District to close elementary school to make way for future growth

CABARRUS COUNTY, N.C. — Cabarrus County Schools leaders, voted, 4-3, to permanently close Beverly Hills Elementary School to make way for a larger school on the property.

Many parents were not pleased with the decision.

“They’re going to be really angry, really angry, and they’re going to want change, and they’re going to get it,” parent Lee Shuman said.

It’s part of the district’s realignment plan that replaces the school with a pre-K and community park.

“I have a lot of doubts as to how that school is actually going to be filled,” Shuman said.

District leaders said closing Beverly Hills is a key piece of moving the district’s ongoing redistricting proposal forward.

Superintendent John Kopicki said not closing Beverly Hills could have derailed parts of that proposal.

“We need to have a serious conversation about addressing some of the design safety features in that building that exist, that are going to be quite costly to fix,” Kopicki said.

He offered some reassurance for families.

“Any child impacted by a Beverly Hills closure will have the opportunity to come back to the school that’s built on Coltrane-Webb Elementary’s site.”

The district is also looking at building a larger school on Coltrane-Webb Elementary School’s property, which would open in 2026.

Some school board members still feel the district’s realignment process has fallen short.

“The fact of the matter is, that we got no other option from cooperative strategies except to close Beverly Hills along with this realignment and that’s where the frustration has come from,” said Laura Blackwell Lindsey, school board member.

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