… School board presents plans for school closings, consolidations

We need to move forward for our children and stop living in the past. Whether they tear down Salisbury High or North Rowan, we need better and safer buildings for our kids. Stop wasting money on schools that are not needed and maybe teachers can get a raise.

— Sharon Corpening

Everybody needs to understand one very important thing: This is a proposal. This is how discussion starts. RSS will gladly take viable alternative suggestions. They look for feedback. But “You can’t close my school; it’s been a part of this community forever” isn’t a viable alternate solution. No one is saying that this is the best solution, but I don’t know that there is another viable one.

— Dale Snyder

So they’re considering to redistrict students from North Rowan High. My concern comes when some of the students will have to go to Salisbury High. How many incidents and/or threats have occurred at Salisbury High in this semester alone?

— Veronica Wells

I do not agree on the recommendation to close several elementary schools and make one large (consolidated) school. Our elementary school (Rockwell) is small; students know each other and staff. It is a family. Children and staff feel safe.

… I hope RSS listens to the children, parents and staff. Attend a community discussion and let your opinion be heard. 

— Morgan Schneider

The ability to create an awesome school environment from the ground up is exciting. Sure, it will be a lot of change. Change is hard. Not many of us actually like change. If we think about what could be in the new schools, that can help us be on the front line of education and vocational training and teacher collaboration. I look forward to hearing more.

— Kris Mares

Putting elementary school children and middle school kids together is not a good idea. You think your child is getting bullied now. Imagine a fourth-grader getting bullied by a bunch of hormonal eighth-graders. I can understand tearing down a bunch of schools to make one big new one if y’all were going to put metal detectors, security, and make it a safer school because of school shooters.

— Mariah Poole

What about the kids who have to ride the bus for hours? Splitting kids up and changing things is going to cost more money and be worse in the long run.

— Makayla Broadway

This is our second year at Overton Elementary. My son has the largest grade in the school. They had to make accommodations for having four third-grade classes last year and now four fourth-grade classes. Every time I go to school the classrooms are full of children. I don’t quite understand how they can say there’s a decline here when there are about 20 kids per classroom.

— Jennifer Wertenbaker

I understand what they are wanting to do, but I like that my granddaughters and I can walk into their school and everyone knows each other and they truly care about the students. This would change that small-town school feeling for our communities’ children in the future. That would be sad.

— Lisa Davies Weber

 Why demolish the buildings that could become community centers for youth and senior activities, be converted to independent housing for seniors and handicapped or commercial uses such as offices, storage or manufacturing? High cost of demolition could be better used in new construction.

— Cheryl Gunter

Decisions have already been made that the public is not aware of. There are many other solutions that need to be examined before the board does make “knee jerk” decisions that will impact all of Rowan County for hundreds of years.

— Kyle Huffman

The fact is that the school system does not receive enough funding today to maintain the current inventory of buildings. This process is still in the early stages, but there is no doubt that some sort of remedial action should be taken. 

The school board and RSS professional staff deserve our gratitude for taking the first steps toward the public discussion, and constituent input, that will guide a proposed “fix” to that problem.

— Jeff Morris

You don’t touch an attractive building like China Grove Middle. I don’t imagine people in Faith, Rockwell or Granite Quarry would be willing to give up having a school.

— Eddie Pepper

This will affect far more than the school system. This will affect communities and the small towns they are based in. …

I agree we need upgraded schools, but there are better ways than this to achieve their goal.

— Jonathan Greece

Taking North High out of Spencer is a death knell in that community. Quite different from consolidating schools in one community. I may be completely off base but it looks to me that North is the path of least resistance. It has the fewest perceived “influential” people. An argument could certainly be made to close Salisbury High. … Don’t use declining enrollment, either; that’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. Redistricting now or in the past would take care of that problem.

— Theo Flemming

So just like that, North Rowan High is going to be closed and demolished? … Redraw the district lines and make the students that live in the district go to the school in their district. The school itself is in good shape and is not as old as Salisbury High. You close North High, then you kill the livelihood and pulse of Spencer.

— Leah W. Overcash

The facts are that keeping these older buildings going is heading toward being cost-prohibitive, and the county does not have enough funding to maintain what they have. Something has to be done. …

I encourage all with a strong opinion about part of this recommendation plan to study the details carefully, and if you’re going to object, offer up an alternative solution and why it would be better. Do your homework, because the committee that made these recommendations assuredly did.

— Eric Shock

And it begins. Everyone should have their say about the proposed plan, but it’s got to be more than “Yes, we need to do something, just leave our school out of it.” Hard choices will have to be made. … Some schools are going to have to be closed.

— Mike Shue

Neither research nor plain common sense provides any support that children benefit from being bussed to larger, consolidated building complexes containing larger numbers of students. Schools exist for students, not as an opportunity for businessmen to make money removing and replacing them.

— Franda Raymer

Interesting that Hanford Dole Elementary School is out in the middle of fields and woods, with about three houses in sight. Not really part of a community. But I don’t believe I saw it on any of these plans.

— Suzanne Crockett

There are options not presented here. We as a community need to advocate, speak up for our community schools and speak for our future. Great local example can be found with the Save Our Schools group out of Cabarrus County. This will take time and dedication, but our voices can be heard to create life within options.

— Tammy Redmond

Someone raise the money and I’ll create an Elon Musk style 100 percent STEM-focused school on Long Ferry Road. By design, it won’t be for everyone but would be a choice for kids that want guaranteed college acceptance and six-figure career.

— Mikey Wetzel