• The 79-year-old school’s remaining 100 students will be divided between Evergreen and Cerro Gordo elementary schools.

By FULLER ROYAL
Staff Writer

Despite the pleas of an emotional crowd of school supporters – some 200 strong – at last Thursday night’s public hearing, the Columbus County Board of Education voted to shut down Fair Bluff Elementary School and relocate its students and staff to Evergreen and Cerro Gordo elementary schools.

The action is immediate and ends more than a decade of poor school performance and the loss of more than half of its student body.

The board hosted the hearing in the auditorium of the school that was built in 1928.

School Board Attorney Bill Phipps conducted the hearing. Superintendent Dr. Dan Strickland presented the board’s case for closing the facility.

Strickland said that the reasons for closing the school had developed over a period of time and that he did not want to point any fingers.

“We’re here tonight to make things better for your children and you’re here for that, too,” he said.

To have a school in North Carolina, there must be at least 100 students and seven state-paid teachers to qualify for a state-provided principal and to remain open as a school.

Fair Bluff has seen a decline in student population for nearly 30 years. At one time – 40 years ago – there were 500 students in Fair Bluff.

Last year, the school board “borrowed” a state-funded position from another school to give Fair Bluff the required seven teachers.

Those seven teachers had to teach nine grades. Strickland said the kindergarten teacher was self contained, but the remaining six had to split grades one through eight.

Grade levels and ability levels were mixed in each classroom. With a new principal on board, there was still a high teacher turnover rate.

Strickland said that Fair Bluff Principal Dr. Jennifer Smith tendered her resignation two weeks ago to accept a principal position offered her by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.
He said that there are few teacher applications for the school and fewer applications for the principal’s post.

The majority of students who live in the Fair Bluff School District do not attend Fair Bluff Elementary. That has been the case for most of the past 10 years.

They attend private schools, attend school in South Carolina, are home schooled or are already enrolled at Evergreen and Cerro Gordo elementary schools because of No Child Left Behind’s School Choice.

Fair Bluff, because its test scores are so low, must offer its students a chance to attend other schools in the county where test scores are higher. It was the first school in the county to have to comply with the new school choice rule and one of the first in the state.

More than 60 students chose to move and 40 of those have remained at Evergreen.

Strickland said that between school choice and the new Columbus Charter School near Whiteville, all hopes of seeing Fair Bluff Elementary’s population increase are dashed.

Strickland lauded the current and previous faculties at Fair Bluff for doing the best jobs they could.

“There are many challenges here,” Strickland said. “Just about every year, Fair Bluff has been categorized as a low-performing school.”

Fair Bluff is the lowest performing school in the county and one of the lowest performing schools in the state.

Whenever Fair Bluff showed increases in test scores, it still trailed the county’s other schools.
Four years ago, the school was in danger of closing when its population dropped. When former principal John Wayne Phillips retired and Smith took over two years ago, the decrease continued.

Strickland said that Smith came to the school with new ideas and renewed support from the community. Despite the school’s best efforts, test scores remained too low to show significant changes.

Strickland said that this year’s test scores also have “bottomed out” and that Fair Bluff will go into “corrective action” with No Child Left Behind. By next year, the state could opt to come in and take it over or close it altogether.

Strickland said the board wants to take a “pro-active” stance by closing the school now with the intentions of reopening it in the near future as a magnet school.

Strickland said the administrative staff was already looking at how to divide the Fair Bluff District so that Evergreen Elementary and Cerro Gordo Elementary will each have 420 students.

Evergreen has almost enough classroom space, requiring one mobile unit to be added. Cerro Gordo has less space and will require five or six units.

Strickland pointed out that business and industry prospects will not be attracted to a town with a low-performing school and that potential residents would also seek out communities with successful schools.

Strickland said the children at the school are missing out on middle school sports – basketball, baseball, softball and volleyball.

Next year, Fair Bluff will not have enough students to field a team for the county system’s new soccer program.

Strickland ended his presentation by emphasizing that more services will be provided to Fair Bluff students if they are at Evergreen and Cerro Gordo.

It was then time for public input. Phipps allowed each speaker three minutes.
Clarice Faison spoke first.

“Fair Bluff has fought a good fight,” she said. “We’re here to stand up for our school.”

She said that restructuring means closing and that the board knew that Smith was going to leave months ago. She said the board had more than enough time to plan for a new principal. She added that there is a qualified person available to take Smith’s place.

Faison said the school’s population would not be low were it not for school choice.
“What about the students who moved before school choice?” she asked.

“How many other schools are in this place?” she asked. “Fair Bluff is not the only one. Other schools have been hit hard. We are the only one being singled out.”

She said that children need to be moved back to the district.

Former Fair Bluff Mayor J.B. Evans said that everyone knows the effect the closing of the school will have on the community.

“This building will not last very long,” he said. “We will not stand still and let you take our school.”

The audience applauded.

“I stand here knowing we have excellent teachers, an excellent school and a new building out back,” he said. “And I know that you don’t have a long range plan.”

Columbus County Commissioner Amon McKenzie, whose district includes Fair Bluff, said “I think the stigma of low-performing will always live with Fair Bluff if you leave now.
“Closing the school now will always be a plague against the school,” he said. “As a board, I know you can bring those kids back who left here.”

Robert Alford said he could feel the people’s emotions in the room.

He asked the board members to look into their hearts.

“If your children or grandchildren attended here, would you close the school?” he asked.
Franklin Reaves said he had just returned from a school-building trip in Africa to find the board trying to close a school. He asked if any definitive study had been done.
“If yes, can I get a copy and if no, why not,” he said.

He asked how much time had been spent trying to come up with a solution to the problem. He also asked if the Evergreen and Cerro Gordo communities had approved the proposal or considered the impact on their schools.

He asked about the racial composition of Fair Bluff Elementary and how the black students’ scores at Fair Bluff compared with black students’ scores at the other elementary schools in the county.

“What we’ve heard here tonight is ‘What I think,’” he said, adding that any decision must be based on some kind of study.

Fair Bluff Chamber of Commerce President Lester Drew, speaking on behalf of the chamber, asked for the school to remain open. He said that the Columbus County Schools had come up short in Fair Bluff when it comes to educating every student in the county.
“Local schools have an effect on a small town,” he said.

Robert Stackhouse said that the board was going do as they see fit for the children.
“This year, my children were taught very well,” he said. “We can’t let the teachers raise our kids. We want them to teach our children.”

He encouraged the parents to pray with their children and to teach them. He asked the board for one more year.

“We’ll turn it around,” he said. “I took my kids away and I left this community. What are we showing our kids? Let’s fight this. If they give us another chance let’s push our kids.”

An impromptu question and answer session began when Strickland returned to the podium. He was asked if any other schools were going into corrective action.

He said that two schools had been in danger of entering that phase. One had pulled itself out with better scores and it was too soon to tell if the second was going in.
He responded to the school choice questions.

“School choice is federal law,” he said. “We have no say-so in that whatsoever. We can’t do anything to bring those students back.”

Evans said he didn’t know how Fair Bluff was going to pay for the increased police presence that will be required at the closed school.

An audience member asked why it was only now that the board was bringing the school’s plight to the attention of parents and the community.

Strickland said there had been numerous media reports during the past 10 years on Fair Bluff’s situation, including the annual release of test scores and state report cards showing how Fair Bluff compared to county and state schools.

Strickland said that the school’s racial makeup was mostly black with 10 or fewer white students enrolled.

Faison asked the board to consider the students who walk to school because it is in their neighborhood.

“There will be many days when these students will not make it there,” she said.
Fair Bluff Fire and Rescue Chief Jerry Meares, whose child attends Fair Bluff, asked what the Evergreen and Cerro Gordo communities think.

Board member Bill Johnson said that both communities will welcome the students with open arms, just as they had done when the first students came over with school choice.

An unidentified man in the back of the audience spoke up: “I get the impression you guys have already made your decision,” he said. “I hope you guys will really think about what you’re going to do. I live across from the school. I would love for (my son) to walk to school, not wait for two hours. Think of the effect this will have on the community.”

Friday morning, Strickland said the board reconvened its meeting at the central office and after a lot of discussion, voted to close the school.

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