LUMBERTON — Members of the Robeson County Board of Commissioners and the Board of Education for the Public Schools of Robeson County got an earful on Tuesday from people opposed to plans to close several schools in favor of building new ones.
The two-hour meeting at times became heated, with booing from a crowd that packed the school board’s meeting room, one man being escorted out by police and an apparent racial dig by a county commissioner toward a school board member.
The two boards met to discuss a plan from sfL+a Architects, a firm jointly hired by the school board and county to conduct a facility-needs assessment on each school in Robeson County. The firm’s proposal calls for closing 30 Robeson County schools, building 13 new pre K-8 schools as well as a career and technical high school and renovating five existing schools.
Robeson County residents lined the walls and even sat on the floor during the meeting. Most who spoke worried that the project would take away their sense of community.
“We are concerned about our two schools in Maxton,” said Emmett Morton, mayor of Maxton. “When Maxton lost our high school to West Robeson, we lost our identity. We understand the job you all have to do. We hope you will do a feasibility study to see what this will do to towns that are trying to rebuild.”
A rough plan of where the new schools would be located leaves Maxton without any schools.
Several people said the project was moving too quickly, others mistakenly thought construction was already underway.
One man was escorted out by police after jumping from his seat on the floor and interrupting a board member to show the crowd pictures of mold in one Robeson school. The man, who seemed to be in favor of the new schools, pointed to the pictures and said “this is what we do to ourselves.”
Robbie Ferris, president of sfL+a Architects, said studies show that new schools improve the educational environment, save money, aid in teacher recruitment and economic development and allow for advanced programs and equality within the school system.
Ferris stressed that building new schools would be cheaper than maintaining existing schools.
According to Erica Setzer, financial officer for the Public Schools of Robeson County, it would cost the system more than $6 million a year to maintain the schools as they are, but would cost about $4 million a year for new schools under a lease-purchase agreement.
Setzer credited the cost difference to savings from energy efficient buildings. For cost saving, Setzer and Ferris decided to bid auditoriums at the schools as optional, saving about $38 million.
Responding to the concerns of those in the crowd, school board member Gary Strickland said that one building does not make a community. He said improving the schools would improve students’ futures and that his children and the children in the Robeson County school system shouldn’t continue to “live in 1950.”
“You’ve got to understand what this is all about. It’s not about the tax dollars,” Jerry Stephens, chairman of the Robeson County Board of Commissioners, said to Strickland. “When you say it doesn’t matter if you close a school, it does. That school is that community.”
Commissioner Berlester Campbell, who represents the Fairmont and Rowland areas, asked that Ferris visit communities, explain why their schools should be closed and answer questions from the public. Mike Smith, chairman of the Board of Education, said Ferris shouldn’t be expected to go into communities and be attacked if the boards aren’t planning on moving forward with the project as proposed.
Campbell said that while Smith might not feel comfortable “coming down to the south side of the county,” he believes a community meeting is essential in making an informed decision.
Ferris emphasized that the plan is just a proposal at this stage, and that exact locations for the proposed new schools could not be determined until a pre-project agreement is signed.
The meeting was recessed until Monday at 6 p.m. It will be held at the much-larger Emergency Operations Center building on Sanchez Drive next to the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office.
The meeting about consolidating schools was held after a regular school board meeting. During that meeting, the board:
— Presented a certificate to Harold Bell, a fifth-grader who won third place in a statewide Social Studies competition. Lucas Bell, Jalyn Herndon, Bianca Hunt, Caleb Locklear, Isaiah Jacobs, Jazmine Hut, Kiara Locklear and Karina McMillan also received awards for their art.
— Discussed the summer school schedule and approved a calendar for Early College High School.
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