At the May 7 Buncombe County Board of Commissioners meeting, ADW Architects presented a conceptual plan for the former Asheville Primary School site on Haywood Road. The proposed redesign includes a library, an EMS station and a new maintenance and operation building for Asheville City Schools.
Some commissioners expressed concerns that maintenance and storage may not be the best use for a property that is located on one of the city’s most urban corridors.
A week later, at its May 13 meeting, the Asheville City Board of Education questioned the financial obligations associated with the plan, which also includes a prekindergarten facility at Hall Fletcher Elementary and converting the current site of Montford North Star Academy into ACS’ alternative school.
“If we are giving up the Asheville Primary School building, where we currently have our operations, who is paying for the construction of the operations center?” asked school board Vice Chair Amy Ray, who said she would find it difficult to surrender any rights to the property without receiving money from the county.
The county anticipates paying for the library and emergency medical services facilities but expects the school board to pay for some of the additional buildings and renovations out of its capital funds budget, County Manager Avril Pinder told the school board. No price estimates were included in the ADW Architects presentation.
“That answer concerns me because if all we have is the fund that we already have to support Asheville High and all of the other buildings that have basic maintenance needs, it would be very difficult to fund anything new out of that unless we get a major influx into that fund,” Ray responded.
Board Chair George Sieburg, who serves on the county’s School Capital Fund Commission, explained that there is already a list of priorities awaiting school capital funds. If the board decided to prioritize the proposed pre-K or maintenance facility, then something else would be moved further down the list of priorities. To illustrate changing priorities, Sieburg said the commission decided not to pay for concession stands at the middle school ballfield this year as other projects were determined to be higher on the priority list.
Ray pointed out that if the school fund struggles just to pay for middle school concession stands and regular building maintenance, then a brand-new facility would be out of reach without funding from the county or other sources.
“All of those conversations still have to happen,” said Pinder. “Even though we have numbers, we are still several, several months away from coming back to you with more details.” She said this presentation was only intended to show how the site could meet county and school board priorities.
School consolidation study time crunch
Charlotte-based Prismatic Services Inc. has begun visits to every city and county school as part of its work to draft a feasibility study of consolidating Asheville City Schools and Buncombe County Schools, a task mandated by the state legislature. The team of consultants expects to spend 75 days on-site during its contract. The firm will deliver a final report by the end of December and hold public meetings no later than Friday, Jan. 31.
That timeline limits the county and city school boards’ ability to develop their own recommendations based on the study’s findings, which they must present to the state General Assembly no later than Saturday, Feb. 15.
Rachael Sawyer, the county’s strategic partnerships director, explained that while the legislation is clear that the boards will need to present their own recommendations to the legislature, the two school boards do not necessarily have to submit the same recommendations.
Asheville board member Rebecca Strimer suggested working with Prismatic to receive updates along the way rather than waiting for the final report at the end of the year. Sieburg suggested making a push at the beginning of the school year to make sure that the community is aware of the study to encourage more community input during the process.
“With the benefit of time right now, I’m interested in thinking about how we can maximize our interactions with Prismatic in December to put ourselves on a trajectory for being successful in getting to the Feb. 15 deadline,” Strimer said.
Sawyer said she would ask Prismatic to meet with the governing boards in December before delivering its final proposals.
Editor’s note: This story was updated May 20, 2024, to provide minor clarifications.
