Murphy – Cherokee County has missed this year’s application deadline for a grant to fund consolidation of four schools. The deadline was Oct. 3.
The board of education, by unanimous vote, proposed a plan to build one new school to replace Murphy Middle School as well as elementary schools in Martins Creek, Murphy
and Peachtree. However, a majority of the board of commissioners has favored a plan to replace Murphy High School with a new school to be built in Peachtree.
“At the school board meeting on June 5, 2025, the school board approved applying for the Needs Based Capital Grant 25-26,” Superintendent Keevin Woody said in an email to Commission Chair Dan Eichenbaum and other county government officials. “I am forwarding you the completed Needs Based Capital Grant application. The grant has been signed by the School Board Chair (Shannon Raper) and would require the signature of the County Commission Chair (Eichenbaum). The deadline for the application is Friday, Oct. 3, 2025. If any action is take on the grant, please send it back to me by noon on Oct. 3, 2025, so I can submit the application to NCDPI. Thank you for your assistance.”
‘No action taken’
Woody’s email was sent to the county on Sept. 23, less than two weeks before the deadline.
The email was forwarded to board of commissioners members with a note from County Manager Randy Wiggins: “FYI – they are seeking Chairman Eichenbaum’s signature on the grant application, which
has a deadline of Friday,
Oct. 3.”
In an email to the Cherokee Scout, Wiggins said, “There was no commission board meeting scheduled in the time frame from the
date of 9/23 through 10/3 and no special meeting was called to address. No action taken.”
Maria Hass, clerk to the board of commissioners, said there was only one response to the poll via email. That was from Commissioner Ben Adams, who replied, “Sign it is my vote.”
The plan
The school board seeks a $52 million grant to pay for a new campus modeled after one in Blairsville, Ga., which school board members visited over the summer and voted to put forward later that day.
The consolidation would serve 1,149 students: 470 from Murphy Elementary, 360 from Murphy Middle, 162 from Martins Creek and 157 from Peachtree.
A location for the new school has not been announced.
In September, the board of commissioners authorized the school district to publish a request for qualifications for the project, but went no further.
The school board has been working on the plan for more than three years, mainly during the first year of the current board’s term and over the last 10 months. An earlier plan to consolidate most schools in the central part of the county was rejected by county commissioners, leading to the school board proposing a simpler four-school consolidation plan.
Cherokee County Schools operates 13 campuses, most of which are badly in need of repairs and upgrades.
The school district took an interim action starting last school year by moving middle-schoolers from Martins Creek to Murphy and from Ranger to Hiwassee Dam.