Construction to proceed on Blue Ridge addition

By Lynn Hotaling

An 11,900-square-foot, eight-classroom addition, tentatively scheduled to be completed in time for the opening of school next year, will be constructed at the K-12 school located near Cashiers.

General contractor for the $1.8 million project will be H&M Construction. The cost per square foot to build the addition breaks down to $140 per square foot, according to school system construction coordinator Clarence Hubbell.

Funds available for the Blue Ridge project total $1,783,200 and include $209,000 in state critical needs funds, $674,200 from the 1994 state education bond and $900,000 borrowed by the Jackson County Board of Commissioners.

In order to build all eight classrooms, members of the Jackson County Board of Education were forced to abandon plans to air condition the school's existing vocational building, which was bid as part of the classroom construction project. School leaders learned last week that they lacked sufficient funds to complete the entire project; at that time the shortage was thought to be $170,000.

However, after additional research, Hubbell was able to lower that estimate to $94,684. By deleting the air conditioning alternate ($105,900), school officials were able to move ahead with the classroom addition. State law requires that a school board have sufficient funds on hand to complete a project before it can enter into any construction agreement.

Blue Ridge's new addition will include two classrooms each for math, English, social studies and science, as well as a computer lab and commons area, said Principal Lib Balcerek. The new classrooms will eliminate three of the five classroom trailers currently in use at the school, she said, and will free up one science lab that is located in the middle school area. Two mobile units that were built on site will be retained for music instruction, Balcerek said.

"We're real pleased our building program will go ahead as planned," Balcerek said Tuesday.

Action on the addition was initially delayed due to uncertainty about the future of Blue Ridge High. Rumors that school board members intended to consolidate Blue Ridge's high school with Smoky Mountain in Sylva began circulating in July after school officials agreed to consider a request that the school system provide transportation to SMHS for several Cashiers area students.

All speakers at a special Aug. 15 meeting at the school voiced their opposition to consolidation, citing safety concerns and a preference for having high school students educated in their own community.

Some 50 parents, grandparents and community members, including former school board member Larry Moss, journeyed to Sylva Aug. 24 for another meeting on the subject. Moss and several other speakers said they were encouraged by recent developments in the Cashiers-Glenville area.

"There's a sense that people are wanting to work together," Moss said. The perceived threat to the community's high school triggered an outpouring of support for keeping the high school in Glenville, he said, and a number of committees have been formed to look at ways to improve all aspects of the curriculum.

School board members appointed a study committee of parents, teachers, administrators and board members to look into all aspects of the program at Blue Ridge, as well as at community demographics.

Blue Ridge, the county's smallest school, has decreased in enrollment by 19 since last year. Currently, there are 255 in grades K-12 as compared to 274 last year. Blue Ridge High's decline is steeper, with 73 enrolled as compared to 102 a year ago.

Conversely, enrollment is up at Smoky Mountain High, the county's largest school, which has 997 students, an increase of 24 over last year's 973.

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