Published: May 16, 2008 09:33 pm            

Public hearings to decide if PVMS has future

PRINCETON — Area parents will soon have an opportunity to voice their opinions on the proposed reconfiguration of four Mercer County schools.

The Board of Education has been offered a $12.5 million grant from the state School Building Authority to assist with the construction of a proposed PikeView Middle School. If the new school is built, the existing Athens, Spanishburg, Oakvale and Lashmeet/ Matoaka schools will be reconfigured into K-5 facilities.

The school system will hold public hearings at all four schools before voting on whether to accept the $12.5 million grant, School Superintendent Dr. Deborah Akers said.

“The hearings are the 9th through the 12th,” Akers said. “Before the end of June, it will be brought to the board for a vote.”

Akers said the school system will provide an additional $3 million to cover the remaining cost of the proposed middle school project. The total project cost is estimated at $15 million.

As currently proposed by the board, students in grades 6-8 at Athens, Spanishburg, Oakvale and Lashmeet/Matoaka schools would attend the new middle school. It would be constructed on the existing PikeView High School site.

“That would leave the schools open in the communities for pre-K through five,” Akers said.

Akers said she didn’t know if the four public hearings will attract a large crowd or not.

“I really don’t know,” she said. “We’ve already had a couple of board meeting where the matter has been discussed, and people have had the opportunity to speak then, and we’ve had people to speak at those hearings.”

The public hearings will be held as follows:

• June 9, Oakvale School, 6 p.m.

• June 10, Spanishburg School, 6 p.m.

• June 11, Lashmeet/Matoaka School, 6 p.m.

• June 12, Athens School, 6 p.m.

Residents who make oral presentations at the public hearings will be limited to five minutes. Written comments also can be submitted for review by the Board of Education.

In the event of an overflow crowd, an alternate location for the four public hearings will be the Princeton Middle School auditorium at 7 p.m.

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com

        

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