ADVERTISEMENT

Breaking News!!

Keep in mind the current BOE had to do something. If you want to blame a group you need to go back to the BOE that was in place when the Middle Schools were approved. You had one-to two members and the puppets that supported them that need to take responsibility for what's happening now.

I agree this is something that was not done overnight. However you would have to be blind to see there is not back door politics going on here. I personally believe politics has no place in the classroom when you as a community or a BOE take your focus off of the best interest for ALL the kids you need to remove yourself.

If you look at this logically there is no justification for closing AHS over a school like NS. Additionally if you are going to close AHS you need to look at all schools and do the pros and cons of keeping or closing each school. You can plainly see that has not happened. You can say well AHS is not performing well you can say that about every HS in the county and the gap between AHS and NS is not enough to say well NS is outperforming AHS. So I would call that a even split.

Repairs NS is in need of the most investment and repairs.

NS is a rural school and is the only school outside of WS that is does not have a community surrounding the school.

AHS is the nicest HS facility in the county. Business wise that makes a difference when bringing a new business to the area.

AHS is in the county seat and seems to still be adding businesses in the city.

Looking at ALL kids would it be better to close NS splitting those student between AHS and SS or NS and putting all those kids into SS because as you know if you split then you are looking at about a 8 million dollar investment into NS just to accompany. AHS you would need less than 50% of that to complete all repairs needed.

I don't see a advantage to close AHS over NS and how it would be better for all students and the city of Albemarle.

I would like to note I don't agree with closing any school but if your vote is to close 1 high school you have to consider all impacts and not just your view on whether you like AHS or not because they beat your butt in football or they have a bunch of under priviledge kids. I have been in business for a long time and when you look at pulling from or expanding to these are the types of questions you have to ask.

Bottom line to make the best decision for ALL the kids you have to remove all bias. I don't see one pro of shutting down AHS and if I did I would be honest about it but I just don't.
 
You sir get a standing applause! And I don't give out many.

There is bias agenda here. And yes, this is politics.
 
I don't know why the Albemarle City Council doesn't weigh in on the decision to close AHS. If I was a city leader and wanted to try and bring in new businesses to Albemarle I would try and sell my city as a good place to locate new businesses. How will it look to be the biggest city and county seat and have no high school in the city? Business owners do look at schools in the cities they are thinking about moving to. I still regret having the county commissioners convincing the city schools to merge with the county system.
 
The BOE got this wrong last night and WE the people might not be able to change it now but you can bet you sweet a$$ I will tell everyone I know that when its time to vote, the people will have the final say on what this board has done about this issue. I hope a lot of those kids get to go to SS, I for one would donate money to that Booster Club. The people of SS have nothing to worry about as it was never the intention of the BOE to close SS that was just a ploy to divert attention away from their main plan and that was to close Albemarle.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sway1532
People are fired up! I'm telling you, that board better be mindful of what they do...that's all I got to say about that.
 
Im fired up and I don't even have a kid in school anymore and since when is a uncast vote a YES vote If you are scared to vote you probably shouldn't be there because that tells me you have not guts and you will still not get my vote next time
 
  • Like
Reactions: bulldog nation2014
These board members will all be voted out next Nov, but it will be to late. They will have already set our school system back to the dark ages. Those that did not vote have NO BALLS!!!!!!!!!!
 
I was told that they voted to review Plan B. That is the next step. It was also relayed to me from a person that I think is pretty in the know, but only due to his due diligence as a citizen, that he expects AHS closes. Note, there is a lot to happen for that to be finalized.

As I have written several times you can save AHS or SSHS (I will now add NSHS) but not both (or with North all three). SSHS is the biggest issue as it has the least density of population and the most drastic travel, both distance and driving conditions, to the schools that border its district.

I agree that AHS is by far the best facility, has the most space from what I understand, and has the most room for expansion. Personally, I could see AHS being the school and football facility. Expand the gym or build a new one improving dressing room conditions especially for the females. I would use North Stanly's baseball and softball fields. To appease people rename the school Stanly Central and give them a new mascot and colors. Possibly combining the two schools as much as possible which was popular with some schools that consolidated during integration. Rocky Mount is a great example. The Blackbirds and the Lions became the Gryphons.

The negative on AHS staying open is logistical / geographical. SSHS is once again the problem. That will remain a school with an extremely small enrollment as the borders with WSHS and NSHS have very little population. So moving their district out into the WSHS and NSHS will not provide much of an increase to the student body. The SSHS district line with AHS is already too near AHS in my opinion but it has not been practical to move them out of SSHS due to their enrollment. It is more feasible to disburse the students out from one central location than attempting to disburse them from outlying areas. If you close North a few students will move to WSHS and to SSHS but the vast majority are moving to AHS. Same with SSHS.

Georgraphically and logistically speaking South and North are the schools that will be the most difficult to disburse students from. Looking at the schools from a structural / space standpoint and expansion options AHS appears to be the best option to stay open.

As far as having the high school in the city being more attractive to businesses I would agree to some extent and AHS is by far the most appealing from the street but the issue with Stanly County schools in general and Albemarle city specifically is academics.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Buddy Rich
Keep in mind the current BOE had to do something. If you want to blame a group you need to go back to the BOE that was in place when the Middle Schools were approved. You had one-to two members and the puppets that supported them that need to take responsibility for what's happening now.

Looking back the high schools should have become the middle schools and did a complete redistrict of the high schools building two or three new ones. Hard to predict the future.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BulldogsFollower
Well too build 2 new high schools will run around around $40 million and 3 high schools would be around $60 million. I don't see Stanly county investing that much money or having the resources too.

Academics in stanly county does need to improve but I ask you this is that from a lack of resources or wasteful spending? I agree something needs to be done in regards to student population but closing your county seat main HS is not a good choice as it has been stated and that is something directly you can fault this BOE for and all involved. They can not see past the bias in order to see what is good for the ALL of the students and that is exactly the reason this BOE needs to steps down.

If anybody can give me reasons to close AHS over NS please do? Yet NS hasn't even been up for discussion? The growth in the western part of the county justifies WS, Albemarle City justifies AHS, shoot even SS has justifiable reasons, I can't think of one for NS and yet once again that hasn't been brought up as a topic and that in itself shows an incredible bias.
 
I think the first concern is getting kids out of mobile units. If you kept open AHS and SSHS and disperse NS kids you would eliminate some of that and still have room. Then you redistrict the west side of the city and you would
Increase AHS another 100 kids there and remove probably half of your mobile units at WS with the savings of 7.5 million you can add a wing to WS and build a new gym facility at AHS and still have money left over PLUS you would have 0 kids in mobile units. Additionally you would have AHS at around 800 kids with room to grow the facility if needed. So you have a nice school great programs new gym in the main city, WS has facility upgrades as well and around 80-85% capacity at all schools and you still come in under your 20 million budget.

The pros far out way the cons of keeping AHS open and closing NS if you are going to close one HS.
 
First of all why are there 2 high schools with in 2 miles of each other with a county population of 18,000 between the two of them....! that's idiotic within itself. And now you want to shut down the city school and keep the rural one, gtfoh.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mbdfan
Well too build 2 new high schools will run around around $40 million and 3 high schools would be around $60 million. I don't see Stanly county investing that much money or having the resources too.

In any of my posts I have written if money were available building two new high schools would be the best option. We all know that money is very tight. That is the main reason, regardless of what anyone thinks, is the reason the system and the state in general is in its current situation. With what the county spent to build and improve middle and elementary schools not to mention the money spent on modulars at high schools they could have built the new high schools and transitioned into a footprint that would make more sense in many ways.
 
Rural schools do NOT take priority over city schools. Once again bias in multiple situations has been on display fully from this BOE and by that they have failed their job description and should IMO give up their seat. Their jobs are to do the job to the best of their abilities for ALL students of stanly county. By not clearly looking at all options as part of plan A and plan B and by both plans targeting and attacking AHS this shows an extreme bias and one that does not represent this community or the best interest of our kids. As a parent myself with 3 kids that attend these schools this is concerning.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BulldogsFollower
First of all why are there 2 high schools with in 2 miles of each other with a county population of 18,000 between the two of them....! that's idiotic within itself. And now you want to shut down the city school and keep the rural one, gtfoh.

What two schools are you referencing? North is five miles from Albemarle. Remember when North was built, AHS took in all students that lived in the city limits. At that time the city limits did not go further than were McDonald's is at on Highway 52 North. (Buddy or Dogs9 is that not about where the city limits were located at the time???) North was centrally located for students coming from Millingport to Badin, and the northern part of what is now Albemarle City Limits and Misenheimer/Richfield. It does not look smart now but at the time it was probably the most sensible location.
 
Additionally from a business standpoint by closing a city school especially in your county seat will have a negative impact economically both on existing business and new businesses coming in or researching too. This BOE has displayed their lack of decision making ability to clearly and decisively look at all factors prior to announcing a plan and then proceeding with a plan.
 
I think the first concern is getting kids out of mobile units. If you kept open AHS and SSHS and disperse NS kids you would eliminate some of that and still have room. Then you redistrict the west side of the city and you would
Increase AHS another 100 kids there and remove probably half of your mobile units at WS with the savings of 7.5 million you can add a wing to WS and build a new gym facility at AHS and still have money left over PLUS you would have 0 kids in mobile units. Additionally you would have AHS at around 800 kids with room to grow the facility if needed.

I think mobile classrooms are an issue and something that needs to go away. That should be a priority for all schools.

Give a breakdown of how NSHS closes and AHS is at 800 students taking in approximately 100 students WSHS.
 
I think mobile classrooms are an issue and something that needs to go away. That should be a priority for all schools.

Give a breakdown of how NSHS closes and AHS is at 800 students taking in approximately 100 students WSHS.


I'm regards to the money situation would it make more sense to invest 7.5 million into one school to handle student population or invest 7.5 million in two schools and be able to eliminate all mobile units in the county at the HS level?


That was just a estimated number. But here is a more realistic number.

NS has 623 students
Split down the middle so let's say 310 to AHS which gives them 720 and 310 to SS which gives them 770

Redistricting the west side gives AHS another 80-100 which would put them at 800-820 or 80-85% capacity. Plus it would reduce WS enough to hopefully move all kids out of the mobile units
 
  • Like
Reactions: BulldogsFollower
Am I close on numbers Btango? Also am I misinterpreting this or do you agree on the thought process here?

I mean you have a $20 million budget and currently 14.5 million is going to WS and NS. My thinking is you could just take that and put it into SS, AHS and WS and using the other $5.5 million to create new programs. But that $14.5 million would eliminate the mobile units and fix all repairs needed to all schools or atleast be close. So you are saving 5.5 million dollars.
 
NS has 623 students
Split down the middle so let's say 310 to AHS which gives them 720 and 310 to SS which gives them 770

Redistricting the west side gives AHS another 80-100 which would put them at 800-820 or 80-85% capacity. Plus it would reduce WS enough to hopefully move all kids out of the mobile units

This is the issue when closing North or South. It is simple to send 310 to AHS from North. That is not an issue at all. Getting a hundred, much less 310 to South from the North student body is the geographical hurdle that I have alluded to.

One of my complaints has long been WSMS students traveling more than double the distance of what a trip to AMS would be. I cannot use that as a weapon to fight for Albemarle and then turnaround and have a North student travel double the distance to attend South. This is where the argument of disbursement of students from AHS is the most simple option as compared to South and North.

WSHS, unlike the other three schools, will see a major capacity issue in the near future and will need some serious relief. I support redistricting the students that reside east of Endy to AMS and AHS. Not sure how many students that would be.
 
Am I close on numbers Btango? Also am I misinterpreting this or do you agree on the thought process here?

I mean you have a $20 million budget and currently 14.5 million is going to WS and NS. My thinking is you could just take that and put it into SS, AHS and WS and using the other $5.5 million to create new programs. But that $14.5 million would eliminate the mobile units and fix all repairs needed to all schools or atleast be close. So you are saving 5.5 million dollars.

I am not as interested in saving money as improving the schools if the money is available. I would probably prefer to put the money into one school instead of two but this is where the big question comes in, which school.

People fighting for AHS staying open support that with the county seat and the best and most suitable structure. The two county schools support their schools staying open with the geography and busing times which would be more dramatic for the county schools. They also point to the AHS "problems". Either option can be argued with pros and cons for each of the schools.

The decision appears to be that four high schools are not optimal for Stanly County. Three appears to be the number at this time. The issue is going to be how to determine the two that will stay open along with West.
 
Ok let's say we agree that the new wing needs to be added to WS because I think everybody agrees we need to get the kids out of the mobile units and allow for growth on the west side of the county. Correct?

Now to closing one HS:
You have a high school that is rural in desperate need of repairs and you will have to invest a minimal of 3.5 million in a new wing just to house the current population plus new. (They actually need it now just to get kids out of mobile units. Additionally there is no really population around it and really no new growth.

You have a city school which can house the other schools needed population with no major repairs needed on urgency. You have the county seat plus a local economy which the HS assists with athletic events. In addition plenty of room to grow and expand the school.

You have a school in the south end of the county with a stagnet growth but does have a population that surrounds it even if you added 150-200 students which I believe you could they have plenty of room with no needed expansions BUT they do have the room for it.

Transportation wise once you established district lines my belief is that you could realistically cut down times and have this be an efficient option. The split may be more along the lines of 150-200 to SS and the remaining to AHS and maybe at that point you don't redistrict. But would you agree that through redistricting and setting proper lines that we could have this be an efficient means?

I see no pros for closing NS over AHS. I understand about transportation but until that is looked into you cannot say definitively. Other than that from economic standpoint etc the best option is closing NS and not AHS. Can anybody see a pro?
 
I am not being biased but AHS is in the top 2 remaining open without a doubt. You can justify SS but I cannot think of one justification for NS.

Correct me if I am wrong the intention behind building NS was for the growth probably expected in that side of the county which has not happened but has essentially deteriorated?

Additionally if NS was built on the far side of the county as WS is for example by Richfield what conversation would we be having now?

Where the schools are currently located and by justification of closing these are my ranked schools in order of keeping open.

1) WS
2) AHS
3) SS
4) NS

If you take AHS away from Albemarle you will see a negative impact on the economy here in Albemarle, agree or disagree? If our goal is to better the economy I believe AHS would have to remain open. I also believe that you will have to have an audit to see where this money is being spent in the schools because I think there is a lot of waste. IMO

I am ready and willing to buy into this and change the order of these schools but I see no reason to as of now.
 
I would like to note again I don't think closing a HS is a good option. Smaller community schools are typically more effective in reaching kids. I believe if we redistrict properly a lot of the student population issues will be solved and we can take kids out of mobile units. But in order for these schools to be effective the bias needs to be removed that is part of the problem AHS is in the situation it is now. IMO
 
Simply look at the district borders for South Stanly specifically North Stanly and show me where the 150-200 is coming from. The north district probably starts on the north side of Highway 24/27. That is very sparsely populated until you get to Badin and that is not a very densely populated area. South Stanly seems to be where the geographical problems are.
 
Correct me if I am wrong the intention behind building NS was for the growth probably expected in that side of the county which has not happened but has essentially deteriorated?

Additionally if NS was built on the far side of the county as WS is for example by Richfield what conversation would we be having now?
/QUOTE]


Per my post in reply to sway North Stanly was probably built in the most optimal location at that time. A few miles farther north on the opposite side of New London would have probably been better but I expect the cost and availability of the land itself was the reason for putting the school where they did but it is my understanding that a large portion of the North Stanly student body lived in what is now the norther edge of the Albemarle City Limits so that may have been partially the reason the school was placed to the south of New London. Highway 52 went straight through New London at that time. There was not the four lane bypass of the town that is there now.

Once again you have to go back to the late 1950's when the planning for the three county high schools was taking place. West was built on the main road just like North and somewhat in the middle of its population. When West was was built Oakboro was the "big" town in western Stanly County and that is the nearest population center to WSHS. The population growth came to the far western end the last several years growing Locust and Stanfield but not Oakboro. West Stanly served Oakboro to the south, Ridgecrest to the north, Endy to the east, with Locust and Stanfield to the west. North did not have a school to the south but as I wrote a large part of the enrollment came from what is now the northern end of the Albemarle City Limits. To have been central to its feeder schools North would have been located just on the north side of New London instead of the south which I covered above.

Where the schools should have been built or what schools should have been constructed is a ship that has sailed. Basically have to work with what they have.
 
This is where available means will come into play. Typically the people who are located in the country have more means to be able to and are willing to make the adjustments. Typically the people located within the city limits or close to are are needing/wanting convenience and accessibility. For example typically a family with one car and limited financial resources will locate to the country. I don't know if that made sense or even made the point I was trying to make.

In regards to the transportation issue that is not the root of this decision if it was I think we can agree that the transportation study would have been thoroughly done prior to announcement of the plans and a more thorough study done including no closure to see the best option for ALL kids
 
Per my post in reply to sway North Stanly was probably built in the most optimal location at that time. A few miles farther north on the opposite side of New London would have probably been better but I expect the cost and availability of the land itself was the reason for putting the school where they did but it is my understanding that a large portion of the North Stanly student body lived in what is now the norther edge of the Albemarle City Limits so that may have been partially the reason the school was placed to the south of New London. Highway 52 went straight through New London at that time. There was not the four lane bypass of the town that is there now.

Once again you have to go back to the late 1950's when the planning for the three county high schools was taking place. West was built on the main road just like North and somewhat in the middle of its population. When West was was built Oakboro was the "big" town in western Stanly County and that is the nearest population center to WSHS. The population growth came to the far western end the last several years growing Locust and Stanfield but not Oakboro. West Stanly served Oakboro to the south, Ridgecrest to the north, Endy to the east, with Locust and Stanfield to the west. North did not have a school to the south but as I wrote a large part of the enrollment came from what is now the northern end of the Albemarle City Limits. To have been central to its feeder schools North would have been located just on the north side of New London instead of the south which I covered above.

Where the schools should have been built or what schools should have been constructed is a ship that has sailed. Basically have to work with what they have.


I agree Btango, additionally you had a booming economy that has since flat lined due to one thing or another.

So now we are back to the original point what justification is there to keep NS open?

Where is the majority of the population is it more relative to AHS or NS or SS?

Where is the growth in the county? Is it west and central, west central and south or west central and north?

What area will have the largest negative impact economically with the loss of the HS?

What HS is the nicest one in the county?

What high schools have the most expansion room?

These are just some of the questions I have. I see new businesses coming into Albemarle but 0 to the north and some opening in the south not a lot and typically small. But being relatively close I think to the south with 74 being down that way manufacturing would be a great target.

I ranked the schools I seen that fit that spot. Through my analysis business wise I can't seem to move away from that and make sense it.
 
So basically what we can determine from all the posts is that nothing has changed and Albemarle may or may not be closing??????
 
The area projected to gain the most growth outside the western area is the northen end of the county with widening of Highway 49 continuing. With that you have more students in the Richfield area.
 
Just pulled up a "5 year" projection. Richfield/Pfeiffer area are projected to grow by 2-5k. Albemarle and the 24-27 corridor is going away. WM will be 1A in the next 2-3 years. Times they are a changing...... Charlotte will soon be sprawled all the way to Stanly County.... Harrisburg may as well be Charlotte now....
 
  • Like
Reactions: BulldogsFollower
My understanding is that 2 board members voted for plan b and 1 against. That left 4 that did not vote but understand the way the motion was put forward those 4 counted as Yes's. I also understand this was a vote to review or study plan b. Am I correct so far? Now bulldognation and btango have made good arguments NOT to close AHS. But My feelings are this is exactly what Dr Griffin and the board are going to do. Close AHS. This has been their Number 1 priority from day one. Weither this is a plot by unforeseen people. I do not know, but their is smell of a strong bias coming from somewhere. I have lived in Albemarle all my life and I know of certain people that have keep industry from coming to town because they did not want to pay higher wages. There are certain well to do people that do NOT want Albemarle to grow. Sad but true.
 
Revenue stream will be based around the 49 corridor.... they haven't been widening the road for people going from Mt. Pleasant to Charlotte not to connect it to Asheboro and the 73/74 Hwy to South Carolina. People in the Midwest can jump on 77 South, to 49 to 73/74. Businesses, hotels, restaurants etc... will be built. Stanly County has to know this and the towns in the center of the county will be passed by. Troy will be a lost town soon. It's the sign of the times. North Carolina is the third fastest growing state in the country. Mill/Textile towns are going to be a thing of the past. The voters will see lower taxes, more funding etc.... but sacrifices will have to be made. AHS and the old way of doing things are going to be gone.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BulldogsFollower
My understanding is that 2 board members voted for plan b and 1 against. That left 4 that did not vote but understand the way the motion was put forward those 4 counted as Yes's. I also understand this was a vote to review or study plan b. Am I correct so far? Now bulldognation and btango have made good arguments NOT to close AHS. But My feelings are this is exactly what Dr Griffin and the board are going to do. Close AHS. This has been their Number 1 priority from day one. Weither this is a plot by unforeseen people. I do not know, but their is smell of a strong bias coming from somewhere. I have lived in Albemarle all my life and I know of certain people that have keep industry from coming to town because they did not want to pay higher wages. There are certain well to do people that do NOT want Albemarle to grow. Sad but true.

Buddy I think most of the people that wanted to keep Albemarle "small" are no longer. I have heard that for years and I think there was a time that this was correct. Do not see it as such now. The internet and growth outward of Charlotte have changed how people do business. I know that a business does not want competition but they also want the shot at more business.

In the early 1960's the federal government had huge grants to run water and sewer system further into the county especially water. Many people who would lose money due to this fought it and you have seen Stanly County suffer somewhat due to the sewage system not having enough capacity.

I think AHS being on the chopping block is part of the change we see in America. Did you ever expect Wiscassett to close? Bought out, sure, but close, never. Cannon Mills in Kannapolis? Kannapolis was able to change with an influx of money and the proximity to I-85 and Charlotte. Alcoa? Think that has crushed Badin, hurt North and Pfeiffer? Absolutely.

Harris is correct on the Highway 49 corridor. It will be four lanes from Charlotte to Asheboro where it will connect with interstates and other major roadways in the center of the state. There will be growth. I do expect the 24/27 corridor to grow into Cabarrus and Stanly County. Draw a circle around Charlotte and it has prospered in nearly every sliver going outward except into Cabarrus which is one of the last areas with large amounts of land.
 
Albemarle ADM used by the NCHSAA since 1998. There is a trend. Since the peak of 691 in 2004 the school has lost 280 students.

2015 411
2014 470
2013 438
2012 489
2011 508
2010 531
2009 560
2008 568
2007 589
2006 632
2005 681
2004 691
2003 684
2002 686
2001 660
2000 666
1999 658
1998 634
 
Then why does Albemarle continue to have NO grow btango. I know for a fact that Snyder's kept out competition because they didn't want to pay higher wages. I know no interstate close by hurts our growth but I disagree with you on certain people wanting to keep Albemarle as it is. The DTDC says they want new business downtown, but nothing ever changes. One business will move in and another will close. The downtown buildings look awful and there is no sign of improving them. They plant trees and improve the sidewalks but everything else stays the same. No matter who we vote in NOTHING changes. Just promises.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BulldogsFollower
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT