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.
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.
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.
Asheville City Schools announced in November that the district may have to co-locate or merge its two middle schools, reminding some of the controversial closure of Asheville Primary School in 2021.
Board Chair George Sieburg said board members wanted to explore how to show support to teachers and students in the policies beyond what has been provided by the N.C. School Boards Association.
The Asheville City Board of Education voted 6-1 at its Nov. 20 meeting to commission an enrollment and capacity study from California-based Cooperative Strategies without seeking competing bids, and started a conversation about the need to consider consolidating some of its schools.
At its meeting of Tuesday, Aug. 3, the county Board of Commissioners will vote on a more than $665,000 budget amendment to support regional vaccination efforts. The money includes a new allocation of $75,000 from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, as well as over $590,000 in unspent funds from last fiscal year.
Public comment on a grant application for federal coronavirus relief identified help with rent, mortgage and utility bills as the county’s greatest need. The Board of Commissioners is set to vote on a plan that would direct the aid, which will likely not be available until January, toward that purpose at its regular meeting of Tuesday, Oct. 6.
During a Nov. 19 meeting of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, attorney Ron Payne said the settlement would bring the suit to an end, “hopefully in somewhat of an expeditious manner.” All six commissioners present were in favor of accepting the settlement, with Vice Chair Jasmine Beach-Ferrara absent for the vote.
For every Go Local Card purchased, half of the $18 price goes directly to Asheville City Schools. In 2018, this amounted to $26,000.
The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners will consider issuing bonds to finance $60 million in projects during its meeting on Feb. 20.
During their meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 6, Buncombe County commissioners will conduct a public hearing on adding four new school construction projects to a 2015 financing contract.
As students go back to school, construction projects will continue on some campuses of both the city and county school systems. At historic Asheville High School, a $25 million renovation project is expected to continue through May 2020.
