Only a handful of community residents attended a public meeting on Sept. 20 for discussion of an elementary and middle school organizational study that could result in future construction and renovation work that could cost between $19 and $35 million.
The study was first presented during a joint meeting of the Warren County Board of Education and Board of County Commissioners last month.
Stanley Williams, Warren County Schools’ chief finance officer, said that the study was conducted at the request of the board of county commissioners. Its $7,200 cost was covered through the reallocation of funds in the school system’s 2015-16 budget.
During last week’s meeting, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ray Spain said that the organizational study grew out of long-range facility plans that the State Department of Public Instruction requires every five years and questions from county commissioners about what would be needed to make local schools function most effectively.
However, he said that funding for major construction projects typically comes from state bonds, which are not issued on a specific cycle, and that it would take many years to accumulate enough funding from other sources, such as the state lottery to handle major construction.
Spain told the public that the study provided options for future consideration instead of specific recommendations and project timetables.
The study
Discussion of the study itself was similar to what was presented to the two boards in stating that Warren County school buildings still in use range from 25 to 70 years old.
According to the study, the most common problem at local elementary schools is that classrooms are at least 20 percent smaller than what is recommended for the age group. The report also stated that the Mariam Boyd Elementary School building housing pre-kindergarten and kindergarten “has served far beyond its useful life” and should be removed.
The study suggested four options for organizing elementary and middle school grades more efficiently:
- Upgrade existing elementary schools and Northside K-8 School by constructing or renovating to create classrooms of appropriate size, and maintaining WCMS as it is. The estimated cost would be $19.4 million.
- Consolidate the three elementary schools and Northside into two pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade schools and maintain WCMS as it is. The option houses students from the areas served by Vaughan and South Warren elementary schools at Vaughan, and students from areas served by Northside and Mariam Boyd at Northside. The estimated cost for renovation and construction at Vaughan and Northside would be $19.2 million.
- Create two pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade campuses, utilizing the existing WCMS campus and selecting a site for the other campus that would be equidistant from the areas it would serve. The study identified a possible location as the area where highways 43 and 58 meet in the Liberia community. The estimated cost for renovations and construction would be $35.6 million.
- Create one pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade campus for the southern and eastern portions of the county (areas served by Vaughan and South Warren); construct or renovate to create classrooms of appropriate size for Mariam Boyd and Vaughan, which would serve as elementary schools; and maintain WCMS as it is. The estimated cost for renovations and construction would be $27.4 million.
Public concerns
Questions from the public centered on why the school system wants to move to schools housing kindergarten through eighth grades, particularly regarding safety issues related to children of all ages riding the same school bus.
Spain said that Northside was transformed into a K-8 school to address a growing trend of students leaving the traditional public school system in the middle grades to attend charter schools and give students and parents a second option for grades six through eight besides Warren County Middle School.
Spain noted that more school systems in both rural and urban areas are moving to a K-8 configuration.
David Clinton, principal of Szostak Design, Inc. of Chapel Hill, which conducted the study, said that K-8 schools provide rural schools with more of an opportunity to offer programs such as the arts, and teachers can be shared among the elementary and middle grades if needed.
He said that the K-8 configuration is successful because students and teachers are able to develop a strong nurturing bond after knowing each other for years.
However, Clinton cautioned that the total cost of constructing a new K-8 school in the area is unknown due to factors such as cost of land and availability of utilities.
Citizens asked whether anything related to school renovation or construction had to be done in the next few years.
Spain said that the building at Mariam Boyd Elementary School which currently houses pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classes has become unsafe and should be torn down with alternative plans made for housing the young students.
In response to concerns about the K-8 school format, Spain said that in that type of school format, the older students often watch over the younger students because they have younger siblings attending the same school.
Parents asked the school system to notify the community about meetings in other ways in addition to newspaper announcements. Others attending and school system officials agreed to use the school’s automated phone calling system to remind the public about meetings.
Other questions revolved around how new school buildings could improve local education and what would attract students who have been attending charter schools to return to the traditional public school system.
Clinton said that new schools would have more space for activities, better technology and modern air conditioning and heating systems providing more comfortable temperatures.
Spain said that offering educational options such as three high schools and a Spanish language immersion program at Northside will make the Warren County school system more attractive to students who have been attending charter schools.
“We need to have a choice and options, and good programming,” he said. “We know that we need to improve test scores. If there are no options, students will leave.”
Spain said that future plans for major renovations or construction would require careful consideration, could be done in phases, and would likely require a public-private partnership for funding.
However, he cautioned that decisions on what to do must be made while considering what is best for local children.
“We should do as well as we can for our students,” Spain said. “I don’t give in to the notion that we can’t have first-class facilities. We need to do the best we can for our kids and don’t sell ourselves short.”
To view the study, visit the Warren County Schools website at warrenk12nc.org. Under the District heading, scroll down to Community, then scroll down to Long Range Plan Presentation and click on the link.