Peachtree Along-awaited meeting between county commissioners and school board members Monday night included sometimes angry comments from the public and an agreement for further meetings to map out the future for the building-rich, cash-poor school system.
Cherokee County Schools has 13 schools spread out over 12 campuses, total numbers almost no one believes are sustainable. At the same time, there is strong opposition in the Andrews, Hiwassee Dam, Martins Creek, Peachtree and Ranger communities to closing their schools.
A plan to consolidate the county’s three main high schools was rejected in early 2023, when the county turned away matching funds for a $50 million state grant to fund construction.
Since then, some school board members have pitched their own ideas, but the only decisions the board has made closed an elementary school in Hiwassee Dam, middle schools in Ranger and Martins Creek, and expanded the middle school in Murphy – with no movement about what to do about the high schools.
Those decisions, made with no public hearings or advance notice, spurred demands by county commissioners to hold the joint meeting, which took months to arrange. That meeting was finally held Monday at Tri-County Community College.
Following about 45 minutes of public comment during which a dozen people spoke, several school board members described consolidation plans that they proposed earlier, followed by county commissioners calling for a path forward.
Commissioner Dan Eichenbaum, speaking on behalf of the other commissioners, proposed a meeting between two school board members and their finance officer and two commissioners and their finance officer to meet privately to discuss next steps.
The two boards could not agree who would come to whom. Eichenbaum suggested the school district come back to the commissioners with names of school board members who would be on the committee. School board Chair Shannon Raper suggested the commissioners come to the school board meeting Thursday.
Following finger-pointing about funding issues, Eichenbaum said, “You have my number. Call me.”
Many members of the audience spoke out asking if the committee meeting would be public. Eichenbaum had said the meetings would be private, but relented.
“Yeah, sure,” he said, saying the meeting time would be announced but adding that there would be no public comment.
The audience
A dozen members of the public addressed the two boards at the start of the meeting. They described long bus rides resulting from recent reorganizations and having to get up before dawn to get their children to school.
One man described his 5-year-old granddaughter’s day-long ordeal that started before dawn, a two-hour bus ride to school, seven hours at school and then getting lost on the way home.
Alan Bryan, a presumptive commissioner-elect who expects to take Jan Griggs’ seat in December, described bus overcrowding, including children sitting in the aisle.
None of the speakers spoke favorably about this year’s school reorganization.
Dr. Brian Mitchell, a retired physician and former school board member, proposed that community schools be preserved and perhaps restore kindergarten through middle school campuses. He suggested high schools in Andrews and Hiwassee Dam be maintained, but that a large high school be built centrally with a strong curriculum, and that the school district adopt an open-enrollment format where students and parents can pick the high school they want.
Paul Wilson, a retired Martins Creek principal and unaffiliated candidate for school board, said the two boards need to find a plan they could agree on and have it ready as soon as the county becomes eligible for another grant, which would be in the 2025-26 fiscal year.
Others suggested the school board involve the public in its decisions. Several were sharply critical of past decisions.
The school board
School board members Steve Coleman, Jason Murphy and Jeff Tatham described consolidation plans they have previously proposed. Coleman’s plan would come in phases, take nearly a decade to complete and require as many as four multimillion-dollar state grants to pull off but would reduce the number of campuses from 13 to six.
Murphy, the only board member who voted against recent reorganizations, said the board has to repair relationships.
Tatham said that the school district is falling short of its goal of being globally competitive. “I’m not even sure if we are regionally competitive,” he said.
James Ellis described the unique problems Cherokee County faces compared to neighboring counties with smaller populations and geographic areas, and Georgia schools that pay starting teachers $50,000 a year.
Arnold Mathews said it is important to hear from the public but added that the county has 30,000 people. He said he has not heard support for one consolidated high school, but two might be acceptable.
Jeannie Gaddis made no comments.
Raper said it is not possible to both preserve community schools and reduce the number of campuses. She said the board needs to know the board of commissioners’ plan for funding in order for the school board to proceed.
The board of commissioners
Cal Stiles said the two boards need a unanimous plan that meets needs, has community input and the county can afford, but meanwhile must repair its schools.
Griggs said the commissioners need a complete plan with expected costs for the next 20 years. She said public input is important, if not via a referendum then by seeking taxpayer feedback via mail.
Ben Adams said there has been a lot of negativity between the two boards and blamed the Cherokee Scout, saying the local newspaper only reports half-truths.
Randy Phillips described the difficulty in hiring school resource officers and trying to get the district to respond to proposals.
Eichenbaum suggested that high schoolers and perhaps middle schoolers be allowed to enroll at Tri-County Community College.