Macon County Board of Education Chair Jim Breedlove took the bull by the horns on Monday night during the board’s April meeting in an attempt to clear the air about the Highlands School expansion project and where it stands on the school board’s priority list.
The meeting began with public comment, which included multiple speakers advocating for the school board to reinstate the Highlands School project, which was defunded in February. The project would include two Pre-K classrooms, four new classrooms in the middle school building, a remodel of the media center/library, a remodel of the computer lab, and two classrooms remodeled for career and technical education – at an estimated cost of $4.7 million.
“I don’t know what the communication has been between this board and the county board of commissioners but I’m here to ask that the Highlands School project be put back on this board’s priority list so it can be reconsidered by the commissioners,” Highlands resident Jerry Moore said. “I have spoken to several of our commissioners and what I’ve been told is that this board needs to put it back on the priority list. If we are number 10 on the list, so be it, we will push to be number five, then number four. We just need to know where this project stands as far as the school board is concerned.”
Funding for the first phase of the Highlands School project was approved by the previous board of commissioners in October 2022. Following the election of new board members in November, the funding for the site plan and architectural design was canceled and a contract for architectural services rescinded despite the county already having paid $35,000 to the designated firm.
According to the approved minutes of the county commissioners and the school board, the liaison committee to the school system pared the priority list from seven to five projects on Feb. 9 with the Highlands expansion project and athletics field left off. Liaison meetings are not public meetings.
On Feb. 21, the county commission voted unanimously to cancel the contract for architectural services related to the Highlands expansion, pending a confirming vote by the school board. The Board of Education voted 3-2 to agree with the county’s decision on Feb. 27, with board members Hilary Wilkes and Stephanie Laseter voting no on the motion.
During the county commissioners’ meeting in March, a large crowd of Highlands residents asked for the initial funding to be reinstated, but were told that the decision to halt the Highlands project was a mutual agreement between the county commissioners and the school board since the project was not high enough on the school board’s priority list.
On Monday night Breedlove said the Highlands expansion project is the number two project on the school board’s priority list, and has been since the board formulated the list in January.
Breedlove then took time to explain the process of how the school board prioritized its capital requests.
“We were asked by the commissioners to prioritize our needs, which we have never been asked to do before, so this year was a little different,” Breedlove said. “We looked at all of the potential projects in the district and we came up with seven priorities.”
Breedlove noted that two of the priority projects were designated as emergencies – the replacement of a failing wastewater treatment facility at Nantahala School and the repair of vent pipes at Macon Middle School, which have the potential to leak noxious fumes into the building.
“Those two projects had to be done, and done now,” Breedlove said. “That’s why we marked them with the emergency designation. If that wastewater treatment plant at Nantahala School fails, we have to shut that school down and that would be devastating. We need those two items fixed immediately so we asked that they be considered as emergencies and not even given a priority ranking.”
Breedlove indicated that two of the other five projects on the priority list are already funded. They were simply listed as priorities because they are capital projects, not because they required any additional county money.
A new Macon Middle School track will be paid for out of a combination of funds left over from an MMS renovation project in 2022 and a grant from the state earmarked for athletics facilities. A renovation of Highlands’ middle school wing (separate from the school expansion project), including a new roof, windows, HVAC system, and flooring, will be paid for via the NC Lottery Building Repair and Renovation Fund dollars.
That left three projects on the priority list for county consideration.
Breedlove noted that a new Franklin High School, at an estimated cost of $120 million, is number one on the school board’s list, because the replacement of that facility is overdue.
“Parts of the current FHS were built in the 1950’s and it’s time that school be replaced,” Breedlove said. “We believe that is our top priority and we indicated that to the commissioners. We feel strongly about that project.”
Highlands School expansion project was, and still is, number two on the priority list according to Breedlove.
“We have not removed the Highlands School expansion project from the list and we have no intention to remove it from the list,” Breedlove said. “It’s still a priority. We discussed this project with the commissioners the night that they removed the funding for the first phase of the project and I said, in session, that the Highlands expansion project is still our number two priority project.”
Additional public comment
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Richard Delaney, President of Old Edwards Hospitality Group, spoke about Highlands’ need for the school expansion project to move forward as soon as possible.
“I have grandchildren in this community and Highlands School is of keen interest to me and my family, but also (Old Edwards) employs more than 500 people and we hear about the need for childcare and early childhood education all the time,” Delaney said. “I just don’t understand how a project that seemed to be going well and moving forward got derailed so quickly.”
Highlands teacher and soccer coach Caleb Brown asked for the project to be reinstated to ensure the future of early childhood education at the school. Highlands does not currently offer Pre-K.
“My wife and I are about to welcome a baby in the next month or so and I’m already concerned about daycare and Pre-K,” Brown said. “The question is always, how do we make both great students in the classroom and great citizens outside the classroom? And I think Pre-K is a big part of that. Studies show that students who have access to Pre-K do better in later grades in terms of their in-class success and the life skills taught in Pre-K are immeasurable.”
Town passes resolution
On April 20, the Town of Highlands passed a resolution asking the county commissioners to reconsider the Highlands School expansion project.
“To be quite frank, we are looking at a lot of improvements coming to the Macon County School system in the next few years and I do not want to see Highlands left behind when these projects are happening,” Mayor Patrick Taylor said.
County commissioner John Shearl attended the town board meeting and explained the process of how the project was initially funded, then defunded, following a vote of both the county commissioners and the school board. He also covered potential funding issues associated with trying to allocate $4.7 million for the Highlands School project ahead of trying to replace Franklin High School at an estimated cost of $120 million.
“I don’t think there is anything wrong with us passing a resolution asking for future consideration,” town board member Brian Stiehler said. “Whether it’s the school board, or ultimately the county board of commissioners, I think we as a town want to see this project completed.”
Following a motion by Stiehler and a second by commissioner Amy Patterson, the resolution passed unanimously 4-0, with commissioner Buz Dotson absent from the meeting.
Thursday forum
Shearl will be hosting a public forum at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 27 at the Highlands Rec Center on 4th Street to discuss the Highlands School expansion project. Anyone interested in the process of funding school-related projects or the status of the Highlands School expansion project is encouraged to attend.