Daughtery: 'Everything' on the table for new school facilities
By Steve Herring
Published in News on May 12, 2016 1:46 PM
Just a week after saying that there is no mood among Wayne County commissioners for a tax increase to pay for new school facilities, chairman Joe Daughtery Wednesday said "everything" will be on the table where that discussion is concerned.
Daughtery, who did not call for a tax increase, made his comments after he said he was "embarrassed" by what he had seen during tours of Meadow Lane Elementary and Eastern Wayne High schools. The tour also included the new state-of-the-art Spring Creek Middle School.
"From this commissioner, I am not speaking as chairman, I am speaking as an individual citizen of this county, we are going to have to address (school facilities)," Daughtery said. "How we go about raising the dollars, we are going to have to put everything on the table and discuss it.
"Whether or not we are talking about the quarter-cents sales tax designated specifically for school infrastructure improvements or some property tax increase, or what -- we are going to have sit down, and one, find what is the problem? What is the estimated cost of solving the problem? And then how do we go about financing it?"
It is matter of weighing the cost against the impact the conditions of the schools have on the county and its students, he said.
"There is a long-range cost that has to be factored in as well," Daughtery said. "So it's not only the cost of the improvements, and in the short term some cost and sacrifice on the part of the taxpayers.
"But also how are we affecting our future Wayne County and our students and their ability to go out and compete in today's world? So there are other factors that have to be discussed and thought about."
For now Daughtery said he wants County Manager George Wood and Wayne County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Michael Dunsmore to continue their meetings to see if they can arrive at a tentative plan to start the process and discussion on what to do about school facilities.
The tour comes a week after commissioners and the school board met in joint session to discuss school facilities, especially Meadow Lane.
During that meeting school officials said security and the condition at that school have created a perception in the military community that Wayne County schools are not very good.
"I think my reaction was embarrassed," Daughtery said of the tour. "I think most Wayne County citizens would be embarrassed by some of the facilities and how they have been maintained. It is just unacceptable. It really is. Somehow or another we are going to have to find some way to bring these facilities back up to the standards we expect our children to be surrounded by.
"The way I look at it, and I have an opinion, I just believe that it is years of neglect. In regards to Meadow Lane, my hat goes off to the staff on how they in fact have cleaned that facility and kept it up as best as they could."
The problem at Meadow Lane is that it is simply outdated, he said.
The county cannot afford a facility that is not conducive to education, he said.
"You have got to have a proper environment and provide that environment if you are expecting our student to excel in today's educational environment," Daughtery said. "I was really shocked to see the status of the locker rooms and a number of the facilities at Eastern Wayne High School, which should be one of our premier high schools. We should be proud of that high school. We should invest the dollars necessary to maintain a quality facility for our students."
Security was a major concern at Meadow Lane.
"I think its is an issue because we are talking about, I would imagine that 40 percent of the students are probably military or associated with the military, and that might be a likely target," Daughtery said. "But I think that all of our children are in fact target in today's age. So we don't need to really divide it up into whether or not it is Air Force personnel or whether or not it is our local citizens. We have got to provide security for all of our students. How we go about that, whether it involves a new structure or whether or not we incorporate some other ideas.
"We might need to reach out to some architects in regards to coming in and seeing what we could do with the existing structure. It could be that we remodel the existing structure and add security features to it. I don't have that answer today, but today was an eye-opening experience."
Not including the new Grantham and Spring Creek middle schools, Daughtery said he was afraid to go look at the other schools that have also suffered from years of neglect.
"I think we need to step back and address this from the standpoint of reviewing all possible means of solving the problem," he said. "First of all let's identify the problem. Once we identify the problem then let's find the best way to solve it whether or not it is new facilities or upgrading existing facilities or what.
"But I think we need to take a long, hard look in conjunction with the school board of how we go about addressing the problem. I saw the problem today. It's how to go about addressing the problem."
Goldsboro Mayor Chuck Allen said the tour clearly showed that the school system and facilities have been underfunded and undermaintained.
"It doesn't matter why, or how," he said. "If it started 10 years ago or 15 years ago -- we know that we are there. So the question is as a community, as leaders what are we going to do to fix it, and I think that we had an awakening today. I think we have all of the teams talking. We realize there are issues. The military part is huge to me because the base is a $560 million economic engine, and they have called us to the carpet, and we have got to answer the call. I think that is important.
"We will focus on that to whatever level I can and we can. The biggest thing is we have got to have community buy in. It is my belief from what I have heard, and I don't have any facts on this, but I believe the next step is to build a new Meadow Lane School." Allen said. "I believe there is the will and the heart from the commissioners to figure out how to do that. I believe the (county) manager will probably show them a way, partnering with the schools, they can do that without a tax increase."