Superintendent wants to close old Bladen County schoolsBLADEN COUNTY, NC (WECT) - The Superintendent of Bladen County Schools, Dr. Robert Taylor, wants to close up to five old schools and open up new ones. He proposed his plan to commissioners earlier this week.
Dr. Robert Taylor says right now there are about $2.6 million dollars worth of immediately needed repairs in the county schools. He says an earlier study indicated around $70 million dollars total was needed to upgrade and renovate all schools and he estimates that number to be around $90 million now.
Dr. Taylor is suggesting closing the schools that are the oldest and cost the most and opening up new green schools. He says not only would they cut down on repair costs, but it would also be cheaper to maintain the buildings and pay for electricity.
"There's a cost with old buildings," said Dr. Taylor. "You aren't going to have the same savings you do with newer buildings." He also says that the older buildings are not equipped to handle today's technologies.
"When the electrical system of the electrical grid is not designed to carry the load of the 21st century then there are going to be problems, if you think about it any time you build a new smart board you are going to have to run wires across the floor," said Dr. Taylor.
He also says building new facilities will help to attract more teachers to the area.
"We know its already hard to bring teachers to rural southeastern N. C.," said Taylor. "And having an older building just exasperates the problem."
He says that commissioners appointed individuals to look to see if closing schools and opening new ones is feasible.
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