Four school districts within Stanly County would not work. You have to look at the population increases/decreases throughout the county. Locust and possibly Richfield is where we will see the most growth in the next 10 to 15 years. Unless Albemarle revives and retools its economy you won't see many people migrating to Albemarle. You would see fights among fights among the school districts to move lines. You would also see more and more families pull their kids out of public education when nothing positive occurs.
I also believe any reference that the School Board rammed these plans down the throats of its citizens is overstated. The School Board came up with two plans/proposals to address the much needed improvements for the county. The Board knows it's not going to get any more money from Raleigh and if anything it will get less. The County Commissioners are then responsible to come up with funding the rest of funds needed to run the schools. This decrease in funding by the state started around 2009 so this is a situation that has not been addressed whatsoever the past 6 years. The Board presented these plans to the public and as a result people overreacted. The Board made it very clear to the public that they were open to express their opinions and to present any other plans to the Board. In fact, one person actually presented a plan to the Board.
Rep Burr has done nothing whatsoever to help the schools. If he saw a need to improve the schools he would have started trying to fund the schools from the state level. Why wouldn't he try and get the legislature to increase funding? Well, that answer is politics and he knows that increased spending for the schools will not help out his political career. Instead, he offers a bill for recall elections without even grandfathering the current board members. That in itself is very telling. He's punishing the Board for having the audacity to even come up with a plan. At the same time his own elected position is not open for recall. That's another telling sign.
Burr's idea to make the School Board a partisan event also does nothing to improve the quality of education. Why make it a Democrat or Republican event? The answer is that Stanly County is by and large a very Republican county and Burr is a Republican. By getting people elected to the Board as Republicans, he's got another potential ally and can leverage these relationships for his own advantage. This has nothing to do with education but everything to do with politics and power.
Burr's deal with the George Washington portraits is nothing more than throwing cold water on the teachers of North Carolina. Most people believe that teachers are unpaid. Spending money on these portraits have nothing to do with the quality of education. Digging deeper, we should all wonder who will profit from such a deal.
And lastly, Burr has shown no class at all with his attacks on anyone who disagrees with his narrow-minded stance. His attacks on a particular County Commissioner has been shameful. He has distorted the truth to many and they are eating this up like ice cream.
I'd have no problem at all if Burr just told the truth or allowed others to espouse their opinions regarding Plan A and B. Logistically closing Albemarle would be the worst thing to happen to the county. Albemarle has already sacrificed so much for the rest of the county when the city schools agreed to merge with the county.
I don't blame the Board for coming up with some type of plan to improve quality instruction. The Board knows it has to get this right or it's going to set back the entire county for a generation. The sales tax referendum must be passed or you will see the quality of instruction decrease even more.
