It's third try on school

MOCKSVILLE

For the third time in less than 10 years, Davie County school officials are pushing for a new high school to deal with crowding at the county's only high school.

This time, rather than a second high school, school officials are proposing to build a $31.3 million high school that could hold 1,700 students. They would then use the current Davie High as an auxiliary campus to house the Early College, now on the Davie campus of Davidson County Community College.

The current high school, built in the 1950s, also would offer advanced-placement and vocational classes, as well as such other programs as SAT preparation.

"At the end of the day, the high-school problem is the biggest problem in the county," said Terry Renegar, the chairman of the Davie County Board of Education.

The school board will consider the plan at a special meeting at 11 a.m. Tuesday. If the board approves it, the plan would go to the Davie County Board of Commissioners for funding.

In the past, school officials have sought to build a second high school in the eastern part of the county, but in 2003 and 2007, voters defeated bonds that would have paid for construction. In both cases, opponents argued that a second high school would benefit the children of wealthy parents who live in eastern Davie County, while leaving the current high school neglected.

After the defeat of the 2007 bond, Superintendent Robert Landry recommended a realignment plan that would have placed ninth-graders in middle school and sixth-graders in elementary school. The plan, he said at the time, would help reduce the dropout rate and alleviate crowding at the high school, but it would also have required building a new elementary school.

School officials have dropped that idea in favor of building one new high school that would be used by all high-school students at least part of the day.

Under the proposal, the new high school would be 207,132 square feet and include a 750-seat theater and auditorium. The goal, school officials said, is to have the high school open by the fall of 2011.

The current high school is about 193,000 square feet and has 26 mobile classrooms and one pod. At the end of the school year, there were 1,664 students, said W. Dub Potts, the facility manager for Davie County Schools. There were 102 students at the Early College and 13 students at Central Davie Academy, the school system's alternative school.

The current high school has a capacity of 1,500 to 1,600 students, school officials have said.

Landry said the latest idea is the best solution that school officials have come up with to deal both with the crowding at Davie High and the lack of space for the Early College.

"This plan keeps everybody together," he said.

School officials have not said where the new school would be built or how it would be paid for, saying that decision would be up to the commissioners.

Chris Anderson, the chairman of the commissioners, said that the board hasn't discussed the proposal.

"I'm looking forward to hearing the full plan and what they have in mind," he said.

The debate over a second high school was heated, and this current proposal is just as controversial, with some school board members and parents upset with putting the Early College at the current high school.

"Davie has already voted against a high school twice," said Teresa Apperson, a parent whose son attends the Early College. "To tie it in with the high-school package is the wrong move."

The whole point of having an Early College is to provide students with a college-like experience, Apperson said, and that idea is defeated if the program is moved to the high school.

The Early College needs to have an expanded building at the community college, Apperson said.

Others say that Davie County doesn't need a new high school, and that the current high school isn't as crowded as school officials make it out to be.

"I think it's tight because it's an older structure," said Bill Foust, a frequent critic of local government who lobbied against the bond in 2007. But he said that the decision should be left up to county residents.

"We're not going to openly fight and oppose this thing as long as they put the truth out there and put out true numbers," he said.

Renegar said that the time has come to finally deal with the crowding issue.

"It's time to vote and what happens happens," he said. "I think this is the best plan we can come up with that identifies the needs as I see them."

■ Michael Hewlett can be reached at 727-7326 or at mhewlett@wsjournal.com
■ People who want to look at the proposal can see it at http://www.davie.k12.nc.us/admin/views/documents/July6BOEFacilityPresentation.pdf