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School board again delays decision on out-of-district transportation request

By Lynn Hotaling
The third time was not the charm for a group of parents seeking transportation for their children from the south end of the county to Sylva's high school.

The subject of school-system transport for about a dozen Cashiers area students to Smoky Mountain High came up for the third time Monday (July 31). Jackson County school board members, clearly conflicted, declined to rule on the transportation request until after a community meeting is held at Blue Ridge School Tuesday, Aug. 15, at 6:30 p.m.

Board Chairman Martha Queen opened the discussion by saying that her feeling was to grant the request because the school system cannot offer the courses at Blue Ridge that are offered at Smoky Mountain.

"I know (providing transportation) jeopardizes the high school up there," Queen said. "I don't want to talk about consolidation, but we have a bus coming down already for two alternative students." The board is at a crossroads, Queen said.

Board member Ray Trine said he had gotten a lot of calls on this issue, but that he doesn't know how many students would ride a bus down to Smoky Mountain.

"If a bus wasn't already coming down, I wouldn't consider it," he said.

That bus operates on an adjusted schedule since it currently provides transportation only for students enrolled in the alternative school, said Lynn Dillard, director of exceptional children's programs.

Transportation coordinator Winston Reed pointed out that a Blue Ridge bus travels north on N.C. 107 to Trout Creek and a Cullowhee Valley bus travels that far south. He suggested having the two buses meet at the Thorpe Power Plant to exchange students. The Cashiers students could then travel to Cullowhee Valley and on to SMHS, he said.

Reed emphasized that his suggestion would depend on the parents meeting the bus at Blue Ridge School each morning and afternoon. Cashiers resident Regina Marrone, who formally requested transportation for her child and some 11 others during the board's July 6 meeting, emphasized that all the children wishing to ride did not attend Summit Charter School.

"These are students who need to be at Smoky Mountain because of classes offered," Marrone said. "We would like nothing more than to have enrichment courses, health courses and vocational courses at our neighborhood school. My daughter needs these courses. Why should she be deprived?"

Board member Ali Laird-Large said she was torn. "Part of me feels these kids should have this option, but I'd like to know how we can do it," she said. "If it snows, what do we do with the children?" Superintendent Burrell said that it might be possible to devise a plan that would enable students to split their time between the two high schools - but not in time for the fall semester. He pointed out that most freshman courses are general, and that perhaps students could spend their freshman year at Blue Ridge and then travel to SMHS for more specialized courses beginning with their sophomore year.

In the end, board members were not ready to make a decision, and Trine, who represents the southern end of the county, suggested the meeting at Blue Ridge.

"Maybe someone out there has a solution, he said. "There's obviously a growing number of people that want their kids to attend Smoky Mountain."

Only parents of children currently enrolled in either Blue Ridge School or Summit Charter School will be allowed to speak at the Aug. 15 forum, however.

"I want to limit it to people with children in school. We don't want to hear from graduates," said Chairman Queen.

"This is a children's issue," said Trine.

Current board policy allows students to attend school out of district as long as parents provide transportation. About a dozen students per year request transfers from Blue Ridge to SMHS, Burrell said. Blue Ridge Principal Lib Balcerek said last month that her school's curriculum is not as comprehensive as Smoky Mountain's and that she'd like to see the two high schools collaborate on vocational offerings. Blue Ridge offers only the "traditional" vocational course of business, home economics and industrial education, Balcerek said, while SMHS offers course sequences in health occupations, automotive mechanics, building trades, agriculture and horticulture. SMHS Principal Kenny Nicholson confirmed that his school's career-based courses are among its most popular. He and Balcerek have discussed a cooperative effort with regard to vocational classes but have not devised a workable plan, he said.

Students from the Blue Ridge district have routinely attended SMHS, Nicholson said, but have always been responsible for their own transportation.

Smoky Mountain, the county's largest school, ended the past school year with 897 students in grades 9-12. Blue Ridge, the system's smallest, had 274 students in grades K-12 and 84 in high school.

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