The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City (CHCCS) School Board decided in a 6-0 vote at its meeting on December 7 to prioritize the Chapel Hill High School building project over Lincoln Center.
In 2016, voters approved a $73 million bond to be used for the reconstruction of Chapel Hill High School and Lincoln Center. The reconstruction of the high school was the main project, receiving $52.41 million, about 72% of the total sum of money.
However, due to construction increases, the new Lincoln Center fell $10 million over budget in October of 2017. The cost increase meant that the Chapel Hill High School project would also be over budget, and there would not be sufficient funds to do both projects as originally intended.
Due to the lack of funding, the school board considered moving forward with Lincoln Center and not Chapel Hill High School. While the Lincoln Center project is important because its new preschool will increase space in elementary schools in order to follow the state legislature’s mandate of smaller class sizes, Chapel Hill High School, built in 1966, is suffering from facility disrepair and problems with indoor air quality, among other issues.
Assistant superintendent Todd LoFrese held a presentation on November 27 overviewing the district’s financial challenges.
“Our dilemma isn’t a good one,” LoFrese said. “It is a series of compromises and trade-offs. If we move forward with Lincoln Center without any additional funding, it jeopardizes the integrity of what we are trying to do here at Chapel Hill. Not moving forward with Lincoln Center results in rebidding at a later date and we think we’ll see continued cost increases.”
Parents, teachers and community members at the meeting were upset that the Lincoln Center project could potentially be put ahead of Chapel Hill. Chapel Hill English teacher Anne Tomalin attended the meeting to voice her concerns.
“When I voted for the bond referendum, I expected to have a functional classroom by now. It’s a health issue that we’re dealing with every day,” Tomalin said. “That’s more urgent than providing classrooms for pre-K students who aren’t even here yet.”
At the December 7 meeting, the school board met at Smith Middle School’s auditorium in order to accommodate for the high volume of community members who planned to attend.
The meeting began with an hour and a half of comments from audience members who were upset by Lincoln Center being put ahead of Chapel Hill High School. Many parents discussed that they had voted for the bond so that the new high school would be built and expressed their frustration that the project may not go through. Others voiced that they had moved to the Chapel Hill High School area and were willing to pay the higher taxes for good quality schools, not for a better central office building.
Chapel Hill student body president Nat Romaine spoke at the meeting. “The idea of not renovating my school is ridiculous,” Romaine said. “I don’t think it’s
right that they want to rebuild Lincoln Center and not do anything to Chapel Hill.”
Community member and mom Beth Zwaryczuk presented an online petition of 1,370 signatures urging the board to prioritize the high school. “Our community wants safe and healthy buildings to work in. We have the best stu-
dents, and the best teachers and we deserve a safe environment,”
Zwaryczuk said.
In the end, the community’s efforts to have its voice heard succeeded. “The board and administration, in consideration of input from the Orange County Board of County Commissioners, parents and community members, voted unanimously to move forward with addressing health and safety needs by reconstructing Chapel Hill High School,” CHCCS said in an email sent out to the district on December 8.
