There was a plan in place to build a middle school to feed into the newly constructed Wheatmore High School. However, an economy in recession has forced the Randolph County Board of Education to present new options, one of which keeps the current configuration.

A forum, held Sept. 10 in the Trinity High School theatre, had been on the school board’s agenda since spring, but most parents said they found out about the meeting only three days before through Connect Ed, the school’s telephone messaging system. About half of the 120 people who attended were parents and the other half were employed in the education system.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss options to reorganize kindergarten through eighth grades in the 
Arch-ddale-Trinity attendance area.

Those who spoke at the forum were divided over ways to implement a redistricting plan.

According to Randolph County Schools, the need to reorganize was prompted by the construction of a second high school, Wheatmore. The original plan called for construction of a middle school near Wheatmore, where additional land was purchased for that purpose.

“That was the general plan,” said Andrews, “but the problem was that there were no additional funds available to construct the middle school at this time.”

Statistics and options were presented at the forum. All solutions focused on the use of existing facilities.

The first option, which had been presented earlier this year, is the conversion of Archdale Elementary School into a sixth grade school, which would be linked to Braxton Craven School, where the seventh and eighth grade students would be housed. Together the schools would form a middle school feeder for Trinity High School. Archdale-Trinity Middle School would serve as the feeder for Wheatmore.

Earlier this year, the Archdale Elementary School PTA on behalf of its membership said they did not support this option.

“Just look at the figures,” said Randolph County Schools Board of Education Chairman Becky Coltrane at the forum. “If you have a better option, we’re listening.” Also attending the meeting were Board of Education members Gary Cook and Paul Guthrie, both residents of the Archdale-Trinity attendance area. Coltrane also resides in this attendance area.

Marty Trotter, assistant superintendent of operations for Randolph County Schools, presented additional options.

The conversion of Archdale Elementary into a sixth grade school is the best fix, said Trotter. The 408 students would be redirected to the other four elementary schools in the area. Although Archdale could easily accommodate the 198 projected sixth-grade students, three of the four remaining elementary schools would then be over capacity. In this case, mobile units would be used, said Trotter.

This option drew the concern of Rebecca Moffitt, who believes that the campuses would be more overcrowded than the numbers indicate. “I see the numbers that you are throwing up there,” she said. “Are you not projecting any more growth?”

Patricia Hyder, the mother of a sixth grade student at Braxton Craven, felt that Braxton Craven’s facilities are not sufficient to accommodate grades seven through eight. The school currently houses just sixth grade students.

“Braxton does not have the athletic facilities that you are accustomed to,” said Hyder. “The main thing that concerns me is this, are you going to overcrowd the middle school or are you going to overcrowd the elementary school? This year some [Braxton] students didn’t have a desk on the first day of school. Where will they practice? Where will their lockers be?”

Another option called for the addition of a sixth grade to all of the elementary schools. Figures for this plan would easily accommodate grades seven through eight at Braxton Craven and ATMS, but four of the five elementary schools’ populations would exceed their capacity. Under this plan, Trinity Elementary would serve 549 students with a capacity of 480.

Carol Ann Robles, a teacher and a parent, does not feel adding a sixth grade to elementary schools would accommodate athletic programs now offered in the sixth grade.

“For Brian [her son], academics will always be top priority,” Robles said. “My concern is, that if we don’t split them at the middle school, I think that we are going to lose some students. School pride has a lot to do with academics. If we don’t split them, then we are going to lose some of that pride.”

Three options drew little discussion. They include the following:

• Convert Trindale Elementary School into a sixth grade school. This plan would lead to 293 overcrowded seats among the elementary schools.

• Convert Trindale Elementary into a sixth through eighth grade school. Braxton Craven would become a kindergarten through fifth grade school.

• Reconfigure Braxton Craven and ATMS so both would serve grades six through eight. ATMS could easily accommodate the 616 projected membership, but Braxton Craven would be 202 students over capacity.

Last on the list was the option to leave Braxton Craven as a sixth grade school and ATMS as a seven through eighth grade school. This option would leave both schools over capacity, Braxton Craven by 78 students and ATMS by 24.

Dr. Darrell Saunders, former THS principal, does not think this is a viable option.

“Having a clean route, at least from the seventh grade on, is very important,” Saunders said. “It may be a hard pill to swallow, but it is important for those high schools to do their job to go ahead and make a change right now and a change that everybody can agree on.”

In contrast, Mark Hyde advocated keeping the current configeration..

“I am not advocating that we keep the status quo just so that we can keep the status quo,” Hyde said. “We have great elementary schools, and a good middle school as well. All our schools met their AYP goals. It seems like it may not be the best decision to spend money to change schools that are performing in the way that we want them to perform.

“If it takes several years to come up with the money to build that middle school on the property at Wheatmore, then if we delay doing something significantly different, I don’t see that it would hurt anything.”

Greg Allen echoed Hyde’s remarks.

“I teach at ATMS, but I am here as a parent,” said Allen. “I’ll teach wherever you send me. I think that we should take any funding that it would take to reconfigure these schools and put it toward a new middle school.”