Teachers in Burke County could soon live in transformed classrooms

MORGANTON — The Burke County School District is looking at ways to provide affordable housing for its teachers.

The district began conducting a feasibility study to determine whether it could transform a closed elementary school into dozens of apartments.

Channel 9′s Dave Faherty spoke with district leaders about the idea of turning Chesterfield School, which was functional from 1935 to 2018, into housing, specifically for teachers and first responders.

Bob Acord is the director of auxiliary services for the district and took Faherty inside the old Chesterfield school.

“These would be converted into apartments,” Acord said.

The school has been maintained by the district since it closed.

He said the project would include transforming classrooms into up to 31 apartments, including studios, and one and two-bedroom units.

“It’s really important to new folks who are coming right out of college who might be relocating to Burke County,” Acord said.

The school district said the average rent prices in Morganton are between $1,500 and $1,800 a month.

Bell Wilson works as a media coordinator at an elementary school in Burke County, but she also has a second job as a waitress to help pay for her apartment in Morganton.

“I was denied, not because of my credit or anything along those lines, but because the salary wasn’t high enough,” Wilson said. “So, we do work second jobs to pay for rent.”

Wilson supports the idea and believes it could help teachers across the district.

“I wish they had done this before I moved here because I think it’s really cool,” Wilson said. “I think it would actually be kind of fun because you could have teachers to collaborate with and you could bring ideas from different schools together.”

(WATCH: City leaders approve spending $23M on affordable housing projects)