Albemarle's Future?
- Thread starter Buddy Rich
- Start date
North has enough students to offer the class. AHS does not have enough students to offer the class but you want the students from North to drive to AHS?
AHS parent told me there were ten students in a class his son took at NSHS and he was the only AHS student. Your theory would have ten commuting to AHS instead of one to NSHS.
One more thing this plan or any plan should NOT have been released until all T's crossed and I's dotted, there should have never been a week long open enrollment, and if these BOE members actually believe in what they are doing and believe this will benefit SCS then don't hide behind silent votes don't hide behind doors for meetings etc. if your homework is done and all analysis completed the results speak for themselves. And to say this is about money well remember the board didn't say that when these were announced they said and I quote "it's about being able to offer better academics". Well so far your academic plan touches only 20% of this student body. What about the other 80%? What will the budget look like once SCS loses about 200 kids when the private school opens in Norwood? Remember that is $4,350 per kid lost or basically $1,000,000.00!!!!!!!!!
There are also kids driving to west from AHS sir. Also kids taking online college courses sir from AHS.
North and West have the numbers to offer the class and AHS does not. Per many parents that I know this has been a main issue their children have encountered at AHS. Inability to offer a full curriculum on campus to students has been a big reasoning by the BOE.
I agree they need to review the redistricting but I do not think that saves all four of the high schools long term. My fear is redistricting the high schools is a short term solution.
I agree they need to review the redistricting but I do not think that saves all four of the high schools long term. My fear is redistricting the high schools is a short term solution.
Btango I sent the numbers for the HS enrollment enrollment I always refer to. Most knowingly the JS which has the HIGHEST grades in the county is the HS with 394 students. That school offers a full curriculum, drama, dance, ag, shop, etc. So before open enrollment happened we would have actually had a few more students than last year, so at the 411-430 mark why can we not have the same as the school with 394? Keep in mind that school is a school of excellence all those schools are. Same demographic income county radius etc. also every school in that county has a similar student population. With that being said, would it be fair to say the resources necessarily are not being put into the school, or maybe allocated properly? SCS also has $2,000,000 more in Budget.
nation it is not the number of students in a school, look at Greystone, Charlotte Latin, Cannon School. See my earlier post where I replied to sway, "I wrote on this board that I had been told that a high school is limited what it can offer as the enrollment falls further below about 800 students. Unless all of the students are very close academically and desire the same classes the offerings are going to be somewhat limited."
It is not the numbers. If AHS became an advanced curriculum magnet with 350 students you could offer the advanced classes because the student body would be more equal in education level and taking the same type of classes.
It is not the numbers. If AHS became an advanced curriculum magnet with 350 students you could offer the advanced classes because the student body would be more equal in education level and taking the same type of classes.
nation, I read your post about the school system and I am confused somewhat how the numbers work out.
Some things that stood out to me were:
Ohio County has nearly 20,000 less inhabitants but only about 700 less students in the system. I expect an Ohio county has more students in parochial school than Stanly has in private although Greystone may equal that out.
The square mileage size is nearly identical for the two systems.
NC is 48th in funding and Stanly County is in the bottom 20% or so of the state. A school system in Ohio has $2 million less in budget but has 700 or so less students. Ohio funds their students by approximately $2,000 more per student than NC which works out the numbers. The city school you mentioned takes in 1% more income tax to go to the school. That would be additional to the $2,000 per student the state gives. No idea what that 1% equates to but it appears the budgets are very close and Ohio has less students and less schools. Bottom line, NC needs to put more into education.
Some things that stood out to me were:
Ohio County has nearly 20,000 less inhabitants but only about 700 less students in the system. I expect an Ohio county has more students in parochial school than Stanly has in private although Greystone may equal that out.
The square mileage size is nearly identical for the two systems.
NC is 48th in funding and Stanly County is in the bottom 20% or so of the state. A school system in Ohio has $2 million less in budget but has 700 or so less students. Ohio funds their students by approximately $2,000 more per student than NC which works out the numbers. The city school you mentioned takes in 1% more income tax to go to the school. That would be additional to the $2,000 per student the state gives. No idea what that 1% equates to but it appears the budgets are very close and Ohio has less students and less schools. Bottom line, NC needs to put more into education.
I was against open enrollment in Stanly County so I get that. Even without open enrollment and 50 more students to start the school year in 2014-15 students were still traveling to North and per your post West for classes that were not offered.
Plan B cannot be a long term plan. How many years until Students have declined at South before it shuts down?
AHS students would redistrict to South and North.
Ohio funds at around $4350 per student. Not sure how exactly the funding breaks down but the overall budget I seen county wide is $71 million. But they also start teacher at $39,000 and coaches stipend for basketball for example are $3900.
The income and population are very very close. My point here is that before determining you have a funding problem you better look at your spending. Look at this business wise. You cannot operate a business on a year to year basis. That's a quick way to go bankrupt. My opinion is I bet we could sit down and audit their books and schools and find wasted money that could go into academics.
Additionally No kid is the same and you always have a different level of education for each kid. Some students are advanced some are not. No school is any different in that sense. Additionally in regards to student population if they redistrict that is solved. I think AHS closing is a mistake I have done the research and analysis and will stick by that. Furthermore what these kids have been through is shameful and for that I have lost a ton of respect for all involved. If you care about kids you sit handle things this way. If you believe what you are doing is right and best and there is no bias and or discrimination youe Finitely don't hide behind a silent vote and you definitely bring the facts to the table.
For the record if I through my research thought this was better for our community and academics I would be selling this plan to everybody. But the facts speak for themselves.
In short hell yes there needs to be changed hell no does a HS closing need to happen hell no oakboro don't need to close(that program and those kids needs stability and I have heard nothing but great things about even people moving into the community to put their kids there). Hell yes redistricting needs to happen hell yes this plan needs to be closed down and dropped so AHS can raise moral and get back on track.
Btango have you seen the redrawn lines for plan B? Central and Badin goto Albemarle middle which will be at the HS so much for your distribution of students theory as to why close AHS lol.
nation, one of the arguments that I have made is that students living closer to AMS and AHS than WSMS and WSHS should attend Albemarle after finishing fifth grade at Endy. You have agreed with that, it would be the redistricting.
So, why would Central not go to AMS? Why would students that live east of Endy not go to AMS? Same with Badin. Geographically Badin districting to AMS makes sense. It is 12 miles from Badin ES to North Middle and five miles to AMS.
So, why would Central not go to AMS? Why would students that live east of Endy not go to AMS? Same with Badin. Geographically Badin districting to AMS makes sense. It is 12 miles from Badin ES to North Middle and five miles to AMS.
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nation, if a local tax is put toward a school budget it is my understanding those funds would not be included in the dollar amount budgeted per student from the state.
I am not familiar enough with Ohio to question nor comment on how they do things. I think Ohio is a top twenty state in education funding while NC is a bottom dweller. It is my understanding that Ohio school districts often overlap county borders and per your posts they are like much of SC where they have several smaller school districts in a county that may serve only one or two high schools and their feeders.
I am not familiar enough with Ohio to question nor comment on how they do things. I think Ohio is a top twenty state in education funding while NC is a bottom dweller. It is my understanding that Ohio school districts often overlap county borders and per your posts they are like much of SC where they have several smaller school districts in a county that may serve only one or two high schools and their feeders.
You are correct one HS per school district. Often times 3-4 HS per county. The county we are discussing has 4 HS plus middle and elementary. In addition to the 18 it includes an alternative school as well. So a total of 19. In the county they do not have public charters in Ohio really maybe a few. Most are private Christian schools or private schools in general. They are also ranked as a state very high on academic achievement. So essentially you have $71million for 19 schools as a total budget. That's all incoming $$. Still less.
You and I agree on a lot. I think you would find if the redistricting happened and they actually took the best interest of all schools and focused on bettering academics you would see an immediate change in performance. Much like the federal government running healthcare just on a smaller scale. It's tough to have one body making decisions for all schools in a county too much bias and each school has a different set of needs and different overall personality,
Happy to see Mrs. Leake running for district 5 BOE seat. She will be great.
Guys we now have 2 great ladies running for the BOE seats both have a great way of thinking and both are the type of people that will give us the change we need to better our schools.
Mrs. Tempest Leake and Mrs. Patty Crump.
Here is the stance that Mrs. Patty Crump had to say:
I attended the BOE work session the other night at AHS, and while the majority of the Board members were defending why redistricting alone would not provide the county with any real gains, I wanted to stand up and interject. The proposal to redistrict without closing schools and without consolidating was quickly put to rest based on the argument that even though this would move students around a bit and create more racial diversity at our schools, no real curricular gains would be made, which is one of the main reasons the Board wants to consolidate – their argument is that closing some facilities and freeing up money to spend on curricular offerings and more faculty is the goal. HOWEVER, as it has been so clearly pointed out over the year, the reason we have more curricular offerings at some schools opposed to others is because the enrollment is higher at certain schools. The ability to offer a variety of course offerings is directly related to the number of rumps in the seats. The more students we have at the school, the more faculty we are able to employ at that location, and more course offerings are available. So yes, as one Board member said, some schools would lose while others gain. I would like to argue that the loss and gain is not simply in enrollment. The loss and gain is not simply in racial diversity. The loss and gain is also in curricular offerings. So while WSHS has more AP course offerings than the other schools, as related to enrollment, AHS has the least amount. This has forced students to travel to NSHS to take advantage of additional courses they cannot obtain at AHS. If we know there is an unbalanced enrollment, and we know that redistricting would allow for a fairer playing field in the way of courses offered throughout the entire county, why wouldn’t be explore this further? I just couldn’t understand why the Board did not address this argument. This would put students closer to the schools in which they live and create more balance across the county in curricular offerings.
In addition to this argument, Stanly Community College offers a program called Career and College Promise. This program allows high school students to take college courses while in high school FREE OF CHARGE! With careful attention to scheduling, high school students can take advantage of this program and graduate from high school with enough college credits to also graduate with an associate’s degree. Why is this program not being mentioned in these work sessions? Why can’t we work with our guidance counselors at all FOUR high schools to figure a way to schedule classes during the school day that would allow students to log in to their college courses and obtain these credits. I would imagine we would not need licensed teachers in these classroom, rather we can employ assistants at a lower salary to facilitate during these class periods.
Let’s start thinking OUTSIDE of this consolidation box! Let’s listen to our community. I do believe we should work toward satisfying both the need for adding more courses and the need and desire to keep our community schools open.
Check out this link to read more about the Career and College Promise program: https://www.stanly.edu/future-students/career-college-promise
Mrs. Tempest Leake and Mrs. Patty Crump.
Here is the stance that Mrs. Patty Crump had to say:
I attended the BOE work session the other night at AHS, and while the majority of the Board members were defending why redistricting alone would not provide the county with any real gains, I wanted to stand up and interject. The proposal to redistrict without closing schools and without consolidating was quickly put to rest based on the argument that even though this would move students around a bit and create more racial diversity at our schools, no real curricular gains would be made, which is one of the main reasons the Board wants to consolidate – their argument is that closing some facilities and freeing up money to spend on curricular offerings and more faculty is the goal. HOWEVER, as it has been so clearly pointed out over the year, the reason we have more curricular offerings at some schools opposed to others is because the enrollment is higher at certain schools. The ability to offer a variety of course offerings is directly related to the number of rumps in the seats. The more students we have at the school, the more faculty we are able to employ at that location, and more course offerings are available. So yes, as one Board member said, some schools would lose while others gain. I would like to argue that the loss and gain is not simply in enrollment. The loss and gain is not simply in racial diversity. The loss and gain is also in curricular offerings. So while WSHS has more AP course offerings than the other schools, as related to enrollment, AHS has the least amount. This has forced students to travel to NSHS to take advantage of additional courses they cannot obtain at AHS. If we know there is an unbalanced enrollment, and we know that redistricting would allow for a fairer playing field in the way of courses offered throughout the entire county, why wouldn’t be explore this further? I just couldn’t understand why the Board did not address this argument. This would put students closer to the schools in which they live and create more balance across the county in curricular offerings.
In addition to this argument, Stanly Community College offers a program called Career and College Promise. This program allows high school students to take college courses while in high school FREE OF CHARGE! With careful attention to scheduling, high school students can take advantage of this program and graduate from high school with enough college credits to also graduate with an associate’s degree. Why is this program not being mentioned in these work sessions? Why can’t we work with our guidance counselors at all FOUR high schools to figure a way to schedule classes during the school day that would allow students to log in to their college courses and obtain these credits. I would imagine we would not need licensed teachers in these classroom, rather we can employ assistants at a lower salary to facilitate during these class periods.
Let’s start thinking OUTSIDE of this consolidation box! Let’s listen to our community. I do believe we should work toward satisfying both the need for adding more courses and the need and desire to keep our community schools open.
Check out this link to read more about the Career and College Promise program: https://www.stanly.edu/future-students/career-college-promise
Jesus @bulldog nation2014 I hope she wins!!!! While we're talking about curriculum here's a word problem: "SCS has 20 $1 bills, 14 in the left pocket and 6 in the right. If SCS takes $4 from the left pocket and moves it to the right how many $1 bills does SCS now have?
That's right it's still only $20
That's right it's still only $20
LOL ok........ Don't know what that has to do with anything but whatever drink you are having I will take 2 LOL
I don't know Mrs. Crump, but I do know Tempest, she is a really solid individual. I myself was planning on running for BOE, but there is so much on my plate at the moment, I wouldn't have been a solid candidate, but I damn sure would have been an honest one. I wish SCS the best in their future endeavors. There is a cancer in Stanly County and the only way to fix it is to have people that's been around the block a few times and who's not afraid of "Change" to get involved. That's the only way they can move forward.
Everybody is screaming money, but we wouldn't be in this situation if the past board wasn't so bias. This is a county "Split Apart" and who fears change...the West side in particular.
I remember when the current board was elected. Their platform was change. Everyone has been championing Mike Barbee, the western district BOE member, for standing up for the schools and refusing to close community schools. I am curious to see what his stance will be when Plan Redistrict moves students from West Stanly to AMS and AHS.
Btango I think everybody understands there has to be change. But closing a community HS here does nothing financially or academically. I have as most of you have ready these plans and academically the focus is on stem and AP which is a very small percentage of the student body here. The point here is that they are missing what the focus needs to be. There is a disconnect from central office to the BOE and the students. They are not listening to the people who have been talking to them. They are so hell bent on plan a or b that they are not seeing that they can make a huge positive difference.
Here is my opinion and it is just mine. I think people will vote for the tax IF all community HS remain open that will help increase funding. There needs to be a plan C and here is what my plan C would be.
Redistrict lines to where it should be, from elem to the HS level. Additionally AHS needs to remain open as is BUT a vocational program needs to be put in (cosmetology, electrician, auto mechanics, ag, something along these lines) additionally we need to work with Stanly community college and strengthen that program they just kicked off. With AHS being centralized that vocational program should be available to all stanly county HS students this would allow us to have students graduating with job ready skills as well as with the college program creating college ready kids. Through redistricting you are balancing out enrollment with a goal of removing those mobile units. Finally the focus needs to turn to our young kids. We need to put in a great phonics reading and arithmetic program, add handwriting back in and focus on building a great foundation for our kids so that they have a base now they can build on.
I can tell you the consensus on the tax is a no vote unless all schools remain open. People in Norwood and Oakboro are voting against it if they are not promised to keep those elementary schools open. I would personally vote for a full one cent sales tax if it was used for education (schools and SCC), emergency services, and other programs. I would love to see a school ran program that allowed students to come from 8 until noon Tuesday through Thursday during the summer for education based on the outdoors, health, sciences, et al.
SCC had a cosmetology program and I think high school students attended there.
I think AHS could definitely be a good spot to set up a couple of vocational magnet programs. There could be some expansion or room for a new vocational building if needed. West may have enough students to have a vocational class where AHS, NSHS, and SSHS may could utilize a magnet at AHS. Not sure the numbers are there to make it work or if it is totally needed.
The magnets may increase enrollment a small amount but I would think there would still be the issue with curriculum to the home district student body.
I think AHS could definitely be a good spot to set up a couple of vocational magnet programs. There could be some expansion or room for a new vocational building if needed. West may have enough students to have a vocational class where AHS, NSHS, and SSHS may could utilize a magnet at AHS. Not sure the numbers are there to make it work or if it is totally needed.
The magnets may increase enrollment a small amount but I would think there would still be the issue with curriculum to the home district student body.
West has some of these programs and I believe that if you had vocational programs at AHS it would be popular. The parents for one would be all for it. You have the room at AHS where you can expand it. It doesn't need to be seperate from AHS but inclusive of course offerings. I'm not talking about programs that focus on the top 5% of the student body I am talking about blue color work training. So these kids after they get out of high school can get a descent paying job. This would also attract industry to the area.
Here are the facts you think it's bad now, watch what happens if mont county keeps those two schools open and begins to offer vocational programs. You close these schools and have nothing better to offer we and that happens in mont county, we have lost more students and residents.
In regards to Norwood and Oakboro. I can only say for oakboro for certain, in no way should that school be shuttered. Not with the excellent program it offers and the rep it has.
Also I would like to say Btango me and you had a conversation a few months ago about post secondary op. This what stanly community is offering is very close to what that is and I think it's fantastic. We need to utilize that. We have an opportunity with the plan I just put out there you do that you will see stanly county schools become a front runner of opportunity for these kids. Additionally you are hitting a 100% of our student body not just 20%. You also are putting forth opportunity through the community college that gray stone can't compete with. You are giving college credits and experience.
Here are the facts you think it's bad now, watch what happens if mont county keeps those two schools open and begins to offer vocational programs. You close these schools and have nothing better to offer we and that happens in mont county, we have lost more students and residents.
In regards to Norwood and Oakboro. I can only say for oakboro for certain, in no way should that school be shuttered. Not with the excellent program it offers and the rep it has.
Also I would like to say Btango me and you had a conversation a few months ago about post secondary op. This what stanly community is offering is very close to what that is and I think it's fantastic. We need to utilize that. We have an opportunity with the plan I just put out there you do that you will see stanly county schools become a front runner of opportunity for these kids. Additionally you are hitting a 100% of our student body not just 20%. You also are putting forth opportunity through the community college that gray stone can't compete with. You are giving college credits and experience.
Saw in the SNAP that Melvin Poole is running for the board of education again. So much for a Merry Christmas.
He supports Oakboro/Locust community schools only.
Poole supports mid-20th century style education. He once told a group that he would support going back to the way it was in Stanly County before consolidation were it feasible. I take that as meaning twelve K-12 schools and a segregated school system.
Very forward-thinking individual. Doesn't say much about the people around here who kept voting him into office for 20+ years either. And now, with the school board elections here becoming partisan, the old goats that only vote for a person based on "R" or "D" beside their name will likely put him back in again.
You are correct. Some in Ridgecrest would disagree. Have had people from there tell me they think he sold them out to keep Oakboro open which is located with in a quarter mile of his house. No idea how it went down.
Glad that you understand that. Too many people from the South Albemarle community think that the western contingents support for them is due to keeping community schools open. It is actually to keep Oakboro open. If closing that comes off the table then we will see the truth.
The school board is moving ahead with plans to close Albemarle High School and 3 elementary schools.
Not sure KW, but I think it would start with the 2016 school year in Aug. However lots of things in the works that could delay it. You can figure out what I mean by that. By the way KW. Who are you gonna hate on if they close Albemarle?
The status quo has not worked for Albemarle since the city/county consolidation. I do believe that closing Albemarle is the 3rd best option.
The best option would be to create two new high schools for the county. However that would require a bond referendum that would fail.
The 2nd option would have been to pass a sales tax referendum, but Stanly County is very anti-tax. In essence most want good schools but are unwilling to pay for it
I've seen several whi love to quote "studies" but no one wants to "study" why the Board had to take drastic action. This is not Ohio but is about a NC Piedmont County that can't support all of its schools and an electorate that would rather count its money than have adequate schools.
The best option would be to create two new high schools for the county. However that would require a bond referendum that would fail.
The 2nd option would have been to pass a sales tax referendum, but Stanly County is very anti-tax. In essence most want good schools but are unwilling to pay for it
I've seen several whi love to quote "studies" but no one wants to "study" why the Board had to take drastic action. This is not Ohio but is about a NC Piedmont County that can't support all of its schools and an electorate that would rather count its money than have adequate schools.
Earnhardt, I will take a shot at partially answering your question on why you think the board has had to take "drastic" action.
First, is most of the elementary schools, except for Aquadale and Norwood were built to house K-8. Aquadale and Norwood kids went to South Stanly in the 7th grade. Then, 15-20 years ago, as some of the elementary schools were filling up, the county passes a bond to build new elementary schools - One of the rarest things ever happened, yes the county passed a bond - The problem is, instead of leaving the new elementary schools as promised, they went and changed the 2 (running creek, kendall valley) into middle schools and then had to build 2 more middle schools (which had been voted down earlier) to pacify the 2 communities that did not have middle schools. So now they pull 6th-8th grade out of all the elementary schools and South High and put them into middle schools - This drastically changed the number of kids in each of the schools and put basically every elementary and all the middle schools under capacity along with South Stanly High. Since this switcheraoo happened. lots of people lost all respect for the school board, including the county commissioners. If you will lie to the people to get a bond passed, how can county commissioners trust you to use the money wisely now?
Second, I believe is the county's, "all eggs in one basket" approach with the economy. For 100 years, textiles was great to this county, but they never looked forward to what happens, if that goes away. When the late 80's and early 90's brought the end of textiles, and then Alcoa closing in the early 2000's I believe, this county had nothing left. Kannapolis had the foresight to take their old textile community and build a research facility and is prospering because of it. Wiscassett in Albemarle, has cut up logs in its parking lot. Quite the difference in the two community ideas.
Also I believe more and more people are moving back to the "cities" and away from rural which is the opposite of 20 years ago - More people are now renting apartments in larger cities, rather than own their own land and build houses in rural areas like Stanly County.
Another thing I believe is the creation and interest in Charter Schools and home schools - Some of this is due to perceived better options and some of it is fear over the last 15 years ago of violence and such in public schools. My question is, 99% of charter schools are 1A level enrollment and home schools are obviously 1-3 kids. Why are Charter Schools not 1000-2000 kids, if what people who think 1 or 2 high schools in the county are the way to go? - They keep them low, because they know smaller class sizes and schools sizes are the most applicable to learning.
Like I stated some post back, if 1 or 2 schools in the county is the way to go, why aren't Richmond, Anson, and Montgomery the crown jewel of education. Those kids should come out speaking 5 different foreign languages and practically be half way towards their doctor degree, if we are to believe what the school board is offering as reasons for closing 3 schools.
The last thing I will say, is they closed North Albemarle, New London and Ridgecrest in the near past. If closing 3 schools, creates all this money to offer new courses and our school Grades are going to go up, why did none of this happen after those 3 were closed??
First, is most of the elementary schools, except for Aquadale and Norwood were built to house K-8. Aquadale and Norwood kids went to South Stanly in the 7th grade. Then, 15-20 years ago, as some of the elementary schools were filling up, the county passes a bond to build new elementary schools - One of the rarest things ever happened, yes the county passed a bond - The problem is, instead of leaving the new elementary schools as promised, they went and changed the 2 (running creek, kendall valley) into middle schools and then had to build 2 more middle schools (which had been voted down earlier) to pacify the 2 communities that did not have middle schools. So now they pull 6th-8th grade out of all the elementary schools and South High and put them into middle schools - This drastically changed the number of kids in each of the schools and put basically every elementary and all the middle schools under capacity along with South Stanly High. Since this switcheraoo happened. lots of people lost all respect for the school board, including the county commissioners. If you will lie to the people to get a bond passed, how can county commissioners trust you to use the money wisely now?
Second, I believe is the county's, "all eggs in one basket" approach with the economy. For 100 years, textiles was great to this county, but they never looked forward to what happens, if that goes away. When the late 80's and early 90's brought the end of textiles, and then Alcoa closing in the early 2000's I believe, this county had nothing left. Kannapolis had the foresight to take their old textile community and build a research facility and is prospering because of it. Wiscassett in Albemarle, has cut up logs in its parking lot. Quite the difference in the two community ideas.
Also I believe more and more people are moving back to the "cities" and away from rural which is the opposite of 20 years ago - More people are now renting apartments in larger cities, rather than own their own land and build houses in rural areas like Stanly County.
Another thing I believe is the creation and interest in Charter Schools and home schools - Some of this is due to perceived better options and some of it is fear over the last 15 years ago of violence and such in public schools. My question is, 99% of charter schools are 1A level enrollment and home schools are obviously 1-3 kids. Why are Charter Schools not 1000-2000 kids, if what people who think 1 or 2 high schools in the county are the way to go? - They keep them low, because they know smaller class sizes and schools sizes are the most applicable to learning.
Like I stated some post back, if 1 or 2 schools in the county is the way to go, why aren't Richmond, Anson, and Montgomery the crown jewel of education. Those kids should come out speaking 5 different foreign languages and practically be half way towards their doctor degree, if we are to believe what the school board is offering as reasons for closing 3 schools.
The last thing I will say, is they closed North Albemarle, New London and Ridgecrest in the near past. If closing 3 schools, creates all this money to offer new courses and our school Grades are going to go up, why did none of this happen after those 3 were closed??
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Outlaw, you are correct in what happened, but your order is wrong. Stanly did (barely)pass the bond, and the bond money built South Stanly Middle, Kendall Valley Elementary (which is now NSMS) and Running Creek Elementary (which is now WSMS), plus the new AMS. (If you look, all four schools have basically the same floor plan). SSMS was designated as a middle school from the get-go, but some parent groups in both the NS and WS districts began pushing for middle schools there instead of K-8's. When this started, Poole, Barbee, Watson, and Allen did not care what the people wanted, they wanted to "do what we've always done." Fortunately for progress, middle schools were eventually established county-wide. That was going to happen eventually anyway. I don't see the current BOE as having "lied" at all. One board majority was against change for many years, then new people were voted in who are for it.
As for what we are facing now, I agree that the two high school concept would be best, but I also agree that it would never pass because people here as a whole are more interested in fighting change than accepting it.
One big difference is that Kannapolis had a billionaire pump huge money into the project and also pushed his influence to involve others.
I agree that Stanly County and Albemarle have not been very proactive in leaving its past behind. Hickory recently passsed a $40 million bond for business development. Textiles and furniture were their king and they lost almost all of that.
A school with a small student body cannot offer what a larger school can and that is a fact unless, like most charters/magnets/privates, the student body is comprised of very evenly matched students from an academic standpoint with a focus on similar academics. I was told by a DPI administrator that once a high school goes below 800 enrollment the academic offerings will tighten up unless there is a lack of "academic diversity". That was their term.
Montgomery has two schools that have less than half as many students as Stanly County and one school is now being looked at. Both 1A schools and West is small 1A. Anson has one high school that is about 150 students larger than West Stanly and their demographics are probably not along the lines of Stanly County as a whole. Anson has had one high school for over 40 years and that was when the separate county / city systems merged. Richmond County had one tiny school, one small school, and two large schools. The geography of the area made sense for them to go to one school as about 70% of the students come from two schools. With 2,200 students 9-12 that school is about equal to Stanly County's ADM for the high schools. Richmond turns out some solid students and has their problems also but it is a county that is also in economic turmoil. Everything in the county is pointed toward one school and I think that is a positive especially athletically.
With the current enrollments, it appears to be the right decisions that they were closed. I do not think those were shuttered due to academics.
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new_dawg what year did AMS and SSMS open?
When Kendall Valley and Running Creek opened that would have been the time to go to two high schools instead but the boom was picking up and everyone expected it would never end. If you look back I expect you can see decisions that were made over the last 20 years that lead to what is currently happening. The decisions may have been right for the time and may have been right with foresight but things changed. They may have in fact been bad plans. I have always thought building additional elementary schools was a mistake but that is just me.
When Kendall Valley and Running Creek opened that would have been the time to go to two high schools instead but the boom was picking up and everyone expected it would never end. If you look back I expect you can see decisions that were made over the last 20 years that lead to what is currently happening. The decisions may have been right for the time and may have been right with foresight but things changed. They may have in fact been bad plans. I have always thought building additional elementary schools was a mistake but that is just me.
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