West Stanly Middle School debate
By Joyce Lavene
Senior Staff Writer
For years, the debate has raged through Western Stanly County. People have wanted to know why the other end of the county has middle schools but this end doesn’t. Opponents have argued that K-8 schools are better. Parents who have kids going into sixth grade want parody with Albemarle.
On March 29, a new group of proponents who want to create a Western Stanly Middle School held a meeting/pep rally for the idea at Crutchfield. Superintendent Dr. Samuel DePaul was on hand with Dr. Terry Griffin. Schoolboard members Melvin Poole, Chris Whitley, Anita Owens-Scott and Mike Barbee were there as well. They all listened intently and took a few notes but didn’t speak.
Everyone else had their turn to say what they thought and many took advantage of it. There was standing room only for the 75-plus crowd. Like Oakboro the week before, they were preparing for a battle with the Stanly County Schoolboard.
Dressed in green to show their support for the project, everyone was enthusiastic and optimistic that they would be victorious. They extolled the virtues of middle schools in general—programs for the older students that they can’t get now, an understanding of emotional and physical changes these students go through, teachers who are better able to cope with older students and don’t treat them like ‘kids’ . Proponents pointed to studies that show that children who go to middle schools are less likely to drop out.
The group has decided that Running Creek Elementary would be the best school in the area to create a middle school. There would only be room for seventh and eighth grades, leaving out sixth grade students that they had wanted there as well. But there just isn’t room at any one school for the more than 700 middle school aged students. Class sizes are estimated to be at 25 to 30 students.
On the subject of money to create the middle school, the group was equally as optimistic. The school would actually save money, they say. The amount that could be saved would be about $40,000. Of course, the new curriculum would also cost money but parents say it shouldn’t matter. Their kids deserve what the other students in Stanly and Cabarrus County already have.
“How many more years do our kids have to wait?” one woman in the crowd asked. “It will be painful and hard but let’s stop leaving our kids behind.”
Her statement was met with applause which continued to spring up during the meeting.
The subject of test scores was brought up, Middle schools are higher ranking in the county, including New London Choice Middle which was closed by the county last year.
Bud Smith, former principle of West Stanly Hugh School, applauded the crowd’s decision. “It doesn’t make any sense to have three quarters of the county one way and this end different. If there is a way to do sixth, seventh and eighth, it should be implemented. We’ve been waiting. The time is now!”
Teachers from middle schools in Stanly and Cabarrus County shared their experiences and ideas about middle schools. Some teachers from the K-8 schools also shared their ideas. Many people who have grown up in Western Stanly have grown up in K-8 schools and can’t see any difference. They don’t feel like they missed anything while others feel they would have been better students.
“We have to demand this,” Amy Bates, one of the organizers of the event said. “We have to demand equal opportunity for our children.”
