Burke County: From six schools to three

As soon as Burke County students left school Thursday for the start of summer vacation, teachers began packing personal items and classroom furnishings in the first step toward this year's consolidation of six schools into three.

If Burke County Public Schools' maintenance department and selected contractors can beat a tight deadline, the newly named Mountain Crest and Drexel elementary schools and Hallyburton Academy will welcome students on Aug. 25.

The district will spend approximately $750,000 for one-time capital improvements on the way to reducing annual expenses by an estimated $1.4 million.

The district will close East ALPS (Alternative Learning Program School) in Hildebran and College Street Academy in Morganton and merge their 200 students at the former Hallyburton Elementary building in Drexel.

Hallyburton Elementary's approximately 290 students in grades three through five will join about 250 in kindergarten through second grade in what currently is Drexel Primary. It has a rated capacity of 473 students, so adding two mobile classrooms will help accommodate 540.

Mountain View Elementary's approximately 220 students will join Hillcrest Elementary's 190 in a building whose rated capacity (not including its two existing mobile classrooms) is 330. The district will add two mobile units there for a total of four. The school's new name will be Mountain Crest Elementary.

Kim Rudicill, director of elementary education, said the school district asked for suggested names from students, parents, staff and community members. Representatives from each school cut the list to three: Mountain Crest, Crest View (Crestview) and Hill View (Hillview). Students in kindergarten through fourth grades — the fifth graders will be in middle school this fall — voted and chose Mountain View.

After Rudicill described some public steps involved in the merger, Superintendent Art Stellar briefed school board members on work going on in the background. Half-jokingly, he advised them to "pay attention. You may have to do this again."

The flip-side of half-joking is half-serious. This year's budget shortfall accelerated the decision to consolidate schools and reduce costs. Stellar repeatedly has warned the school board that the looming loss of federal stimulus funds will force more hard budget decisions next spring.

Although a consultant recommended developing a master facilities plan before deciding on school consolidations, which might have delayed any decision until January, the board went along with the administration's recommendation to start saving money by merging schools this fall.

Burke County Public Schools needs to reduce expenses because the state and federal governments base much of their support on enrollment. Burke County Public Schools' enrollment peaked at 14,600.

It has fallen every year since 2002-03. At the end of 2009-10 it was about 13,400, down more than 8 percent in eight years.

The district has 30 school buildings: 18 elementaries, six middle schools and six high schools. Burke Middle College occupies facilities at Western Piedmont Community College and the North Liberty High program for special-needs students is at Liberty Middle School.

Projecting more enrollment declines in the future, a consultant hired by the Burke County Board of Commissioners recommended reducing the number of schools. Merging six into three cuts the total by 10 percent.

The consultant, Evergreen Solutions, said merging schools and consolidating five administrative facilities into one or two can reduce expenses by $1.4 million annually (Stellar believes the estimate for merging administrative offices is on the low side).

What attracted less public attention was Evergreen's statement that "capital construction costs to accomplish the consolidations are estimated to be $2.32 million."

At a June 7 meeting, some school board members appeared blindsided by the cost of preparing for consolidation. Assistant Superintendent Tony Cox asked for approximately $750,000.

Transportation Director Doug Setzer — who will take on many of Cox's responsibilities when the assistant superintendent's contract ends June 30 — described those costs in detail on Thursday. He also showed pictures of worn carpets reduced to a rumpled patchwork, leaking hot-water units, cramped office spaces carved out of former storage facilities and storage space cribbed from classrooms and libraries.

The tab for renovation, replacement, moving costs and other expenses — board member Tim Buff warned, "You never know what you'll find when you get inside (older buildings)" — is $281,000 at Drexel, $146,500 at Hallyburton and $254,000 at Hillcrest.

Setzer said the schools' maintenance department will do as much work as it can, but probably will need to contract "quite a bit" to get the job done by Aug. 25.

Not included is the cost for renovating Mountain View's building to merge many of the administrative functions. Decisions on that and what to do with the East ALPS and College Street Academy facilities still await board action.