Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / Sept. 17, 2020, edition 1 / Page 3
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The Chronicle September 17, 2020 A3 District leaders weighing options for new Brunson BY TEVIN STINSON THE CHRONICLE Despite concerns from district leaders, more than 65% of parents, students and others with vested in terest in the future of the new Brunson Elementary School want the school to be built at the Patterson Avenue site, which quali fies as a brownfield site with the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ). Funding for a new Brunson was included in the 2016 Education Bonds by voters. Colon Moore, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools’ director of facility planning and construction, said after initially eyeing nearly 30 sites at the beginning of the process, they were able to cut the list down to three options: merging Brunson and Cook Literacy Model School at the current Cook site, rebuild at the current Brunson site, or build the school on unused indus trial property formally owned by Thomasville Furniture Company locat ed between Patterson and Ivy Avenue near North west Blvd. After testing was com pleted at all three sites in 2019, it was determined that none of the sites had anything that was unex pected for an urban site and all three were ap proved as possible sites for the school. Following further testing, the Patter son Avenue site was added to the NCDEQ’s list of brownfield sites. A brownfield site is an abandoned, idled or unde rused property where the threat of environmental contamination has hin dered its redevelopment. The N.C. Brownfields Program, which is admin istered by the Division of Waste Management, is the state’s effort to break this barrier to the rede velopment of these sites. The Brownfields Property Reuse Act of 1997 sets forth funding and other assistance to help prospec tive developers to put the sites back to use. A survey conducted by the district showed an overwhelming number of parents, teachers, students, and others from through out the community pre ferred that the school be built at the Patterson site. Of the 598 people sur veyed, 67% preferred that the school be built at the Patterson Avenue site. Currently there are two schools in N.C. operating on sites in the Brownfields Program. One is located in Raleigh and the other, Carter G. Woodson, is lo cated on Goldfloss Street here in Winston-Salem. In 2015 it was discovered concentrations of tetra- choroethylene or PCE and trichloroethylene or TCE, that exceeded screening levels set by the state. It was later determined that students and staff were not being exposed to the con tamination. Superintendent Dr. Angela Hairston made it clear that they didn’t want the school to be built at the Patterson site. She said it would only take a few parents to complain about the site for it to become an issue of concern for the district. Hairston made a recommendation for the board to approve going with another option that would combine Brunson and Cook at the current Cook location, which was tabled for a future discus sion. About 25% said they wanted Brunson to be re built at its current site at 155 Hawthorne Road. The issue with the current site is a creek that runs near- by the center that often causes flooding. The cur rent Brunson site is likely to require Army Corp of Engineering approval for stream impacts based upon current design and will cost significantly more than the other two sites. Only about 8% wanted the two schools to merge. Although Brunson and Cook are currently less than 1.5 miles apart, it is important to note that about 42% of the households in Brunson’s district make more than $50,000 a year. In the Cook district, about 87% of households make less than $50,000. Brunson is a magnet school that brings in students from across the district and offers several HAG (Highly Academi cally Gifted) programs. Cook is a Title I school, in year three of a new educa tion model that also called for a new principal and the entire teaching staff. When discussing the future of Brunson, Dr. Hairston said more than 100 stu dents currently living in the Cook attendance zone, live within half a mile of the proposed Patterson site. She said putting the school on Patterson could also cause issues for other SEPTEMBER 16 - OCTOBER 6 THIS BAG HELPS NOURISH SENIORS OTHERS IN NEED FOR EVERY APPLE BAG PURCHASED, 5 MEALS* WILL BE DONATED TO YOUR LOCAL FOOD BANK elementary schools in the area. “When you look at that, the question became when you build a new site on Patterson ... one of the downfalls is it places you in proximity to Kimberley Park, Cook and Ashley,” Hairston continued. “And so the question becomes, what do you do with those under-enrolled schools?” With merger of the two schools, Hairston said the plan would be to mirror the merger of Lawrence Mid dle and Paisley IB Magnet Schools, just few blocks away from Cook. During the board of education meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 8, board member Elisabeth Motsinger raised concerns about one school taking over the other. “It scares me ... I feel like it’s very easy for Cook to disappear in a merger of that sort.” Board member Bar bara Burke suggested that Brunson and Cook be merged at the proposed Patterson site. She said although it wasn’t rec ommended to merge the schools at the Patterson site, she believes it would be a great opportunity for the students who attend Cook. “If we do move in the direction of the Patterson location, I would like to suggest, propose, recom mend that we combine Cook and Brunson at the Patterson location,” Burke said. “I believe it would be a great opportunity for students who attend Cook to be inside a brand new environment also.” The merger of the two schools can only be ap proved by the WS/FCS Board of Education. The districts can’t move for ward into the design phase until a location is chosen. The project is expected to take about 24 months to complete and early plans call for the school to open by start of 2023-2024 school year. Voting From page Al information, occasionally slanted, and advertising about the major races, you may have to dig to find information about some of the “down-ballot” can didates even though the positions they are seeking have great bearing on our lives. For example, the state legislative races some times get lost in the glare of the presidential, U.S. Senate, U.S. House, and statewide races. Even though their jobs are al ways vitally important in many ways, the men and women we elect to the N.C. Legislature this time will have an especially critical duty: drawing the district lines for the 13 (or more, depending on Cen sus results) representa tives from our state to the U.S. House of Representa tives for an entire upcom ing decade. Certainly, this de serves strong consider ation, along with state tax es, Medicaid expansion, public education funding in the time of CO VID, and environmental laws as we decide who to send to the N.C. Legislature. City council members, county commissioners, school board members, and other local elected of ficials make decisions that affect our lives daily about textbooks, sidewalks, parks, property tax rates, speed limits, teacher pay, building permits, zoning, trash pickup, volunteer fire department support, locations for new schools, police and sheriff’s de partment funding, and a host of other issues. Judges’ races often get little attention from media outlets. The Judicial Voter Guide 2020 will be sent to all registered voters in the next several weeks by the state Board of Elections. This non-partisan guide provides basic informa tion about judicial can didates’ experience and qualifications, along with statements from the can didates about themselves. One source of infor mation about all candi dates not to overlook is their websites. Since can didates are asking us to hire them, their websites are like job seekers’ re sumes which reflect them in the best possible light as to experience, profes sional achievements, per sonal information, and what they hope to accom plish. Finally, two other excellent resources that strive to avoid bias are VOTE411.ORG, from the League of Women Vot ers, and BALLOTPEDIA. ORG. In addition to es sential comparative infor mation about candidates, the Ballotpedia resource also provides specific data about campaign contribu tions and spending. Whether we decide to vote in person on Election Day, at an early-voting site, or by absentee ballot, it’s up to each of us to do the prep work now. Howard Pearre con ducts training sessions for volunteers to assist with voter registration. He is a member of Winston-Salem Writers and recently re ceived an honorable men tion for his short story, “September, 1957, ” at the 2020 International Hu man Rights Arts Festival. 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Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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