By Jody Stewart
After years of public meetings and much talk the Chambers County School Board of Education made a final decision to move forward with the consolidation and restructuring of the county schools last week.
Several consolidation plans have been introduced to the public for consideration over the previous months which have met both approval and much criticism from the public. The criticism came from the determination that the consolidation of schools will lead to the closing of some school buildings.
The implementation of the consolidation plan will progress in phases after the overall plan is approved by federal court. The Board of Education says that much consideration has been put into this process and that a local task force of community stake holders was put together to ensure that the path forward would optimize the best educational outcome for all the students of Chambers County.
The results of this consolidation were based on the community’s input over the last three months. The Chambers County Board of Education held town hall meeting on both sides of the county and launched a community survey to understand what the public wanted and their concerns. The board decided on a plan they felt would best represent the county as a whole and the consolidation will have a district wide financial savings impact of over two million dollars per year after full implantation.
Details of the plan look like LaFayette students and families will defiantly feel an impact in the school year 2022/2023. To begin with JP Powell and Five Points will merge to the East side Elementary Campus and that campus will be renamed the LaFayette PK-8 District-wide STEAM Academy.
The board is also consolidating the Shawmut with LaFayette Lanier to form the Hugley and Fairfax PK-5 which is proposed to happen after new high school is completed.
Many are anxious to know what the high school consolidation will look like. Instead of beginning with the building a brand new multi-million-dollar high school as suggested by the previous administration, this administration’s plan is to have LaFayette High School students merge with Valley High School students and open the Valley High School in 2022-2023 with a new school name, colors and mascot. All high school students will remain in Valley until plans are settled for a new High School to be constructed which is not scheduled to begin until school year 2024-2025 with over a two-year construction plan.
The Lafayette High School will close the school year 2022-2023 and undergo a renovation and be repurposed into a Pre-k thru 8th STEAM. Renovations are set to begin the summer of 2022.
