By Brian Mitchell, Guest Columnist
As we approach the primary elections for candidates to serve on the Cherokee County Board of Education, it is clear to me that the BOE effort to create an acceptable pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade school consolidation plan is flawed.
The BOE has failed to create adequate public support for its plan, nor to gain the necessary endorsement from county commissioners, much less likely gain approval of its application to the N.C. Department of Public Instruction to fund the plan.
The plan involves consolidating four schools in the Murphy district, placing almost 1,200 students from our youngest pre-kindergarten children to our older middle school teenagers into one huge school. Murphy Elementary, Murphy Middle School, Peachtree School and Martins Creek School will close. The new school site is not yet known.
The BOE application will request a state grant of $52 million for construction costs, not including acquisition of land. A local match of county funds would be $2,600,000.
This project is of enormous consequence to Cherokee County. It creates a single school of great size, affects great numbers of students for several generations, and will cost a great sum of money. The present proposal to justify its adoption developed by the BOE should be equal to this significant effort. It is not.
There are many questions that have not been answered. The new school’s size of nearly 1,200 students is more than twice the size of most N.C. pre-K-8 schools. Would this not cause the loss of our schools’ connections to their present communities, which is so important for students in the early grades?
How would this plan improve the value of the education of its students?
How would the location of the consolidated school affect bus routes, and would it cause longer travel times? How would it affect parking as well as parent drop-off and pick-up efforts?
Would architectural plans being drawn up consider future school enrollments, and appropriate class sizes? Will modular units be used in construction to save money? How much money would – if any, in fact – be saved with this project?
These questions should have been answered by a thorough feasibility study, but this has not been performed, nor have any state mandated public hearings in each community affected, so important in a project of this consequence, been conducted. The Department of Public Instruction has experts that provide advice to school districts planning consolidation. To my knowledge this has not occurred. These are responsibilities that have rested with the school superintendent and the present school leadership. Without such efforts, our citizens have been left unaware and ill-informed.
Our BOE has not collaborated with our board of commissioners on this project. The commissioners have performed their obligation to ensure taxpayer dollars are well spent, but have been met with unfair BOE criticism for supposed delays and lack of support.
If a new more effective BOE is in place, I recommend they consider replacing Murphy High School, our largest and most neglected school, at its present site with a new modern facility. Andrews and Hiwassee Dam high schools should remain at their present sites serving their students. Any high school student should be allowed to follow the established policy of open enrollment to permit them the opportunity to prepare for careers and life after graduation.
I believe the present members of the BOE need to answer many questions with reliable information, be open minded about all reorganization options, and seek solutions together for the benefit of the whole school community not merely their own districts. New candidates for the BOE should do likewise.
The writer is a resident of Murphy and former member of the Cherokee County Board of Education.