‘On the backs of kids’: Durham school board frustrated with wait for new schools

Durham County commissioners recently committed to building two new schools during a testy meeting with the school board.

The four commissioners present said they support construction of a new Northern High School just over two miles south of the present campus and what is known as Elementary School C, at Scott King Road. Commissioner James Hill missed the meeting.

The commissioners also discussed the possibility of starting construction on what is known as Elementary School F, at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and Roxboro Road. Commissioners mentioned financing that construction with a 2020 or 2022 bond.

Enrollment in Durham Public Schools grew this year for the first time in five years, officials said in September. There were 33,001 students in 53 schools, almost 700 more students than last year.

The district was expecting a decline in enrollment of 168 students.

In October the school district’s staff alerted the school board about overcrowding at southwestern Durham schools, especially Creekside Elementary and Githens Middle School. Construction of Elementary School C would help alleviate that overcrowding.

Site C is expected to house about 600 students and Site F about 800.

County Manager Wendell Davis started the commissioners’ Nov. 12 meeting with the school board by calling on the county’s financial adviser, Doug Carter, to explain why the county succeeds best when the board is deliberate about spending money.

But school board members said they had been asking for help with overcrowding and repairs for years.

“We have red-, yellow- and green-light projects … that say this is where we are, that said this is in dire need right now,” said school board member Minnie Forte-Brown. “We presented all that. So don’t make the public think that we aren’t presenting these things to the county. You’re deciding to do other things.”

‘On the backs of kids’

School board Chair Mike Lee said he was glad the county has managed to keep a good bond rating but said: “This is why. Because this stuff doesn’t get funded.

“This is my sixth year on the board,” Lee said. “Every year I hear about the AAA bond rating. That’s great. That’s wonderful. That’s great management. … But it’s on the backs of the kids.”

Lee said schools have holes in the roofs and mobile classrooms parked on campus for 20 years.

“I’m looking forward to moving forward,” commissioner Chair Wendy Jacobs said after the board agreed there was a consensus in favor of starting construction on the new Northern High and Elementary School C.

“I think one of the takeaways I hope everyone understands is we have a limited pot of money,” she said. “We don’t have unlimited resources, so this is about making choices and prioritizing. I am confident that our staffs are committed to working together. So we just need to find a way to do this.”

Bond ratings

Davis said his responsibility when it comes time to meet with bond rating agencies in New York is to show that the county has a reasonable approach in trying to finance projects.

“If we can demonstrate some level of reasonableness that is going to keep us financially solvent, and not going to put us in a predicament whereby our creditworthiness is put in jeopardy, then they’ll give us the nod. If we don’t then they won’t,” he said.

Commissioner Ellen Reckhow said she would like Davis and Jacobs to work together in January on revisiting the county’s capital improvement plan to see “what adjustments to county projects we can make to afford more room for the for school projects.” She added that she would like to see room made to start on construction of Elementary School F at that time.