MOUNT PLEASANT, SC (January 15, 2010) - Mount Pleasant Town Administrator R. Mac Burdette was recognized with the Behind the Scenes Hero Award by Charleston County School District Board Chair Ruth Jordan and Superintendent Dr. Nancy McGinley at their Board of Trustees meeting on Jan. 11. The newly created award recognizes individuals who have impacted the district and its students in meaningful ways.

Bill Lewis, CCSD Chief Operating Officer in charge of Capital Programs, submitted Burdette for the award stating that his tireless work to make the Town of Mount Pleasant a great place to live, work, study and play had been a key priority for him and his staff.

“Under Mac’s positive leadership, the town explored opportunities to partner with the district to find win-win opportunities to improve town services, to reduce the town’s tax burden, and to increase opportunities for students, parents and community members,” said Lewis.

He cited the newly opened Moultrie Middle School and Mount Pleasant Academy as prime examples of Burdette’s commitment to excellence and creative thinking.

Both schools had longstanding joint use agreements in place for the recreation facilities at or adjacent to CCSD campuses, said Lewis. In return for maintaining these first-class athletic fields, town staff would use the facilities after hours for little league, soccer and basketball programs.

Lewis added that Burdette would not rest until he identified new ways to partner with CCSD as the district recapitalized both campuses.

At Moultrie Middle School, Burdette proposed an agreement to build new market pavilions and a pocket park on school grounds to accommodate the very popular Mount Pleasant Farmers Market venue – and many of the recommendations of the Coleman Boulevard Revitalization Project. Under his leadership, the town partnered with the school district on the design and construction of the new signalized intersection on Coleman Boulevard; as well as on a bioswale to handle the storm water runoff from the new school and farmers market.

To do so, he brought his planning staff and the CCSD design team to the table early in the process to ensure that the design team understood all the concerns that his staff and the Design Review Board members needed to address during the design process. This allowed this highly visible project to conclude in a timely manner without expensive redesign and costly construction delays.

“At Mount Pleasant Academy, Mac spearheaded an agreement that enabled the district to construct the new teacher parking lot on town property. This was critical for gaining approval to rebuild the new school at this historic site,” said Lewis. “This agreement allowed the parking lot to be used after hours by parents who have children playing ball at the three ball fields adjacent to MPA.”

Lewis added that Burdette provided the positive leadership for town staff to collaborate with the design team to find solutions to the many challenges of building a new 500-student school on a campus 10 acres less than the state norm.

“Mac will be the first person to give the credit to other members of his staff,” said Lewis. “But, rest assured none of this would have happened without his vision, positive leadership and behind the scenes efforts to get these two schools opened on time.”

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Photo (from left to right): CCSD Superintendent Nancy McGinley, Mount Pleasant Town Administrator Mac Burdette, and CCSD Board of Trustees Chair Ruth Jordan (photo courtesy of CCSD)