Murphy – Three years ago last week, the Cherokee County Board of Education decided to close Marble Elementary School. Just last month, the board voted in favor of a long-range plan that condenses three public high schools into one.
While these decisions may not have be favored by everyone, decisions on consolidating area schools started more than 80 years ago.
Greg Chapman, administrative assistant and board liaison to the school board, compiled research on Cherokee County Schools for A 90 Year Historical Journey of the Cherokee County Board of Education, which was published in 2016 by the board. The Hiwassee Dam area was the first part of the county considered for consolidation when the board asked a representative from the state Department of Public Instruction in Raleigh to survey the area in 1939.
In February 1940, W.F Credle’s report suggested that the board should negotiate with the Tennessee Valley Authority for the use of buildings for a consolidated school, and that the road from Hiwassee Dam to Unaka needed to be completed. Within months, the board was working with the TVA to arrange agreements for school facilities.
Credle reported that some community schools were in such a bad physical state that they should be abandoned. A few community schools even had more than 40 students per teacher.
In 1945, the board closed Hill School and River Hill School, sending those students to Hiwassee Dam, while Buck Knob School saw the same fate in 1953. There are other schools, like Ogreeta School, which were included in Credle’s report and were closed, but there’s no record in the minutes of the details of the closings.
In 1944, the board decided to ask Credle to survey the Ranger district and make recommendations on consolidation in the area. Chapman is curious what the consolidation discussions would be like today
if Credle would have been able to survey the other areas and help the board consolidate more schools in the county.
Consolidating schools part of county’s educational history
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