Mariel Williams
editor@mitchellnews.com
The Mitchell County Schools Board of Education voted Thursday, July 18, to begin considering bids for the Harris Middle School and Deyton Elementary School buildings.
The board did not commit to accepting a bid and entering into a sales contract in any particular time frame, just to receive and consider bids starting at $750,000. The board also decided to ask bidders to include a statement explaining their intended purpose for the properties, should they succeed in purchasing one.
Mitchell County Schools Superintendent Chad Calhoun spoke about a recent community meeting to discuss community concerns related to the vacant buildings.
The superintendent said he estimates that between 60 and 65 people attended the meeting.
“There was lots of feedback about having a community center, there was things about having a Christian school,” Calhoun said. “I did appreciate one of the speakers … that stood up and said ‘well, this is us — we’re the ones that are supposed to be doing this; it’s not the board of education, it’s not Mitchell County Schools, it’s not the county — we’ve got to organize to do this.”
Calhoun noted that it was clearly important to the community to know what the future use of the properties might be.
“Just from the feedback we got from the public the other night, we’d like to add a line for the potential offerer to write the purpose that they have for this building, because we told the community we’d be very transparent with them and tell them what purpose would be for the building,” Calhoun said.
John Henning, the board’s attorney, noted that the board has the right to reject bids.
New building
Calhoun gave the board an update on the new school building under construction in Ledger. The building will house Mitchell Elementary School and Mitchell Middle School.
“There’s lots of progress,” Calhoun said. “Things are going very well. … the school looks beautiful.”
Calhoun said there will be a ribbon cutting for the new building on Aug. 8, and a public walk-through on Aug. 16. The superintendent said the district will ask members of the public who come tour the building on the 16th not to take photos of the interior because of safety and security concerns.