Board votes to close Winstead Elementary, Toisnot Middle

In a 5-2 vote, the Wilson County Board of Education decided Monday to permanently close Winstead Elementary School and Toisnot Middle School.

Chairwoman Christine Fitch and board member Debora Powell voted against the closures. The decision comes a week after a May 9 public hearing where parents and school employees voiced concerns.

Toisnot and Winstead students and employees will be reassigned for the 2022-23 school year. Board members didn't discuss those reassignments during Monday's meeting.

In previous discussions, school officials have said Winstead students and staff would be reassigned to Vinson-Bynum Elementary, and some could be bound for Hearne Elementary. Toisnot Middle students could be shifted to Darden, Elm City and Forest Hills middle schools.

AN EMOTIONAL DECISION

Prior to the vote, Vice Chairman Henry Mercer said board members have discussed how to make better use of the district's facilities and "in the bigger scheme of things" to consolidate student populations in order to build a new school.

Powell said she appreciates community members who attended the public hearing.

"It tore at my heartstrings," she said. "This has been really emotional for me. Those schools have been here a long time and have meaning in our community."

Powell suggested the board take its time, postpone the decision and giveparents, teachers and students time to adjust. She mentioned how a parent at that the public hearing suggested waiting a year.

Mercer said if he looked at it emotionally, he'd be the first one to stand up and lead a march to spare Toisnot from closure. Mercer was the first principal at Toisnot, which was built in 1987.

"It has a special place in my heart, and it breaks my heart to think of it not being a middle school," he said.

At the same time, Mercer said, when he joined the school board, he swore an oath of office to do what's best for the county and schools as a whole.

Mercer said putting the decision off for a year could create instability because it would be difficult to fill vacancies at two schools shortlisted for closure.

"Personally, it breaks my heart, but I feel like we need to make progress," he said. "We need to go ahead and take action and do something that is very difficult. I do feel like we need to press on."

He said the closures and resulting consolidation will make way for improvements to county schools.

MORE SPACE THAN STUDENTS

Board members have held a series of school consolidation discussions over the past several months after county commissioners asked the school board to evaluate facility needs and long-range plans.

N.C. State University's Operations Research and Education Laboratory conducted a study on enrollment trends for the district in 2020. The study found that enrollment declined by nearly 2,000 students over the past six years.

That trend left the district with more space than students. Wilson County's 14 elementary schools operate at just 60% of their collective capacity, according to the most recent figures. The district's middle schools operate at 69% capacity.

'I CRIED WHEN THEY CRIED'

Board member Velma Barnes said she wrote down every word she could speakers' comments at last week's public hearing.

"I cried when they cried," Barnes said.

She said one speaker's plea to save a school from closure tugged at her heartstrings too.

"We are here for all of the students in Wilson County," Barnes said.

While the vote was emotionally fraught, Barnes said she also had to look at the schools' age and the data consultants provided.

Board member Rhyan Breen said Winstead Elementary's potential closure has been a topic of discussion since October.

"This not something we decided overnight," he said.

Like his fellow board members, Breen said he took notes during last week's public hearing. He also reached out to a parent.

"I believe steadfastly not only in our teachers, but I also believe in the resiliency of our students and our community," he said. "I believe if we were to close and consolidate these schools, it would put our students in a position to continue to be successful."

Breen didn't want the board to prolong the decision.

Board member Beverly Boyette said she agreed with Breen. As elected officials responsible for all 26 Wilson County Schools campuses, she said school board members sometimes have to make hard decisions.

Boyette said she wanted to move forward with the plans because the board's goal is to provide students with better facilities and more secure teachers to cultivate a family atmosphere in close-knit school communities.

Board member Blake Boykin said he agreed about moving forward with the vote.

"Sometimes when you have to make an emotional decision versus a rational decision, the emotional decisions will get you in trouble," Boykin said. "I think we need to make a rational decision that is going to be in the best benefit for the entire school system."

BOOSTING STAFF AND ENROLLMENT

In a February joint meeting with the school board, Wilson County commissioners sought to change the conversation around school closures. Instead of pumping tax dollars into patchwork fixes for aging schools, commissioners want to invest in new school construction.

Commissioners have said they can afford to build two new elementary schools in areas where they're needed. Investing in modern infrastructure requires closing old buildings such as Winstead Elementary School and underused buildings such as Toisnot Middle School.

Toisnot Middle also provides an option to house Frederick Douglass Elementary School students while their new school is built.

Shifting Winstead and Toisnot students to other campuses will boost those schools' enrollment and increase the district's overall building utilization rate.

School officials have said closing older and underused facilities will allow the district to relocate teachers in order to fill vacancies at other schools, reducing the need for substitutes. Overcrowding won't occur because the schools to which students will be reassigned are under capacity.

'HEART-WRENCHING' DECISION

Prior to the vote, Fitch said board members all agreed it wouldn't be an easy decision.

"There is a lot of emotionality involved with the decision that is made," Fitch said.

She said the Board of Education has partnered with county commissioners, and they are the ones who fund the district's capital needs.

"They have shared with us before we even undertook the OREd study that there was a concern because of the underutilization of the schools because of our student numbers," Fitch said. "It is at the behest of the county commissioners that we even started this discussion as to what we would do."

She said the board knows some school buildings are old. Modernizing the district's facilities won't be cheap, Fitch said, but she noted the status quo also carries costs in inefficient use of buildings and continuous maintenance and repair expenses.

"But when you are given a directive that says, 'Our funds are finite and you cannot continue to move as you are moving,' it's like having to make a decision in your household as to what it is you will continue with and what it is you will end up doing without," Fitch said.

She said any direction the board chose to go would be a "heart-wrenching" decision.