School Board meets for improvement
CARLA OWENS Sentinel Writer

Clay County Schools Superintendent D. Scott Penland told local school board members that it is no longer a question of whether or not a new school will be built, it has now become a question of when a new school will be built. Other pertinent questions have already been answered, such as where and what. The what will likely be a primary school to house grades Pre-K through 2nd and the where will be on land donated to the school by Mr. and Mrs. Neal Cabe. The 7 acre tract of land is located directly across from the current campus and adjacent to the Clay County Veterans Park.

Penland's comments about a new school came during August's school board meeting which began with the Clay County Board of Education taking a tour of two new mobile units being installed at Hayesville Elementary School.

Mobile units were ordered earlier in the summer after Kindergarten pre-registration numbers showed yet another year of student population increase. After looking at the preliminary numbers, Hayesville Elementary School Principal Matt Rogers and Penland agreed that there would not be sufficientclassroom space available to house all the students who would show up for school this fall. In the fall of 2003, HES had to increase the number of classes in Kindergarten from four to fiveclasses of approximately 20 students each. The State of North Carolina recommends a class size of 18 students for Kindergarten. Each consecutive year the school has had to increase the number of classes to accommodate these students as they rise to the next grade. And this year, for the first time ever, HES has had to add a sixth Kindergarten class. With no place to house an additional class of 20 Kindergarten students, Rogers and Penland turned to the only quick solution which was to recommend that the school board order mobile units.

After fiveyears of sustained growth in their student body population, HES has also increased the number of classes from four to fiveclasses in both Pre-K and 2nd Grade for the first time in the school's history. First grade also has fiveclasses again this year. Rogers said that three new teachers have been hired by HES, two new kindergarten teachers and a new 2nd grade teacher. And although there has been an increase in the number of teachers and students at HES (preliminary enrollment for 2007-2008 is approximately 600 in Pre-K through 4th grades) there has been no increase in the size of the actual school building, which means there is simply no classroom space available in which to house new teachers and students.

For the short term, Rogers said mobile units will provide the space the school is in desperate need of, but if all the studies and trends are correct the school will be facing these same issues again next year. "Enrollment has gone up for the past several years and we should plan for it to continue", he stated.

"No child's education will suffer because of the mobile units", Rogers commented. "We still have excellent teachers who will be teaching these students, and that is what really matters." However, Rogers was quick to add that the mobile units are only a temporary fixfor the problem. "A new school is needed to solve the problem", Rogers said of finding a permanent home in which students and teachers can successfully conduct the daily job of learning.

The trend of student population growth, which has been predicted in studies done by the State of North Carolina, has continued at the local elementary school for the past fiveyears and shows no signs of slowing.

Of the likelihood of a new primary school being constructed, Penland told board members that it may be one or two years or it may be ten, but a new school will have to be built.

This was very evident following the tour of the mobile units which are now occupying the last available space on the elementary campus. Penland and board members commented that if additional units are needed next year it means the loss of parking space somewhere in order to finda free space on the campus to set more mobile classroom units.

And even if enrollment increases level off, Penland said that the current facilities are not even adequate to sustain programs for the current population. Penland commented that it is no longer just a matter of space, but it is an educational issue as well.

"I don't think we are going to lose many of these students even if the growth levels off we have to look 10 years down the road when these Kindergartners are in high school will there be enough room? So if it is for the sake of the programs and education only we need to do it (build a new school.)" Penland stated. "There are a lot of things we could do differently and better with a new school", he added.

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