Marble – Starting in August, the Cherokee County Board of Education will hold its monthly meetings at the former Oaks Academy (and before that Marble Elementary School) at 2230 Airport Road.
The change appeared on the board of education’s July 18 agenda, which stated, “The next regular board meeting will be held Thursday, Aug. 15, beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the Central Office, Marble.”
The announcement was posted on the school district’s website, cherokee.k12.nc.us, following the meeting.
The July meeting was held at the current Central Office at 911 Andrews Road, but Cherokee County commissioners evicted the central office effective Aug. 2 and plan to use the building to house emergency services.
The 911 Andrews Road property is owned by the county. The county offered to allow the school system to use the county’s portion of the old National Guard Armory, an offer the school district declined because it already owns the old Marble campus and planned to sell it until it was evicted from the Andrews Road building.
Until the single word “Marble” appeared on the July 18 agenda, the school board and school district executives never publicly acknowledged the change, never met publicly to discuss plans and never announced how they would proceed.
Moving trucks and schools staff started the move on Thursday.
A crew has been working over the past month to prepare the Marble campus for the central office move, discarding textbooks, office supplies and classroom furnishings in a big Dumpster in the facility’s parking lot. A portable outhouse was also installed.
The rift between the county board and school board continues with school officials unable to work out a date to hold a joint meeting to discuss their differences.
While animosity between the two boards is not new, recent tensions were triggered when the school district decided to close middle schools in Ranger and Martins Creek and an elementary school in Hiwassee Dam without any attempt to seek public buy-in for the plan, which takes effect in the coming school year.
Whether coincidence or by design, the county evicted Central Office and redirected $1.2 million in annual sales tax revenue from the school to general county purposes.
Schools Superintendent Keevin Woody attended the board of commissioners’ July 15 meeting, when he was once again asked about arranging a joint meeting between the two boards. That meeting remains in limbo.