The board of education voted 4-2, with one member abstaining Tuesday night, to reopen Brawley and Eastman middle schools, which were closed because of declining enrollment.
Three of those voting for reopening the schools were newly elected board members.
“My personal opinion, they were elected to do just that,” Pierce said in a telephone interview today.
“Personally, I think it’s a bad decision,” he said. “They don’t have the funds to open the schools. They will need more funds to open the schools. They don’t have the money, neither do we.”
Pierce said he believes reopening schools which were closed because of declining enrollment is educationally not a sound idea.
Asked whether the school board would eventually come to the county for the funds, Pierce said he couldn’t speculate. “I really don’t know what might happen,” he said. “I haven’t talked to any school board members or the superintendent. If they don’t have the funds I know where they will come to get it.”
Pierce said he expected there to be discussion on the matter before the board voted on it, soon after the three new members were sworn in. “I never thought it would happen that quick. It will be interesting to hear what DPI (the Department of Public Instruction) says about it.”
County Manager Tony Brown said the county would be in a wait and see mode. Brown expects there will be groundwork the school system must cover before coming before the county commissioners. “Part of the reason they closed them was to address budget concerns.”
School system spokesman Keith Hoggard told rrspin.com today it is not clear how much it would cost to open the schools. “We are going to have to ensure the buildings are up to code. It means a lot of work needs to be done.”
The school system already knows heating and air conditioning units at the schools have been vandalized and stripped of copper wiring. “We’ve got to get our maintenance people out there.”
Equipment and furniture taken from the schools will have to be replaced. “The state will make sure it will be up to code.”
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