Murphy – Fresh from the collapse of a $50 million high school consolidation plan, some school board members are approaching consolidation from the opposite direction – by combining local elementary and middle schools into fewer, larger campuses.
 |
The Cherokee County Board of Education watched a slide show prepared by school board member Steve Coleman that would consolidate pre-kindergarten through eighth grades at two campuses and preserve high school footprints in Andrews, Hiwassee Dam and Murphy.
Coleman’s slide show was for discussion purposes only, and there was no feedback from other board members except two – Jeannie Gaddis, who said she opposes any plan that forces young children to travel across the county to attend elementary school; and Jason Murphy, who said Coleman’s plan is similar to something he had in mind.
Coleman confessed that it would be tough for a couple of years during the transitions.
On May 28, 2020, the Cherokee County Board of Education voted to build one high school in Peachtree, expected to open by 2025. The new school would have replaced Andrews, Hiwassee Dam and Murphy high schools.
On Sept. 21, 2022, the N.C. Department of Public Instruction awarded Cherokee County Schools a $50 million grant from state lottery proceeds to pay for the new campus, assuming the county would foot a $2.5 million local match.
Support for high school consolidation evaporated with the results of the November 2022 elections, when pro-consolidation majorities switched to minorities of 2-3 for the board of commissioners and 3-4 for the board of education. The state grant was revoked after the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners backed away from a $2.5 million local match that was necessary to receive the $50 million.
Cherokee County has already combined elementary and middle school campuses in Martins Creek
and Ranger, and Hiwassee Dam combines grades K-12 under a single roof.
Stand-alone elementary schools are in Andrews, Murphy and Peachtree. Stand-alone middle schools are in Andrews and Murphy. Stand-alone high schools are in Andrews and Murphy.
The Oaks Academy on Airport Road is Cherokee County’s alternative middle/high school. It will be moved to the Cherokee County Schools of Innovation & Technology in Peachtree, which is under construction and scheduled to open this summer.
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. They would be combined into a single campus in Peachtree, even though the Oaks is going into the Schools of Innovation.
High schools in Andrews and Hiwassee Dam would undergo necessary repairs and remain open. New construction would then revive Murphy High School.
The project would use existing legwork from the high school consolidation plan that cost $1 million to prepare, Coleman said.
His plan calls for a pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade campus in Peachtree next to the Schools of Innovation, with which it 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 grades, 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.
Knowing that 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 a 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 School. This would allow demolition of substandard facilities at Murphy High to make room for 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 School would move to Andrews High School, which in Phase 3 would be rebuilt and be identical to a newly rebuilt Murphy High School.
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.