The New Hanover County Board of Education unanimously
approved a new short-term option to add two trailers to Wrightsville Beach
Elementary School for three years and extend the use of the two fifth-grade
classrooms at Wrightsville Beach Baptist Church for an additional year to
address the overcrowding issue.
The about two dozen WBS parents who attended the work
session on Tuesday, March 19, applauded the board’s decision, which will delay
but not end the need for redistricting.
The school is currently 101 students over capacity. The
trailers would be purchased for the school, but every year the school board
would have to request an extension of the church lease.
“It buys us two years,” said Superintendent Dr. Tim Markley.
“We should know by then whether the county commissioners are going to support a
bond or not.”
He said the funds have already been approved to expand the
mobile units, but member Tammy Covil said she was not comfortable with having
to pay a significant amount of money to remove the trailers at a later date.
“Essentially, Wrightsville Beach is the tip of the iceberg,”
member Derrick Hickey said about the overcrowding being part of a larger
district problem.
He said no board member wants to “willy-nilly” move students
before making a motion to accept option No. 7.
“My philosophy has always been if you live closer to the
school, you get to go there,” Chairman Don Hayes said.
The New Hanover County Board of Commissioners have said they
would prefer to delay the proposed school bond referendum, including $6.25
million in WBS renovations.
If and when a bond is approved, it could take up to three
years to complete construction and up to four years to complete a renovation.
Bill Hance, assistant superintendent for planning and
operations, said the number of students at WBS needs to be below 300 students
in the future.
Vice-chairwoman Jeannette Nichols said concerns about
traffic could still be a problem with option No. 7.
“We’ve got to have some serious, serious plans for this
traffic,” she said.
Markley said there have again been discussions about trying
to run an express bus from Landfall. Covil said the traffic problem could be
resolved if parents do not block driveways when lining up to pick up their kids
on Coral Drive.
Member Lisa Estep said she was concerned that there is no
school voice at the table with talks about new developments in the county.
A letter will be presented to the board at the next meeting
to send to the county, requesting to be included in those discussions.
