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Murphy – Cherokee County Schools released details about three competing school consolidation plans from three school board members – Steve Coleman, Jason Murphy and Jeff Tatham.
Since the school district ended plans for high school consolidation last year, the three board members have been looking at a variety of ways to reduce the number of campuses. Tatham’s plan may result in overcrowding, and he expressed a willingness to withdraw his proposal and back Coleman’s.
Tatham’s plan would consolidate Murphy High and Murphy Middle schools at a new campus that would be built beside the new Schools of Innovation & Technology using the same plan that would have been used had the county consolidated Andrews, Hiwassee Dam and Murphy high schools.
The old Murphy Middle would be the location of a combined grades 3-5 campus consolidating Martins Creek, Murphy and Peachtree elementary schools. The old Murphy Elementary would combine pre-kindergarten through grade 2 from the same three schools.
However, Tatham said his plan would exceed the capacity of the old Murphy Middle, and he said he would consider Coleman’s plan, which would also result in a new combined high school as well as adjusted grades at campuses in the western and eastern ends of the county.
Coleman proposes that the school district could save more than $5 million a year in general maintenance and operation costs with his multi-phased proposal to close seven campuses and combine them into four campuses.
Campuses affected by Phase 1 would be Murphy middle and elementary schools, Martins Creek, Peachtree Elementary School and The Oaks Academy, even though the alternative school is already included in the new Schools of Innovation & Technology. They would be combined into a single campus in Peachtree.
High schools in Andrews and Hiwassee Dam would undergo necessary repairs
and remain open, while new construction would revive Murphy High School. However, architects told Cherokee County school officials in 2017 that Murphy High was so damaged that it could not be repaired, saying it must be replaced altogether.
The project would use existing legwork from the high school consolidation plan, which cost $1 million to prepare, Coleman said.
His plan calls for a pre-K through eighth-grade campus in Peachtree next to the Schools of Innovation, which would share an oversized cafeteria. New athletic facilities would also be built. Enrollment would be about 1,300 pupils.
Coleman said his plan calls for three disconnected buildings on a single campus, with wings for pre-kindergarten through second grade, third through fifth grades and sixth through eighth grades.
The scenario requires that the county go after two state grants – $30 million for a consolidated elementary school and $40 million for a consolidated middle school, for a total of $70 million. Those are maximum amounts and not guaranteed.
Knowing the state may not go for such a scheme, Coleman proposed a Plan B scenario that would result in a two-story campus, with pre-K through fifth grade on one floor and grades 6-8 on the other floor. The hope is that the state would grant $40 million for this project because it involves middle school consolidation.
Either way, Coleman said Phase I would be fully funded between state grants, local matches and work already paid for in the high school consolidation project. It would also open the door for additional grants for later phases.
Phase 2 would move Murphy High to the vacated Murphy Middle. This would allow demolition of the substandard facilities at Murphy High to make room for some new construction.
Schools in Andrews have their own plan. Andrews Elementary School, among the school district’s most dilapidated facilities, would move to Andrews Middle School. Andrews Middle would move to Andrews High School, which in Phase 3 would be rebuilt and be identical to a newly rebuilt Murphy High.
Meanwhile, out west, Coleman proposes that Ranger close and combine with Hiwassee Dam. County schools can use sales proceeds from vacated campuses and apply those proceeds for later phases in the plan, Coleman said.
Murphy said many components of his plan align with Coleman’s plan. Murphy’s plan contains additional options in the first phase:
- Construction of east and west schools for grades kindergarten through 8.
- Combine Ranger and Hiwassee Dam to create a single K-12 campus for the west end.
- Combine Martins Creek elementary and middle schools with Peachtree Elementary School, possibly moving middle school-age pupils to Murphy Middle.
- Combine Andrews middle and high schools and move Andrews Elementary School to the Andrews Middle building.
Absent other suggestions, and because Tatham is seemingly withdrawing his proposal, the board will be considering some version of Coleman’s plan.
The plans were submitted to the board of education on July 20. There was no discussion at that meeting about the plans, but at a previous meeting school board member Jeannie Gaddis expressed concern about Coleman’s plan, saying she opposes any plan that forces young children to travel across the county to attend elementary school.