The school had an unusual design. The main building was divided into octagonal 'pods', each containing eight chevron-shaped classrooms. This design was borne out of the open classroom concept that was popular during the late 1960s and early 1970s. In the school's early days, classrooms within each pod had no walls, allowing students to participate in any one of several classes occurring at one time. This did not prove successful, and walls were later added to separate the classroom pods by the early 1980s. In 2008, a new three story building replaced the pods as the new school building, integrating the original gymnasium and fine arts buildings as the only remaining pieces of the original campus. On October 26, 2015, a Richland County sheriff's deputy who was serving as Spring Valley's school resource officer was called to a classroom to remove a female student from her classroom. The female student was arrested on a charge called "disturbing schools" for refusing to give up her cell phone and leave the room. She was then pulled from the desk by the officer, thrown to the floor and handcuffed. Another female student in the classroom was also charged with disturbing schools after she allegedly yelled and cursed at the officer. The officer was fired after an internal review found that his actions ran counter to sheriff's department policy. The FBI and the US Department of Justice are investigating to determine if the deputy violated the student's civil rights. In response to the incident, South Carolina lawmakers, led by Rep. Mia McLeod, have proposed limitations to the state statute that defines when students can be arrested for disrupting schools. School district administrators also promised to conduct additional staff training about when to involve school resource officers in future incidents.
Magnet programs
The discoverymagnet program is designed for talented students and focuses on science and math, first founded in 1995. These courses are honors level and required for all members of the Discovery program. All discovery members are required to complete two college-level research projects during their sophomore and junior year. The completion of at least four AP courses is required for graduation from the discovery program. The explorations program is the sister program to discovery. The program focuses on math and science, and is a college-preparatory program, as opposed to an honors program.
