LUMBERTON — Public Schools of Robeson County Board of Education members approved Tuesday student reassignments involving three schools effective in the next school year.
The recommendation by PSRC Superintendent Freddie Williamson was approved by School Board members. Williamson said the recommendation will help address overcrowding in Townsend Elementary School.
Townsend Elementary School, which now houses prekindergarten through grade 8, will house prekindergarten through grade 5 and students in grades 6-8 will go to South Robeson Intermediate School in the next school year. Fairgrove, which houses prekindergarten through grade 4, will house students in prekindergarten through grade 5. Southside-Ashpole Elementary will be under the control of the school district and house prekindergarten through grade 5.
“The staff will be based upon grade,” Williamson said. “No one will lose their job as a result.”
The recommendation will go into effect next school year, according to Bobby Locklear, assistant superintendent of Auxiliary Services.
“We have no plans at this point to close any schools,” Williamson said.
Townsend Elementary currently has an enrollment of 469 this school year, Williamson told The Robesonian.
The changes will place a projected amount of 283 students in Townsend and 402 in South Robeson Intermediate, which will free up space at Townsend Elementary, Williamson said.
Williamson said public information sessions will occur at a later date for community feedback.
Two members of the public spoke with concern about the decision including Michael Muhammad and Trevaughn McArthur.
Muhammad asked if the board would reconsider the decision if the public opposed it.
“Are you gonna take those parents under consideration and those children under consideration?” he asked.
School Board member Brenda Fairley-Ferebee assured Muhammad that sessions will be held for public feedback.
“I know it’s gonna be a lot of problems,” McArthur said.
McArthur told The Robesonian he expects the results of the transition to include violence at schools like fighting. He also said it will be expensive for parents who must transport their children to another school.
He told The Robesonian will bring “more problems than solutions.”
Fairmont High School Gym naming
Also on Tuesday, School Board members approved naming the Fairmont High School gymnasium the Michael D. Baker Gymnasium.
PSRC Athletic Director Jerome Hunt said no members of the public spoke in opposition of the naming during the public virtual forum held on April 4.
Hunt told Public Schools of Robeson County leaders of the nomination to name the gym after Baker during a March 8 School Board meeting.
Baker teaches science at FHS and is the school’s athletic director. He also has coached basketball and volleyball teams at the school.
Baker graduated from FHS in 1977 and was inducted into the Roanoke College Hall of Fame in 1998 for his contributions as a former college basketball player, according to Hunt.
A date for the naming was not set as of Tuesday.
FEMA lawsuit
School Board members also voted to withdraw PSRC’s appeal in the pursuit of more than $87 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The decision to move the case to arbitration was also approved.
The School Board previously retained the Baker Donelson law firm out of Washington, D.C., to help in its pursuit of money spent on Hurricane Matthew recovery efforts. FEMA denied a funding request for more than $87 million and offered the school district about $4.5 million in Hurricane Matthew recovery funding.
In October 2021, the school district filed an appeal, said Hugh McIlwain, assistant finance officer at PSRC.
“They have not yet reviewed the appeal at all,” McIlwain said.
Moving the case to arbitration should speed the process up, he said. The case will go before a panel of three judges.
McIlwain said the school district should hear an answer within 120 days of the motion.
“They expected an arbitration,” said Board Attorney Grady Hunt, when speaking of Baker Donelson.
“It’s kind of going the way they expected it to go,” Hunt added.
Public Comments
Also during the meeting, board members voted to move the public comment session from the end of the meeting to close to the beginning just before action items.
School Board member Vonta Leach made a substitute motion to move the comment session closer to the start of the meeting. His motion was approved after he and other School Board members Dwayne Smith, Randy Lawson, John Simmons, Terry Locklear and Linda Emanuel also voted in favor of the motion.
Holding the public comments session at the end of the meeting is “not respecting people’s time,” Leach said.
Fairley-Ferebee disagreed and stated the business of the school system should be placed first.
Fairley-Ferebee’s motion to move public comments from the end of the meeting to above the closed session portion of the meeting was struck down after Leach’s substitute motion gained the support of six board members including himself.
A discussion also ensued when two members of the public attended the meeting to speak but were did not complete the comment form online before it timed out. Doug McBroom, who delivered comments at the meeting, brought the matter to the board’s attention.
Board members did allow them to speak. However, a physical copy of a sign-up sheet was not available at the meeting.
McBroom also addressed the board concerning the March 8 meeting in which School Board member Dwayne Smith called him an “idiot” and told him to “sit down and shut up.” During that meeting, Smith also told McBroom “if you got a problem with me I’ll be outside when this is over with.”
“I would hope that no one will try and hider my First Amendment right to free speech and to petition the government for grievances,” McBroom said.
McBroom then spoke of board policies and the public comment session, stating that no vote had previously been taken to move the public comments session from its place toward the end of the meeting.
North Carolina State Board of Education member Olivia Oxendine was present during the meeting.
Other matters
In other matters, PSRC Board of Education members recognized Hunt who was recently recognized by the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association as a certified athletic administrator.
Also recognized was Kenneth Brandt, the director of the Robeson Planetarium and Science Center. Brandt was recognized during the meeting for being named as a finalist for the the 2022 North Carolina Association for Scholastic Activities Administrator of the Year award.
Plaques were presented by the school district to N.C. Sen. Danny Britt Jr. and N.C. Rep. Charles Graham for their “support and commitment” to the planetarium. Both legislators helped PSRC obtain $5 million in funding from the State Capital Infrastructure Fund to rebuild the planetarium, which was destroyed by Hurricane Matthew.
Also during the meeting, Board members approved:
— The surplus of an outside water fountain at Green Grove Elementary.
— Eureka Math as a 3-year sole source vendor.
— Monthly financial report.
— PRC 071 Supplemental funds.