Why the temporary classrooms exist in Chocowinity | Eastern North Carolina Now

    In the Beaufort Observer's report of the Chocowinity Town Board meeting on June 1 there is a discussion of the mobile units at Chocowinity Middle School that were granted a three-year temporary "Special Use Permit" under the town's zoning ordinance. Mr. William Warren, the school board member from Chocowinity is asking the Town Board for an extension of the Special Use Permit to allow the temporary classrooms to remain. The Town Board balks because the school system never provided it with a Long Range Facilities Plan that would show how the temporary units would be replaced with permanent construction.

    Mr. Warren explains that the school board just does not have the money to replace the temporary units with permanent units. He blames this on an emergency roof repair at Washington High School.

    Either Mr. Warren is woefully uninformed, or he is being disingenuous with the Chocowinity Town Board.

    The voters of Beaufort County in July of 2004 approved a $33 million bond issue. In April, before the vote, a group of citizens in Chocowinity organized and expressed to the superintendent at that time (Dr. Anthony Parker) that the needs of the fastest growing attendance area in the county were being shortchanged. He agreed and offered a plan which was presented to the Chocowinity PTO. The plan called for more classrooms at Chocowinity Primary than was originally proposed for the bond package and the inclusion of $4 million in what was called "Phase II" which was anticipated to be funded by whatever revenue might be available after the bond projects were completed. That money was specifically identified to add permanent classrooms at Chocowinity Middle School. Based on this, the Chocowinity PTO voted to endorse the bond package and it carried in the Chocowinity area, resulting in the passage county-wide.

    But then rather than build the bond projects in "Phase I" within the $33 million budget the School Board spent $39.4 million. When they went $6.4 million over budget on the bond projects in Phase I that exhausted the money that could have been applied to "Phase II." That is why the mobile units at Chocowinity Middle School have not been replaced.

    You can review the details of all of this, including links to a publication BCS put out prior to the bond vote called "The Beacon" published in May before the vote in July at the links below.

    The truth is that the School Board, with Mr. Warren voting in agreement every single time it voted, overbuilt several schools in the bond program, especially S. W. Snowden, P. S. Jones and John Small and then exhausted every available dollar to cover those costs. $6.4 million by BCS's own calculation.

    Mr. Warren knows this. He also knows that they spent money to air condition the gym at Chocowinity Middle School without him or anyone else ever raising the issue of needed permanent classroom space.

    Then he voted to spend nearly $600,000 for a weight-room at Northside and a million dollars at Tayloe, which was not included in Phase II.

    The roof at Washington probably could have had its life extended if it had been properly maintained when it became obvious that it was breaking down. They, with Mr. Warren chairing the Facilities Committee, waited until it became an "emergency" to address the problem. And as Building & Grounds Committee Chairman for two years, Mr. Warren is disingenuous to blame Jeff Moss for the absence of a Long Range Facilities Plan.

    The Building & Grounds Committee has spent over $12 million without ever once asking for an updated facilities plan, including student enrollment trend data, subsequent to the completion of the bond projects. The record indicates there has never been a discussion under Mr. Warren's leadership of the committee about what to do about Phase II much less Phase III.

    The voters of Chocowinity trusted the plan that called for most of the needs of Chocowinity being addressed in Phase II. Their vote insured passage of the $33 million bond package. But the current School Board overspent the bond projects by $6.4 million (actually it was more, but that is how much they admit to) and then continued to spend on other projects rather than address the needs identified in the "Rouse Study" that were shifted to Phase II. That is the reason those temporary mobile units sit at Chocowinity Middle School today and why there is no prospect for correcting the situation anytime soon.

    You can read all the details here:

    A History of the 33 Million School Bonds

    A Good Idea Gone Bad

    Delma Blinson writes the "Teacher's Desk" column for our friend in the local publishing business: The Beaufort Observer. His concentration is in the area of his expertise - the education of our youth. He is a former teacher, principal, superintendent and university professor.