By Erin Smith
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Photos contributed by: Johnny Anderson
ELIZABETHTOWN — A motion to set a series of dates in January 2016 for the required public hearings for the proposed school consolidation plan failed to receive a second at Bladen County Board of Education meeting on Monday night.
This means the school consolidation proposal can not move forward. The NC General Statutes require the district to conduct a series of public hearings in the communities affected by the consolidation plans and with the failure of the motion, no public hearings were scheduled.
The board discussed the possible locations of the required public hearings to include Plain View, East Arcadia, Bladenboro, Booker T. Washington, Bladen Lakes, and Clarkton School of Discovery.
The board discussed various dates in December and January.
Board member Gary Rhoda made a motion to hold the public hearings beginning in November and continuing through December. That motion died for lack of a second.
After further discussion, the board looked at holding the public hearings on Tuesdays and Thursdays in January.
Board Attorney Gary Grady clarified to the board that the meetings needed to be referred to as public hearings. He noted that the board had used the terms public hearing and public forums interchangeable and he reminded the board the statutes require a public hearing. Grady also noted a public hearing would require a quorum of the board to be present for the hearing process.
After further discussion Rhoda made a motion to schedule public hearings in January. The motion failed for lack of a second.
In discussions on the matter prior to the motion being made, Taylor shared a document with the board that basically explained the process to this point.
“The purpose of this (update) is to give the board the opportunity to share with everyone the work the board has done on consolidation,” said Taylor.
He told the board and those present at the meeting that most everyone is familiar with NC General statute 115C-72 which governs the work that has to be done by the board and the items the board must take into consideration. They included geography, increase/decrease in enrollment, inconvenience or hardships that might result, cost of providing additional school facilities in the event of such closing or consolidation, other factors the board deems germane.
One of the things the board did was examine the School Board Procedures. Taylor told the board they are meant to be a guide and the general statute takes precedence over what the board must do.
Taylor noted the board has held a lot of conversations and studied many different scenarios. He also noted he has had conversations with State School Superintendent June Atkinson who told Taylor that enrollment figures are decreasing in Bladen County as well as being stagnant in other school districts.
“I think as a Board of Education, you have done your due diligence,” said Taylor.
Taylor also discussed the fact that Bladen Lakes School is the only school located on the east side of the Cape Fear River. He also noted that the board has looked at the distance that would be traveled if East Arcadia School were to be consolidated.
He said when the board looked at Plain View Primary School there were some other conditions present that might be less impact than other schools.
He said the board also looked at potential increases and decreases in enrollment figures. Taylor said student enrollment has declined by 1,000 students since 2005. He said along with the decrease in student population comes a decrease in staff.
Other things the board looked at were potential bus routes and the number of buses that would be needed. Taylor said that as a board and district administration looked at the transportation, depending on the scenario, the district would need either 75, 76 or 74 buses depending on the consolidation scenario selected.
He said the state provides the funding for the transportation costs and those costs fluctuate based on the price of fuel.
There is also the consideration of the cost of a modular unit at $378,000 that would be installed at either Bladen Lakes School or Dublin Elementary depending on the choice the board made.
Taylor said, for example, Plain View Primary does not have the same capacity as Dublin Elementary School.
Taylor said another scenario looked at was to move Booker T. Washington to Clarkton School of Discovery and to look at schools with similar grade levels but Taylor said there was no cost savings in those scenarios.
He said there was study performed in 2005 that looked at the needs of the buildings then. That 2005 study determined that $60 million would be needed to upgrade the buildings at that time. Taylor said that information was shared with the Bladen County Board of Commissioners.
Taylor also said included in the document was personnel savings. He said the total savings to the district to close Booker T. Washington, Plan View Primary School and Clarkton School of Discovery will be a total of $1.8 million.
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