy.

He never wants to be the old guy who looks back and wonders what it would have been like to chase a dream, to truly and wholeheartedly go for it.

“If you’re passionate about something, if you have a dream, just go for it,” Adair said. “No matter what.”

This story was originally published February 23, 2023, 12:56 PM.

After months without answers, homeowners reached out to WCNC Charlotte for help.

CLOVER, S.C. — Residents in Clover told WCNC Charlotte they are stressed over sewage. Raw sewage is being spilled across their yards from a broken pipe, but the question remains: Whose problem is this to solve?

For the Hall family, a good morning starts with the sounds of nature. They like to sit on their rocking chairs and enjoy the sounds of nature on Fairview Street.

Instead of the sweet smell of the countryside, though, it's something else.

“In the morning, you open the door," Melinda Hall said. "You have to hold your breath.”

The culprit: Pools of raw sewage have collected just a few feet away from their house.

“It’s just nasty, just takes your breath away some days," Ricky Hall said.

"You are supposed to be smelling flowers," Melinda Hall added.

Ricky Hall said it's creating problems.

“It goes under the fence and right past our flower bed there," Ricky Hall said. "Sewage is sitting in the yard, it’s very soft and really slick. There are sinkholes."

The two said it has led to a plethora of problems.

“I used these little stepping stones," Melinda Hall said. "Trying to get in the car with this, I’m having to pull up or back up and get on the other side to get in. I have to crawl through my car. Getting on my clothes when I’m trying to go to work.”

In an effort to get answers, the Halls contacted the town of Clover.

“The city saying they can’t do anything about it. It’s not their line and not their problem," Ricky Hall said.

The town told the Halls it falls under SCDHEC jurisdiction. WCNC Charlotte reached out to the town to check.

Town administrator Alison Harvey provided the following response:

"The Town’s Public Works Department is aware of this situation. The sewer line creating this issue is a private service line – not a Town of Clover line. The Town has been assisting the SC Department of Environmental Control (SCDHEC) to get this issue resolved. It is my understanding that SCDHEC is in the process of taking enforcement action again the property owner but you should confirm with them."

WCNC Charlotte reached out to SCDHEC, which said:

"I can confirm that we are aware of this and have been in communication with both the responsible party and with the complainants. The agency is working to ensure that the responsible party quickly and appropriately addresses the issue. The agency doesn't comment on pending or ongoing enforcement action, so if enforcement action is being pursued or were to be pursued, we wouldn't be able to provide details at that time, only after that action were to be finalized."

The owner of a trailer where the pipe is located told WCNC Charlotte she heard from SCDHEC, and the department said she had five days to clean the mess up and fix the pipe or law enforcement would come into play. The owner said her trailer had no running water or sewage, so this isn't her problem.

She said even though this city sewage pipe is on her private property, her neighbor's sewage runs through it. She said she has reached out to SCDHEC and the town of Clover for help since the beginning.

In the meantime, the Halls are left hoping for a solution so they can get back to starting their days on their rocking chairs.

COVID-19 came like a wrecking ball through public schools, almost overnight sending students and instruction online while setting off years of concern about loss of learning.

But, the pandemic also brought funding. And now the question arises: what will happen when that money is gone?

The Clover School District held a board work session earlier this month to address a funding issue that’s loomed over public schools. Area districts used federal ESSER funds for a wide range of costs, including additional teachers. These are teachers who districts will have to pay to keep -- well after the federal relief dollars are gone.

Superintendent Sheila Quinn said the district added almost 30 positions with ESSER funds over the past three years.

“That would be a huge impact to the general budget if we were to say, ‘hey, lets move all of them to the general fund,’” Quinn said.

The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund began in March 2020 when the federal CARES Act set aside $13.2 billion for schools. A second round in December 2020 provided another $54.3 billion. A third round of ESSER funds followed in March 2021, at $122 billion.

ESSER funds have been used by area districts for masks, sanitizer, desk shields, transition to online work or virtual academies and other needs. Funds also brought in more teachers, intervention instructors and mental health workers to address emotional strain and learning loss due to COVID-19.

Those funds came with timelines.

The first round had to be spent by the end of September last year. The second round wraps up the end of this coming September. Third round revenue has to be spent by the end of September 2024.

Across three rounds of funding, the four York County school districts received more than $90 million. Rock Hill got more than $54 million. Due to its demographics, with the lowest student poverty rate in three states, Fort Mill got about $8 million despite being the largest district in the county. York received more than $18 million and Clover almost $13 million.

Joe Burke, information officer for the Fort Mill School District, said schools there face similar questions as the ones mulled in Clover.

“We are probably not facing as many positions as some districts but we do have nine positions that were hired under ESSER II funds that we plan to move to the general fund budget for next year,” Burke said.

Those positions include teaching, mental health, curriculum and administrative workers. The general fund will take on about $950,000 in that switch.

Rock Hill has 76 current positions funded through the third round of ESSER.

“Our plan is to keep each position,” said district spokesperson Lindsay Machak. “Through attrition, we will cover these positions with our general fund.”

Quinn presented options this week for her board.

One plan to transfer positions from ESSER to general fund budgeting involved the equivalent of 16 full-time teachers. There were behavior technicians at four schools and math intervention positions at eight. Six more positions would lower or maintain class sizes at elementary and middle schools. Those 16 equivalent positions — 18 total positions — focus heavily on Title 1 schools or grade levels where intervention is critical to curb pandemic learning loss.

The estimated combined cost of those positions is more than $1.3 million.

A more streamlined focus that includes 11 full-time equivalent positions would keep math intervention spots at Title 1 schools, behavior technicians and teachers to reduce class sizes. It would cost more than $920,000. Quinn said the district can use ESSER funds one more year for the remaining spots.

“That would give the board the option to phase in these math interventionists over a two-year budget cycle,” Quinn said, “as opposed to trying to do them all in one.”

Even that plan won’t come easy.

“That is under $1 million,” Quinn said, “but that is still a pretty hefty price tag to the budget. This is a critical decision.”

Intervention or other positions from ESSER that don’t transition to the general fund could be moved into vacant positions. Quinn said the district wants to honor contracts. An option is to move a position into an existing general fund spot vacated by a retiring teacher.

“There’s a domino effect,” Quinn said.

The decisions come as area districts continue to need more teachers at a time when they can be hard to find.

Fort Mill continues to grow and now has more students than Rock Hill. The York School District approached both York County and the City of York to ask for impact fees as that district sees a surge in new homes. So far the district hasn’t had any new fees approved.

Clover continues plans for a new middle and high school. Board member Rob Wallace said ESSER to general fund decisions are difficult in light of the bigger funding picture.

“Our budget numbers are (going up) right now,” Wallace said. “I mean, it was a lot last year. At some point we’ve got to prioritize.”

Quinn presented the board with growth needs based on the more than 500 new students from last year to this one. It comes out to a dozen teachers across grade levels, at a cost of almost $970,000. More teachers are an every year cost to the district. Costs could vary from that estimate, depending on experience and education levels of new hires.

Board decisions on how to fund ESSER positions moving forward could impact money for summer school, curriculum or HVAC work, among others. The intervention workers would stay on, but could do so in different roles.

“Almost like you’ve got to think about them as growth positions,” Quinn said.

Elementary schools have had reading intervention teachers for years. The pandemic highlighted the importance of math intervention, or help with students who fall behind. Intervention teachers often pull students for one-on-one or small group instruction beyond time in the classroom.

“The classroom teacher is teaching on grade level,” Quinn said. “The interventionist is plugging in holes for off grade level.”

Quinn said she believes strongly in math intervention at elementary schools, where the biggest math score gaps often exist. Clover and other area district officials saw this challenge coming when ESSER funds arrived. At a joint meeting of school boards early last year, administrators from all four districts discussed plans to transition away from funding that had created so many new positions.

Still, positions like math intervention that didn’t exist or weren’t as widespread before the pandemic have shown their value. Making them hard for districts to lose, after seeing results.

“But now we have,” Quinn said, “and we’ve gotten used to it.”

This story was originally published February 23, 2023, 7:53 AM.

CLOVER, S.C. (CN2 NEWS) – Seventh graders are writing novels and getting them published.

In their second year, Oakridge Middle School in Clover, has held this project for their 7th graders. This year they have exceeded participation with 200 students now understanding the publishing process.

Oakridge Middle School Student Solomon Hopkins-Smith said, “The thing I really wished I knew was to take my time and really think about what I wanted to write instead of just trying to go onto the tablet and going to write something but taking the time to think go through my ideas and be like hmm this actually seems good, this not so much, I should probably put this word in and not that word, and just actually trying to think it through instead of just trying to type it real quick because that’s what I did for my original idea”

7th Grade ELA Teacher Erica Fielder said, “At first they are always like, you want us to do what? We are writing a novel? Like not just a couple paragraphs, a paragraph, were writing a novel? And were like yeah, we’ll walk you through it and by the end everyone meets their goal and their attitudes change about writing. They end up loving it by the end, there is always some speed bumps and road bumps that we hit, but I think it changes their view point on writing because they can pick what they are actually writing.”

Previously the published books the students have completed have gone to their school’s bookshelf – This year many of the students have decided to take their novels to the Kindle publishing site as well to sell them for profit.

ROCK HILL, S.C. (CN2 NEWS) – Big economic news as a company is ready to invest more than $400-million in York County bringing with it 405 new jobs.

Chester County Council voting unanimously in Monday’s meeting to hire Brian Hester a chief deputy with the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office in Florida.

Seventh graders writing novels and getting them published.

We have those stories and more.

ROCK HILL, S.C. (CN2 SPORTS) – Not one but two tri-county schools saw their wrestling teams advance to the upper state championships.

CN2’s Jeremy Wynder updating the brackets for us.

Plus, a pair of Winthrop alums hanging out with celebrities on the golf course.

Here is your Tuesday sports.

On Tuesday, Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports reported that Virginia Tech basketball will play South Carolina in Charlotte, N.C. in the 2023-24 season.

As part of a doubleheader with Virginia and Florida, the Hokies and Gamecocks will meet on Friday, Nov. 10, 2023 in the Spectrum Center. The Veterans Day matchup will be the 32nd all-time between VT and USC, the first since Dec. 5, 1997 in the Pepsi/Harris Teeter Challenge in Charlotte. USC won that game by one, 74-73.

Virginia Tech is 13-18 against South Carolina. 19 meetings came as conference foes – 16 in the Metro (VT was 10-6) and three in the SoCon (VT was 1-2). November will be the sixth neutral site contest between the two programs. Tech is 2-3 in those opportunities; its last win was in 1960. Here’s the full list:

Dec. 5, 1997, Charlotte, N.C.: USC 74, VT 73 March 11, 1988, Memphis, Tenn.: USC 92, VT 81 Dec. 22, 1960, Salem, Va.: VT 106, USC 75 Jan. 2, 1953, Wytheville, Va.: USC 69, VT 66 Jan. 12, 1951, Roanoke, Va.: VT 68, USC 64

Under first-year head coach Lamont Paris, South Carolina is 10-17 (3-11 SEC) this season. Like the Hokies, the Gamecocks also played in the Charleston Classic in TD Arena in November, going 0-3. As of Tuesday, USC is 225th in Ken Pomeroy’s ratings and 243rd in the NET rankings.

Paris knows Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young well. He was the head coach at Chattanooga in the Southern Conference from 2017 to 2022 and faced Young four times (all games Young won).

Charlotte is a familiar home for the Hokies. They’ve played football games, whether they be ACC Championships or bowl games, at Bank of America Stadium. And in the 2021-22 season, Young and Virginia Tech played in the Spectrum Center against St. Bonaventure, an 86-49 drubbing. Charlotte is also the home of Tech freshman Pat Wessler, and fellow freshman MJ Collins, who is from nearby Clover, S.C., played high school basketball just outside of Charlotte (with Wessler) at Combine Academy.

The Charlotte doubleheader is the second piece of non-conference scheduling news for 2023-24 that’s been released. On Dec. 13, Rothstein reported that Virginia Tech will participate in the 2023 ESPN Invitational in Orlando, Fla. Boise State, Butler, Iowa State, Penn State, Texas A&M – led by former Tech head coach Buzz Williams – and VCU are the other participants. A team from the MAAC will join as well. And, should Tech Hunter Cattoor stay for an extra season, the Orlando native will have the opportunity to play in his hometown.