School board discusses potential building acquisition, SRO funding resources

HAMLET — The Richmond County Board of Education discussed a potential opportunity to acquire the James Building from Richmond Community College at their Sept. 5 meeting.

Richmond County Schools currently uses the building, built in 1966, for six pre-K staff, 12 Exceptional Children’s staff, six tech facilitators and as a STEM lab. The building would simply be turned over to the school system from the community college pending board approval.

No students use the building at this time.

RCS currently pays for utilities (about $12,000 a year), maintenance, gardening, custodial and plumbing services, but all other costs are paid for by RCC.

Maintenance Director Steven King said the total cost for a renovation of the building if they were to purchase it would be about $500,000, far less than what it would cost to build from scratch.

Some of those costs include $250,000 for an elevator to access all three floors, $60,000 in painting and between $50,000-90,000 to make all restrooms ADA accessible. King also said the first floor is prone to flooding, and that the current wheelchair ramp is is too steep to be ADA compliant, although it could be grandfathered in. King said that the roof is in good shape.

“If we buy it, we have to do all of these things,” King said, adding that there would be no cost of acquisition for the building and that some of these renovations would depend on what the plans for the building would be.

If approved, any request would go to the NC State Board of Community Colleges, who could approve the transfer as early as December or January.

“I just don’t see us purchasing a building that was built in 1966,” said board member Cory Satterfield. “We have older buildings in our system already,” noting that LJ Bell and Fairview Heights were built in the early ’50s and that this project could take away funds from existing schools in use.

“Right now to me is not making sense from a business standpoint,” Satterfield concluded.

Board member Scotty Baldwin mentioned that with the current construction projects at three Richmond County schools — an auxiliary gym at Richmond Senior, additional classrooms at Mineral Springs and a gym at Fairview Heights — that finances could be tight. He suggested a third-party inspection of the building prior to making any sort of purchase, which would cost about $2,000.

Superintendent Dr. Joe Ferrell said that he would compile some more questions from the board and send to the necessary interested parties. No action was taken by the Board for the James Building at their September meeting.

Board addresses funding for school resource officers

Executive Director of Auxiliary Services Melvin Ingram said that RCS convened a safety security roundtable on August 9 with various stakeholders, including Rockingham and Hamlet police as well as the Sheriff’s Office.

“Our intention is to have an SRO in each school, everyday,” Ingram said, adding that law enforcement agencies help fill any absences.

“What’s our biggest shortfall when it comes to staffing?” Baldwin asked. “Funding and lack of applicants,” responded Ingram.

Ingram said a difficulty is that employment for SRO’s is only offered for ten months. He said that RCS will apply for a 2024-25 safety grant that will apply to all schools in the district, not just the middle and high school level.

“We put a lot of issues out on the table,” Ingram said about the roundtable. “We all have the same goal. They stepped up big time because I know the goal is to have an officer in every school, but it has increased pretty dramatically already.”

Dr. Ferrell said that staff at LJ Bell has already informed him that they are grateful for an increased SRO presence at their school. He also clarified that any school safety funds would come from the NC DPI Center for Safer Schools, which they will continually re-apply for.

“At some point, there is going to have be some conversation as well with our county commissioners and county government,” Dr. Ferrell said. “If there’s not enough money in the grant or if they reduce it, we are going to have to work with our local government.”

“Fund balance ain’t going to do it,” reiterated chairman Wiley Mabe.

CORRECTION: This story has been updated to make more clear that RCS will not be purchasing the James Building, simply having the ownership turned over to the school system pending board approval.