The chairman of the Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education said he still wants to see the district’s central office in downtown Salisbury.
That’s despite Rowan County commissioners’ decision to discuss holding off on approving the proposal in order to weigh other options.
“I can’t speak for the entire board, but I do know the general feeling is that we ought to go for the downtown center,” Dr. Jim Emerson said. “The bottom line is that we know they hold the purse strings, but we think the Board of Education ought to be able to pick the site.”
The proposal includes two financing options, one through a private developer to enter a lease-purchase agreement and another to use conventional financing by borrowing through the county to construct a new facility in downtown Salisbury.
Salisbury City Council members have agreed to donate the land at 300 S. Main St. for the three-story, 62,000 square-foot building.
Several other options for the school administrative offices came up during Monday’s commissioners meeting.
Those include building on the 20 acres of land the school owns next to Isenberg Elementary, buying Cornerstone Church’s property on Webb Road and adding another building to the Ellis Street property.
Find out what assistant superintendent Gene Miller has to say about the viability of those options in Sunday’s Salisbury Post.