Unsure of exactly how much it would cost, the Asheville City Board of Education voted 7-0 Nov. 12 to table a decision on bonus payment for nearly 200 district staff members who volunteered their time in the immediate aftermath of Tropical Storm Helene.
This November, voters will, for the first time, make the Asheville City Board of Education a fully elected board.
Asheville City Schools Superintendent Maggie Fehrman reported that the well-documented achievement gap between Black and white students closed slightly last year, while overall achievement for ACS students increased by 2.5% in 2023-24.
“It escapes me how this could impact overworked, underpaid and probably unappreciated teachers interacting with students in classrooms.”
On Aug. 22, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners called a first-of-its-kind joint meeting within the Asheville City and Buncombe County boards of education to identify the three elected bodies’ shared purpose.
A new EMS base and library could be coming to the corner of Haywood Road and Interstate 240 in West Asheville if the county can figure out how to pay for its plans on land owned by Asheville City Schools.
After the Asheville City Board of Education decided to consolidate the district’s two middle schools for the 2024-25 school year, the families of Montford North Star Academy students were left with a choice: Send their children to Asheville Middle School or leave the district.
“Initially, we had a lot of community support for that project,” Sule says about plans for an unpaved trail near Asheville Middle School. “I think as it started to get nearer toward actually getting funded and approved in an easement, some [people] came up and opposed that project.”
Even after making some cuts to increased expenditures and allocating $3 million from reserves, the district may need to cut staff to close the $1.2 million budget gap, she said.
The Buncombe County Board of Education is not happy with the direction state legislators are taking in funding schools.
“Putting the city logo on the park is a small but important symbolic gesture letting people know this is a place where they are welcome and that the city supports and cares for this park.”
On June 10, the Asheville City Association of Educators delivered a letter signed by the Parent Teacher Organizations or parent teams from all eight of the district’s schools.
After several months of discussion, including a contentious meeting with the Asheville City Board of Education June 3, Mike Sule, who was spearheading the project, asked the board to remove the project from its agenda June 10.
As state funding falls with enrollment and $1 million in COVID-era federal funding ends, the district is facing a $5.7 million gap before new funding requests and projected savings are considered, Superintendent Maggie Fehrman reported to the board April 15.
It’s been 10 years since Asheville City Schools displaced its once successful majority-Black alternative program from its home on Montford Avenue. At least one longtime educator calls that the worst decision the district has made this century.
The biggest sting seemed to be the timing: The dumpster in front the former Asheville Primary School arrived one day after the Asheville City Board of Education board voted to close Montford North Star Academy.
Anger, fear and tears came spilling out of a tense Asheville City Board of Education meeting March 11 after the school board voted 5-2 to close Montford North Star Academy and send its students to Asheville Middle School next school year. Board members Liza Kelly and James Carter dissented.
Parents are decrying a proposal that Superintendent Maggie Fehrman says could help the district address a projected $4.5 million budget shortfall next school year — merge its two middle schools. Fehrman estimated the merger would save the district $1.8 million to $2.3 million per year.
While one local public school district redraws its district lines and the other considers merging its two middle schools, Buncombe County is moving forward with a study to explore consolidation of the two districts.
The Asheville City Board of Education voted unanimously Feb. 12 to make 2% supplement increases permanent, despite a projected $4.5 million budget shortfall in 2024-25.
The Asheville City Board of Education continues to rewrite its policies in an effort to limit what board members say would be undue harm to LGBTQ+ students caused by the state Parents’ Bill of Rights law passed last year.
