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Murphy – The superintendent of Cherokee County Schools has received harassing and threatening messages from numerous people in the community for at least the past three years.
While she chooses to believe many of the harassers will never act on their threats, sometimes their words seem more serious than mere intimidation.
Whether she mentions consolidating the county’s high schools onto one campus or two, Conley receives threats from people telling her “not to touch a brick on their school.”
Most of the harassers block their identity by using burner phones. However, she has identified at least one alleged harasser, who as a result must appear in court next week.
“I get threats anytime consolidation becomes a topic on social media,” Dr. Jeana Conley said while explaining why she initiated a criminal summons against a local resident. “My family has been threatened. It’s hurtful.”
A decision whether to move forward with the Cherokee County Board of Education’s recommendation to consolidate Andrews, Hiwassee Dam and Murphy high schools onto the same campus as the Schools of Innovation in Peachtree likely will be made at the board of commissioners meeting Monday night.
The vote is the first of many decisions that must be made to bring the project to fruition. Ultimately, commitment to consolidation depends on the commissioners appropriating funds to complete the project.
“Until someone cuts a check, there’s always the opportunity to change course,” Conley said while explaining where the process stands. “We can’t move forward to contract with a consulting firm, request bids to see what it would cost or anything else until the commissioners say it’s OK to do so. Until
actual bids can be put out and a design team can be secured, we don’t know what’s competitive and what’s not. What we have are cost estimates by square footage of all the schools built in North Carolina within the last five years.”
A preliminary cost summary shows the county may need an additional $37,526,680 to fund the consolidation project. If the county sees a decrease in state funding or loss of grant opportunities, officials estimate a minimum property tax increase of 4 cents will be needed, assuming there are no financial surprises.
More than two dozen people vocally opposed high school consolidation for various reasons at the Feb. 15 board of commissioners meeting. Citizens have also been collecting signatures on a petition opposing the project.
Fearing that commissioners may vote 3-2 in favor of moving forward with the proposed consolidation plan, some citizens have argued that Commissioner Randy Phillips is ineligible to vote on the matter because he is employed as a school resource officer. However, county officials say it is not a conflict of interest for Phillips to vote on school matters because the decisions being made affect the county collectively, as opposed to him individually.
While voices of parents who oppose consolidation have not been hard to find, the number of people in favor of the project remain relatively quiet. However, Conley said she has received more than 100 private messages over the past two weeks from people who support the school board’s decision.
“I believe people are inherently good and that it’s only a small population that resorts to [intimidation tactics],” Conley said, adding that it’s pretty telling that kids are not the ones opposing the decision to consolidate high schools. “The intern who works in my office is all for it and says her friends are, too. She doesn’t know [any other kids] who aren’t excited about the possibility.”
Officials say consolidation will significantly increase the number of athletic and academic programs available to students, who today are not afforded the same opportunities at each school due to lack of funding and lack of resources needed to spread the knowledge across the county.
Meanwhile, residents argue that consolidation will economically ruin the communities that close down their learning institutions.
“No one has a crystal ball, and I know that’s scary, but you have to start somewhere,” Conley said. “If this isn’t the plan the commissioners want to support, we need to know so we can go back to the drawing board.”