Amid Heated Discussion on School Upgrades, a Step Forward

While blasted for what critics called a history of delays on voter-approved school renovations, the County Commission approved a study framed as a move forward on school projects.

Brevard High School, one of two campuses targeted for renovation with funds from a bond issue approved by voters in 2018. (2022 photo)

BREVARD — Amid renewed rancor about stalled plans to renovate Transylvania County Schools, the County Commission on Monday took a step towards starting that work — voting to hire a company to assess needed upgrades across the district.

Georgia-based Axias will visit schools this summer and examine items such as plumbing, roofs and HVAC systems. The firm will produce a report for a “study group” to include officials from Transylvania County and the Schools, as well as a retired school superintendent and county manager.

Though Axias’ $70,000 analysis is not due for at least another five months, County Manager Jaime Laughter said before Monday’s meeting, “draft information” from Axias should allow the group to start identifying options for future projects this fall.

This approach — the formation of a group to consider upgrades across the district — was a compromise that the Commission agreed to in October. The School Board had suggested it in August after what members characterized as the long delay in the Commission’s approval of an earlier plan for $68 million worth of renovations of Brevard High School and Rosman High and Middle schools.

A bond issue for that amount was approved by voters in 2018, in a referendum that specifically mentioned work at the two campuses and that passed by a nearly 20 percent margin.

The delay in starting that work has partly been blamed on the 2020 outbreak of Covid-19. And the pandemic’s role in pushing up construction costs resulted in 2021 bids for the project coming in $18.2 million higher than expected.

That led to a joint meeting of the School Board and the Commission in January of 2022, when the two sides discussed a significantly pared-down plan to renovate the two campuses called Option 1. The Commission agreed to approve this plan in June of that year, but attached conditions that the School Board considered unacceptable.

These conditions included, according to the interpretation of School Board Attorney Chris Campbell, a requirement that all the work in Option 1 be completed with no additional funds despite rising construction costs.

“So the motion wasn’t realistic to begin with,” Campbell said last August.

Commissioner Larry Chapman has taken a lead role in disputing that the Commission is responsible for delays — and in pushing back on the message on a recent batch of pre-printed postcards addressed to commissioners stating, Chapman said at a recent meeting, ‘ “You took our money, now fix our schools.” ’

At the June 5 Commission meeting, he pointed out, as he frequently has in recent weeks, that Transylvania trails only a few of the state’s far wealthier counties in per-student school funding. He also wanted to clear up what he called “misinformation” about the roles of the two bodies, saying the Board is responsible for designing the project while the Commission's job is to provide funding. He also said, apparently referring to the June 2022 meeting, that the Commission “was fine” with Option 1.

“But as far as I know (the Board) never came back with any drawings or any detailed bids,” which are necessary before the county can issue the bonds that were approved by voters, he said.

Former School Board member Alice Wellborn was one of two speakers at Monday’s meeting who took issue with this version of events, pointing out that months passed between the time the Board presented Option 1 to commissioners and their vote to support it.

More important, she said, considering the conditions attached, this vote didn’t really amount to support at all.

“You gave a sham approval for a project that you already knew was no longer viable, so you could claim that you had done your part and point a finger at the School Board,” she told commissioners.

The report of capital needs throughout the district mirrors a study performed by the Clark Nexsen architectural firm in 2015 documenting a total of nearly $118 million in needed repairs and warning that school construction costs were rapidly rising. By far the costliest needs, the report found, were at the Rosman and Brevard campuses.

This finding led to the decision to target these schools with the bond money, Vice Chairman Kimsey Jackson said at the week’s School Board meeting, though he also acknowledged that the study was dated.

“Some of the items on that list have been taken care of,” he said.

Among ongoing projects that have been funded with a combination of outside and local funding, said Assistant School Superintendent Brian Weaver, are HVAC upgrades at several schools.

He also said roof repairs at the Rosman campus, a flashpoint in the dispute about school funding and renovations, are well underway.

Commissioner Teresa McCall, remarking that she had been questioned about the need for a study in addition to the one from Clark Nexsen, said that the report from Axias will give “us current, up-to-date information.”

She also said that she hoped it would lead to better cooperation between the Board and the Commission.

Laughter said that she, outgoing Schools Superintendent Jeff McDaris and the Board and Commission attorneys have met several times since December to plan steps forward, including waiting until the quiet summer months at the schools for the needs assessment study.

And she agreed with McCall that the report should facilitate future discussions.

“I think it will create that collaborative environment so we can work together,” she said.

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