Community shows support for school

    Murphy – There’s no doubt that the Martins Creek community loves their school.
    About 30 people gathered at the continuation of the Cherokee County Board of Education meeting on Jan. 22 to share with board members why their kindergarten through eighth grade campus should remain open.
    “Martins Creek is the heart of our community,” Blake Ritz said. “This is home.”
    He and another parent, Rachel Grano, both said they grew up in the area and moved away, but returned to Martins Creek because they wanted their children to go to the small community school. Andrea Garst added that she moved to the area from Florida so her children could go to a small community school.
    Ray Cook was concerned with the amount of time that passed without a permanent solution. He said the earliest mention he found of the septic issue at the school was during the August board meeting, and the septic system would still need to be repaired if the county wants to sell the property in the future.
    “If this was my house or your house, I don’t think you’d wait until November to fix it,” Cook said. “My thought is, either way, you’re going to have to spend that money to get it fixed at some point. … I don’t know what’s holding yuns up.”
    Members of the community invited board members to a meeting Monday evening at the school. The meeting was originally scheduled as a school improvement plan and Parent Teacher Association meeting, but it also became a forum for the community to discuss the future of the campus.
    While other board members showed interest in attending, only Joe Wood was there, ensuring it did not have a quorum and become an official meeting of the board. Nearly 100 people gathered in the school’s gym to learn more about the school’s situation, with several sharing their desire to keep the school open.
    “It is the job of the board to keep the school open, to do whatever they can with the minimum resources provided by the state or the county to keep the school open,” parent James Jallah said, followed by a round of applause. “Please do whatever you can in your capacity to keep our school open. We love our school, we love our teachers and we love every staff member here.”
    Grano encouraged parents to attend school board meetings, and reported that there isn’t much money to fix the problems on all campuses, according to her research. She suggested they find ways to help the schools save money where they can – like a farm-to-school program – so there are more funds to go around.
    “We need to come together as a community and come up with a plan. The state’s not going to give us money. The county doesn’t want to give us money. People sure don’t want to pay more taxes to support schools,” Grano said. “We need to start thinking of ways and get creative in how we can generate more of our own money.”
    Families also learned two local businesses offered to provide materials or services at cost to fix the school’s septic system.
    Ed Guimond of Hayesville, who said he has a septic license in the state, did his own independent evaluation of the septic system. His findings determined the system wasn’t installed correctly initially and that it should have a pressurized dosing system, which would cost $3,500.
    “This system could be repaired,” he said.
    Guimond said he’d be willing to provide his services to the school free of charge. Principal Paul Wilson added that Wilson Building Supply offered to provide materials at cost to help the school save money.
    Wilson added that there are plans to help save money on pumping – which is $3,000 for three pumps a week – by reducing the number of times they pump the tank each week, if it proves to cause sewage to seep through the ground.
    After board members learned on Jan. 16 that the $250,000 in estimated costs to fix the septic system at Martins Creek Elementary/Middle School would not be less if a more direct route was taken by the drain pipes, board member Jeff Martin asked for a feasibility study to be done on the future of the campus. The board unanimously agreed to the study.
    Board Chairman Jeff Tatham reassured those present at the continuation meeting that requesting a study is not a vote to close a school. Superintendent Jeana Conley added that a feasibility study was performed last year on rearranging Ranger Elementary/Middle and Hiwassee Dam Elementary/Middle did not result in changes at those schools.
    Conley said it is not unusual for a feasibility to be done on any school with an average daily attendance under 200 students. Martins Creek has 196 students in K-8. The feasibility study on Martins Creek will not be complete until after pre-kindergarten and kindergarten registration Friday, March 27.
    Since the public input portion of the meeting occurred the week prior, Martin requested that the agenda be adjusted to allow public input for those in the continuation’s audience who wished to speak.
    Before asking the board to allow the people who gathered at the continuation of the board’s meeting to speak, Martin wanted to clear up some things that had been circulating online since he suggested the study. First of all, he said he did not intend to prohibit bids.
    He added that he provided incorrect information about county funding in an email reply he sent to someone late at night that was circulated online. He clarified that the schools received $865,000 from the quarter-cent sales tax, $250,000 just last quarter.
     Martin said a neighbor was interested in donating labor on the septic system and asked if that was legally a possible solution. He was informed that the board still had to go through a bidding process, and donations of labor and materials would be included in the individual’s bid amount.