WSPD, Police Foundation continue
annual book bag giveaway
BY TEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
The Winston-Police
Department and the Win
ston-Salem Police Foun
dation helped hundreds
of students prepare for
the start of the 2021-2022
school year last week when
they distributed book bags
filled with school supplies
at five different locations.
The Winston-Salem
Police Foundation, a char
itable non-profit, indepen
dent organization designed
to provide funding that
can be allocated to help
strengthen community and
police partnerships such
as mentoring programs
and community outreach
events, started hosting
the book bag giveaway
in 2016. Every year more
than 1,000 book bags are
distributed. And this year,
officers handed out 1,400
book bags.
Officers with the
WSPD began the day
at the Winston Mutual
Building and made stops
at Reynolds Commons,
South Fork Elementary
School, Easton Elemen
tary School, and Atkins
High School, located on
Old Greenssboro Road, to
distribute the book bags to
students. Each of the book
bags was filled with note
books, pencils and other
school supplies.
Retired Chief Barry
Rountree joined the of
ficers at Winston Mutual
Building. Rountree, who is
a founding member of the
Police Foundation, said it
was good to see the tradi
tion continue.
“We started the foun
dation to help the commu
nity, so it feels good to see
this tradition continue,”
Rountree said. “We love to
sponsor events like this to
get the officers out in the
community to help build
strong community rela
tionships.”
Last week officers with the Winston-Salem Police Department (WSPD) distributed 1,400 book bags filled with school supplies. Officers distrib
uted book bags at five different locations.
Door left open as to future of Hanes-Lowrance campus
BY TEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
Last week members of
the Winston-Salem/For-
syth County Schools (WS/
FCS) Board of Education
decided to maintain the
former campus of Hanes-
Lowrance Middle School,
located on Indiana Av-
H
enue, instead of donating
the property to the City of
Winston-Salem. But dis
trict leaders did leave the
door open for partnering
with the city to bring some
much needed resources to
the community.
Here’s what we know:
last month Winston-Salem
City Councilmember Bar
bara Hanes Burke held a
press conference to ask
WS/FCS to gift the for
mer campus of Hanes-
Lowrance to the city.
Burke discussed plans to
transform the facility into
a “one-stop community
center” that would offer
several different programs
and resources.
“We would like the
school to be repurposed
and turned into a one-stop
transformational, transi
tional community center,”
said Burke during the
press conference held out
side City Hall.
File photo
Hanes-Lowrance Middle School, located on Indiana Avenue.
WS/FCS hasn’t used
the facility on Indiana
Avenue since 2015 when
the school board voted
to move students out of
the building after parents
raised concerns about
chemicals underneath
the school and surround
ing neighborhoods, even
though tests conducted by
the city proved the school
was safe. Earlier this year
the board discussed mov
ing the bus maintenance
facility to Indiana Avenue.
The maintenance fa
cility, which is currently
located on Lansing Drive,
was sold to TW Garner
Foods. Hanes Burke said
the people who live in the
community have let it be
known they don’t want
the maintenance facility in
their neighborhood.
During a school board
meeting on Tuesday, Aug.
10, assistant superinten
dent Darrell Walker said
the district is no longer
looking to move the main
tenance facility to Indiana
Avenue. To move the facil
ity to Indiana Avenue, the
property would have to be
rezoned for industrial use.
Burke, who represents the
Northeast Ward where the
facility is located, has said
on record that she would
not approve rezoning of
the property.
“Right now the re-
zoning issue is not on the
table, but at a district staff
and meeting with Mrs.
McManus, we have iden
tified several different
capacity needs within the
district, from a program
perspective,” Walker said.
After a brief overview
of district needs, Walker
suggested that the dis-
See Hanes on A2