BURKE COUNTY, N.C.,None — Parents made emotional pleas Thursday night to save six schools scheduled to be closed in Burke County because of declining enrollment and a budget hole of $12 million.
"These are more than buildings. These are communities," Alan LaCroy, the father of a student, told the Burke County school board during a public hearing.
Four generations of James Causby's family have gone to Rutherford College Elementary but the school and five others in Burke County face the real possibility of being shut down.
"I plan to stay in Burke County. My daughter will go to Rutherford College Elementary," Causby told school board members.
Art Stellar, superintendent of Burke County Schools, proposed closing Chesterfield Elementary, Forest Hill Elementary, Glen Alpine Elementary, Icard Elementary, Rutherford College Elementary and Walter Johnson Middle schools as a way to save the district money.
"If the schools aren't closed, the immediate alternative is to lay off more staff to make up the shortfall," said Stellar.
The superintendent said that could mean 75 positions, many of them teachers.
The proposal has taken an emotional toll on people like Grace Epley, who has lived in the Chesterfield community her entire life.
Epley read a letter that her granddaughter wrote to the school board which stated "Will you please let us keep Chesterfield School? I am learning so much from my good teachers. Please love me and my friends enough not to lock the doors."
School board members did very little talking. Instead they listened to one parent after another.
The board could vote on the proposed school closings at its next week meeting on Monday night.
WSOC
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