Dates set for facilities meetings
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on August 22, 2006 1:53 PM
The Facilities Master Plan Team will soon have the opportunity to get input from the communities around the county about school needs, having just released its schedule of forums planned for the coming weeks.
The committee, which includes representatives from the county commission and Board of Education, met Aug. 15 to discuss the next steps for moving on a facilities plan and construction projects. The consensus was that the group meet with representatives in each of the feeder patterns of the school system to obtain information about the district's most pressing needs.
The group originally discussed traveling to the county's six public high schools to meet the advisory councils from each area. On Friday, school officials released its schedule for the meetings along with the announcement that community input would also be allowed.
"For the first part of each meeting, the Facilities Master Plan Team will discuss with Advisory Councils how facilities for schools in their district could be impacted by future construction and renovations projects," said Ken Derksen, spokesman for the school system. "Once that portion of the meeting is over, the Facilities Master Team will receive comments and input from the community.
The series of meetings kicks off in the northern area of the county Monday, Aug. 28. It will be held at Charles B. Aycock High School beginning at 6:30 p.m. and will include representatives from Aycock as well as Belfast Academy, Norwayne Middle and Fremont Stars, Northeast and Northwest elementary schools.
The meeting for the southeast area -- which includes Spring Creek Elementary and Spring Creek High School -- will be Sept. 11 at 6:30 p.m. at the high school.
On Sept. 18 at 6:30, focus will be on the central attendance area -- Carver Heights, North Drive and School Street elementary schools, Edgewood Community Developmental, Dillard Middle, Goldsboro Intermediate and Goldsboro High schools. The meeting will take place at the high school.
The meeting in the southern end of the county will include representatives from Brogden Primary, Brogden Middle, Carver Elementary, Grantham School, Mount Olive Middle, Southern Academy and Southern Wayne High School. It will take place on Sept. 25 at Southern Wayne beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Rosewood High School will be the site for the meeting in the western part of the county. Planned for Oct. 2 at 6:30 p.m., schools included in addition to the high school are Rosewood middle and elementary schools.
Eastern Wayne High School will host the eastern area schools on Oct. 9 at 6:30 p.m. Others schools include Eastern Wayne elementary and middle schools, Greenwood Middle, Meadow Lane Elementary, and Tommy's Road Elementary schools.
The combined committee plans to take community input along with research already gathered by the school system to continue prioritizing needs of each school. The master plan team will also address the best means for funding the school system's current proposed five-year $90 million facilities plan.
"There are many facility needs within our school system and construction costs to build and renovate continue to rise," Superintendent Dr. Steven Taylor said. "The Facilities Master Plan Team will allow the school system to quickly move forward with its facilities master plan and build the foundation for meeting future facility needs for the Wayne County Public Schools system in the coming years."
The Facilities Master Plan Team was formed on the recommendation of Evergreen Solutions, a consulting firm, to determine construction and renovation project needs for the school system.