The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners voted 6-0 on Monday to build a new E.E. Smith High School, and they said it won’t be built on Fort Liberty.
Other details — such as location and cost — are yet to be determined, Commissioners Chairman Glenn Adams and County Manager Clarence Grier told CityView.
“We’ve got to work through an alternate location … based on their motion, and start working with Cumberland County Schools” on a new Smith campus and other school construction projects, Grier said. The county needs to talk with the Board of Education “to come up with a schedule for all of their projects, and right-size the financing for all of their projects,” he said.
There have been discussions for more than a year on whether to replace or upfit E.E. Smith, including a proposal to move the school to Fort Liberty. The existing 27-acre campus on Seabrook Road, in the Murchison Road corridor, is too small for the needs of a new school, school officials have said.
Some alumni, citing tradition and a desire to preserve the surrounding residential neighborhoods, want to keep the school on the existing campus.
Others have argued that a new, state-of-the-art campus should be built, and the spirit and traditions will carry on there.
Monday’s 6-0 vote did not include Commissioner Michael Boose, who was absent.
The Board of Education runs the schools, but decisions to buy land and pay for new schools rest with the county commissioners.
Not on Fort Liberty
The Department of Defense has nine grade schools for military families based on Fort Liberty but no high schools. High school students who live on the Army post attend the civilian public schools.
The Department of Defense offered to close Fort Liberty’s Stryker Golf Course and let Cumberland County build the new E.E. Smith High School on the Army property, with no charge for the land. If the new high school were to have been built on the Army’s property, the school would have served both civilian families and military families.
Adams and Commissioner Jimmy Keefe said a key disadvantage of the Stryker site is that it is surrounded by government land, and no civilian economic growth and development could happen around it. Jack Britt High School and Grays Creek High School fostered construction of neighborhoods and businesses in their surrounding areas, Adams said.
Further, Adams said he prefers for the county to own the land, rather than have a lease that eventually will come to an end.
Money and timetable
Cumberland County over the years has put money into a special capital projects fund for school construction, Adams said. This fund has $163.7 million, according to a presentation to the commissioners on Monday. Some of that money — not all of it — will be used for E.E. Smith, Adams said.
“I’m hoping that we can get this thing started … at least within the next year, but hopefully shorter than that,” he said. “Because, like I said, all it does is: Prices go up, things go up. And, you know, we just need this state-of-the-art school for these kids.”
School board thoughts
Cumberland County Board of Education Chair Deanna Jones emailed a statement in response to the county commissioners’ decision on Monday.
“We are grateful to the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners for their vote this morning to move forward with building a new E.E. Smith High School. Our goal is to create a state-of-the-art, 21st-century facility that will address both the structural and educational limitations of the current building, including academics, extracurricular, and co-curricular activities,” she said.
“We look forward to learning more about the next steps and collaborating closely with the commissioners to advance this project,” she said. “Additionally, we are excited to work with E.E. Smith families, students, staff, the community at large, and alumni as we honor the school’s proud tradition while preparing for a bright future.”
Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at 910-261-4710 and pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.This story was made possible by donations from readers like you to the CityView News Fund, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization committed to an informed democracy in Fayetteville and Cumberland County.
