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underscores
three issues
Monday night’s public meeting to discuss converting the old Nakina High School into a middle school raised three very different points of interest.
First, it’s nice to see that the school, which was once the focus of the Nakina community before consolidation into South Columbus High School, will get new life. Many people in the Nakina area are rightly excited to have a school they can call their own again when it reopens to serve Old Dock and Guideway middle school students. The school will enjoy a lot of parental and alumni support.
Second, the need for a middle school in southern Columbus County is a sign of things to come. Southern Columbus has already started to see growth from the beaches, thus the need to relieve overcrowding at Guideway. Columbus County is fortunate that it has a school building, albeit an old one, to fill the need, but it underscores the necessity to start saving for future school construction or expansion. It stands to reason that in the next five to 10 years, a school in the Tabor City area, and possibly the Delco area, will need to expand as people move to the outlying areas of Wilmington and Myrtle Beach.
We’ve said this many times before, but the need for another school in southern Columbus shows why a healthy capital fund is important.
Unfortunately, even the county’s fund balance for general operations is now dangerously low. There is little money available for capital needs like new schools, school expansions, or infrastructure projects like water treatment plants that will bring more growth.
Third, the closing of the alternative school at Nakina underscores the concerns of some parents that the county schools’ new plan to keep unruly students on their home campuses will be disruptive, if not dangerous.
Monday’s meeting was mostly an affirmation of the Nakina Middle School proposal, but three parents with children at West Columbus High School reminded the other parents and administrators attending that the alternative school served an important purpose.
It remains to be seen if the new plan for dealing with uncontrollable students works, but we imagine that it’s not lost on county school officials and board members that school safety and the security of students who come to school ready to learn is job one
If the new plan doesn’t work and shady students aren’t dealt with appropriately, (which should entail isolation in many cases), the school board will have failed in the area of safety and discipline.