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ince 2017, the Cherokee Scout has written dozens of articles on the buildup to and approval of a plan to consolidate Cherokee County’s three primary high schools into one unified school for grades 9-12. The N.C. Department of Public Instruction liked the idea so much they awarded Cherokee County Schools a $50 million grant in order to make it happen.
It wasn’t until after the board of education and county commissioners approved the school, and then the grant, that most opposition formed to the plan. Residents have made impassioned pleas to save Andrews, Hiwassee Dam and Murphy high schools the way they are today based on athletics, bus rides, class sizes, community impact, local tradition and more. Those are all important concerns that certainly deserve to be considered in the final decision.
However, those concerns are not the primary purpose of Cherokee County Schools. This is, from the department’s website: “Cherokee County Public Schools’ mission is for every student to graduate from high school globally competitive for work and postsecondary education and be prepared for life in the 21st century.”
That means nothing should be more important than the actual education our students receive when it comes to the future of local schools. Along with that comes the question of how to provide a top-notch education in the most cost-efficient manner possible.
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So before the newly constituted board of education and county commissioners decide whether or not to recommit the $2.5 million match in order to receive the $50 million grant for a new unified high school – it was a pipe dream to think the state would allow significant changes after approval, as these kind of grants are written for very specific reasons – local residents deserve to know what our students will lose if we throw away this project like so much trash flying out of the bed of a pickup.
Location right for education
The new unified high school would be built in Peachtree next door to the Schools of Innovation, which is scheduled to open in August 2023. That campus, which is contingent to Tri-County Community College off of U.S. 64 East Alternate, will include Tri-County Early College High School, The Oaks Academy alternative school and a new vocational school, something long sought by the local public school system.
That means every single high school student in Cherokee County would be on a new campus that would have walking access to every single program offered by the school system, as well as everything offered at the college. This plan essentially would give 100 percent of our students an opportunity to get a trade certification and/or college transfer associate’s degree – both if they choose – absolutely free, thanks to the N.C. Career & College Promise program.
That alone is a game-changer for local education. As it stands today, only students who attend the Early College – along with students who take college transfer online courses at the three primary high schools or can afford to drive to the campus in Peachtree – can do this. Not having to pay for their child to spend four years at a university has already saved local families tens of thousands of dollars in tuition and other fees, and those savings will add up even more in the future.
The vocational school should make a dramatically positive impact, but when it opens students in Andrews, Hiwassee Dam and Murphy will only be able to take classes there by driving or taking a bus to the campus in Peachtree. That drive will take valuable time away from those students’ pursuit of academics, when they could just walk over there in a few minutes with the new unified high school.
Students from low-income families need the opportunities for trade classes, but many may not have the means of transportation to take advantage of offerings at the Schools of Innovation and community college. This plan saves all of that and will be most beneficial to students who lack resources at home.
Just as importantly, today the three primary high schools are separate but not equal, which means students aren’t necessarily getting everything they need – and taxpayers aren’t getting their money’s worth. Advanced Placement and other college readiness courses are not available on every campus. Some schools have a great band, while others don’t have a band program at all.
Our students’ education and extracurricular activities shouldn’t just depend on the district where they happen to live.
On the sports side, during the 2020-21 school year, Murphy High offered 25 athletic programs and Andrews High had 17, but Hiwassee Dam High only offered 12. This is not because Murphy is favored, it’s because they have enough students in each sport to offer it. No doubt Hiwassee Dam students would have enjoyed taking advantage of those opportunities.
No student deserves to have their opportunities compromised. While there is no perfect geographic location for one high school in Cherokee County, there is one place that makes education more accessible and affordable – and that’s with a new unified school built next to the Schools of Innovation in Peachtree.
Larger cost of smaller schools
Whether we think it’s fair or not, the state only reimburses local school systems based on the number of students – not the number of campuses. As a result, operating small schools is incredibly expensive to local taxpayers.
For example, during the 2020-21 school year, it cost Cherokee County Schools an overall total of $12,266.42 to educate each student at Murphy High, the largest of the three primary high schools. However, that cost rose to $13,851.78 at Andrews High and $16,334.82 in Hiwassee Dam, an astounding 25 percent higher than in Murphy.
When you add to that the lack of opportunities, dwindling enrollment and the fact that 34 students who live in the Hiwassee Dam district decided to attend either Andrews or Murphy high schools in 2020-21 – it’s clear that something has to change, either now or in the near future. So we can either plan for it today or wait until there’s an emergency tomorrow, which is what our school system faced with the closing of Marble Elementary School four years ago.
The only local school with a higher cost to operate per pupil than Hiwassee Dam High overall that year was Hiwassee Dam Elementary/Middle at $17,732.73, while Andrews Middle was the lowest at $9,435.02. That’s largely because by state standards, Hiwassee Dam should only have six teachers; the county is footing the bill for every teacher beyond that. Having a school that’s almost twice as expensive to operate as the exact same grades on the other side of the county can’t be the fiscally conservative way forward for taxpayers.
This is not a disparagement of Hiwassee Dam schools, which have great staffs, great teachers and a great sense of community. What those schools don’t have are nearly enough students.
In addition to money received from the state, the county spent an average of $2,075 per student in Cherokee County Schools from 2018-21, according to the N.C. Association of County Commissioners Map Book for 2021, putting us among the top third of highest spenders statewide. However, instead of funding additional teaching positions, other counties are able to use their additional dollars for supplements to pay for things like recruiting and retaining the best teachers possible, something Cherokee has not been able to afford – and likely never will under the current arrangement.
Some people have said we should turn down the $50 million grant because we don’t know what the final cost will be yet, with continually exaggerated figures being tossed around. Hopefully, we’ll have a better idea after Thursday’s school board meeting, when LS3P is scheduled to present cost options that include athletic fields.
Yes, taxpayers would be responsible for any overrun. However, with our many aging campuses, a new school – or schools – will still have to be built one day soon, and today the state will pay $50 million of it.
So even if the county has to pay, say, 10 percent more, that amount likely would pale next to what it would cost to build a new school several years from now – when the state might not be so keen to offer us another grant since we turned down the last one. And the local quarter-cent sales tax dedicated to education that’s already in place can help pay for it.
Many local leaders and educators say our schools are already 10 years behind those in neighboring counties, and they fear we will fall another 10 years behind if officials pull the plug on this project. We can pay now – or we can pay a lot more later.
What about the cost?
In 2017, Cherokee County Schools had architects with LS3P form several plans for board members to consider. While dollar amounts might be higher today, the financial point of the difference in cost between each option remains the same.
- Option 1. Renovate each school in the county. Total cost estimate: $79,414,910.
- Option 2. Phased renovations. Total cost estimate: $27,429,416.
- Option 3. Two new high schools, plus the Early College and The Oaks Academy. Total cost estimate: $156,251,523.
- Option 4. Three new high schools, plus the Early College and The Oaks Academy. Total cost estimate: $179,171,715.
- Option 5. One new high school, plus the Early College and The Oaks Academy. Total cost estimate: $55,027,500.
These cost estimates would have been lower without including the Early College and Oaks Academy, which were included with the already funded Schools of Innovation. That’s why the architect’s current estimate for the unified school is only $48.5 million.
Only option No. 5 really makes financial sense for taxpayers in the long run. The study above showed Cherokee County Schools will save more than $1 million annually once it moves into a configuration that allows officials to utilize only state-allotted teachers. In addition, that doesn’t include the fact that the district is paying more than $50,000 monthly just to repair aging school buildings across the district.
It also doesn’t include the high cost of not properly protecting our students. Our older campuses have far too many access points that law enforcement officials say are problematic. The new school will be built with the most modern enhanced safety features, making it far less likely that parents will have to face the unimaginable someday.
Our aging campuses were not set up for the computer age. Our science labs aren’t up to date. There are termites in some buildings and roof leaks in others. The pipes are rusting and the concrete is crumbling.
In addition, with a total of 13 campuses in Cherokee County today, not every school has an adequate number of club sponsors, coaches, counselors, nurses, school resource officers and more. Every department head in the schools system reported that their areas would improve under the new unified high school, which would offer everything a student needs for success at the next level in life and save money.
Addressing some concerns
- Bussing. For some people, the distance – as well as some of the highways school busses would use – is the biggest obstacle. However, high school students – mostly freshmen and sophomores – have been being bussed to the Early College in Peachtree from across the county for 17 years without incident, and most routes would not experience much of an increase at all.
Thanks to the Early College, the bus routes are already established. Today, students ride the bus as normal or are dropped off in a central location, then the Early College bus takes them to the campus. Based on what we already know from those bus rides, the unified high school would add no more than 27 minutes to any existing route, even from Topton or Wolf Creek. If students have a long bus ride, then they have one already from where they live.
While some people assume Cherokee is the largest county in North Carolina, we’re actually right in the middle of land size. Madison County, which is north of Asheville, has a similar size and population to Cherokee County; it only has one high school, one middle school and three elementary schools.
- Class sizes. One school board member has proposed keeping the three high schools but building a new K-8 school that would consolidate several Murphy area schools. However, studies show younger students in lower grades most benefit from smaller class sizes, and this kind of move should only be done as part of a complete countywide plan from elementary through middle school grades.
Considering that a previous plan to merge the lowest grades at Hiwassee Dam and Ranger elementary schools was dropped due to public opposition, and Martins Creek School parents started a petition threatening to leave the school system altogether when a rumor of their school closing arose in 2020, that proposal will not be met with universal acclaim, either. Then again, no plan will, so waiting for unanimity before moving forward will – quite literally – take forever.
We would much rather consolidate schools with teenagers, who need to be exposed to some larger class sizes before they get a culture shock during English 101 in college – and usually end up driving to school as upperclassmen anyway. The Map Book shows 63 percent of county students are enrolled in a postsecondary institution within 12 months, and too many of them have said they were not properly prepared, academically and culturally.
The wildly differing class sizes countywide will have to be dealt with someday, too. By state law, individual K-3 classes cannot exceed more than 21 pupils, but today there are as few as five students in some of those rooms.
- Jobs. One of the annual cost savings of consolidation is not needing as many teachers and support staff. However, if the superintendent and board of education proactively plan during the time the unified school is being built, they can keep certain jobs open due to the attrition rate, which based on the usual number of resignations every year could very well eliminate the need for any layoffs whatsoever.
On the other end of the job discussion, according to research put together by the Cherokee County Economic Development Commission, the unified high school will provide a seamless transition from the school to the workforce, helping build the local economy.
- Athletic fields. The idea of a new unified school playing on Murphy High’s fields is anathema to some people, which is understandable to a degree. So if we can’t fund a new stadium in time for opening day, why not play half of our home football games in Andrews and the other half in Murphy? These are not the kind of questions that should derail something so positive for our children’s education.
- Community. While some folks are most concerned about what would happen to Andrews and Hiwassee Dam in particular if their high schools were removed, having one countywide school actually could bring more people to those rural areas since they wouldn’t have to consider the school district. Besides that, who we are here is based on our people – not on brick and mortar buildings that eventually crumble.
The bottom line It’s true that few people want to consolidate local schools. However, after going over all of the educational and financial options, it’s also true that we don’t have many choices if we want to keep education high and taxes low.
It’s also understandable that newly elected officials would want to play a part in the future of local schools. But is it worth throwing away $50 million that would directly benefit every single high school student for generations to come?
If the new boards accept the unified high school – which is not a luxury, but a necessity – then school board members could turn their focus to grades K-8, which will be a community minefield perhaps even more fraught with pitfalls than grades 9-12. New schools will still need to be built soon, with new grants to be written and tough decisions to be made that will not make everyone happy.
The bottom line is our students deserve the best educational experience we can offer them, and the new unified high school project could do exactly that if everyone got behind it. County and state officials mismanaged the Department of Social Services to the tune of losing lawsuits and settlements adding up to more than $50 million; it would be a shame if we mismanaged our way to losing another $50 million.
– Publisher David Brown