UNION COUNTY, N.C. — Principals for two Union County Public Schools are asking county residents to approve a $134 million bond in the November elections.

The bond would fund the replacement of two of the county’s oldest public schools, East Elementary and Forest Hills High School.

The schools can no longer keep up with the modern demands of education, modern space requirements or day-to-day operations like plumbing, according to both principals.

East Elementary, built in 1954, has a lack of consistent infrastructure and modern enhancements, according to Principal Michelle Goode.

“This is a room where students come in each day for 40 minutes, and they learn about different scientific standards, and it’s just not really equipped, currently, to provide students with the best opportunity for learning,” Goode said about one of the school’s main classrooms.

East Elementary is a health sciences academy, meaning it introduces kids to health projects, science and lab experiments as part of the school day. Goode said the 68-year-old building is no longer up to the task.

“An older building does not provide ample lighting for students. It provides a work space that can have conditions that are either too warm, too cold, the plumbing is not the most efficient and effective. We have issues where there is overflowing of toilets, and students have to deal with that,” Goode said, when asked for examples about the school’s infrastructure.

The concerns and challenges at East Elementary are part of why UCPS is asking voters to approve the $134 million bond to replace the school, along with Forest Hills High.

“In my 27 years of experience in education, I just think having a state-of-the-art, 21st century building that addresses the needs of all of our learnings and provides them opportunities for technology, advances and more room for exploratory, inquiry-based learning and opportunities that just prepare them for the future, I think that’s what our building would allow them,” Goode said about a potential replacement.

The new building would also expand East Elementary’s ability to run a pre-kindergarten program for local children. Currently, the school’s one pre-K classroom can hold about 16 students. Plans for the new building would increase East Elementary’s pre-K capacity to more than 100 students.

Goode also said the school’s close proximity to the road causes traffic delays at drop-off and pickup times, as well as putting school buses at risk if they remain in the street. She also said the nearly seven-decade-old school building lacked adequate storage, consistent central air conditioning and plumbing.

Roughly 480 students attend East Elementary.

Across the county, Goode is not the only principal asking for a new school building.

“This school was built without air conditioning, that’s been added to the school. There was no IT infrastructure, that’s been added to the school. So, over time, the term that I’ve used kind of to describe it is it’s become kind of a Frankenstein of itself,” said principal Kevin Plue.

Plue is in his twelfth year as principal of Forest Hills High School. 

Built in the 1960s, Plue said the building is no match for the demands of a modern high school, nor the growing county.

“I’ve been the principal here for 12 years, these mobile classrooms have always been here. Currently, they house mostly social studies teachers,” Plue said about the five trailers kept behind the school.

He continued, saying the five trailers create a learning disadvantage and security risk for students. 

“Getting the new school building that we’re proposing to build, we’re also talking about being able to get everybody under one roof,” Plue explained.

There are other advantages to a new high school, according to Plue. He said it would help them get a larger cafeteria, meaning they would not need four lunch periods, nor would kids sit aside due to crowding.

Plue said a completely new building would also allow them to modernize classrooms, making them larger and more accessible to modern technology catered to fit career development programs.

“We’ve made do with those classrooms and got those spaces in there, but we’ve had to sort of uplift those classrooms. So, it’s not perfect,” Plue said.

Forest Hills High School enrolls about 900 students. However, Plue said the school’s footprint is currently growing by about 1,000 new homes, meaning it soon could surpass capacity again, leading to more trailers and other accommodations if a new building is not approved.

Both principals have decades of experience in education, though not as many as the schools they run, and said they hope voters give them a passing grade on this year’s bond vote.

If approved, the bond would cause an increase to property taxes in the county.

For example, a $100,000 property would see a property tax increase of $17.30, according to UCPS’ information packet on the bond.

Construction on the new school buildings would begin in the spring of 2023, according to the same information packet.

For more details on the bond proposal, click here.

UCPS will hold three more public information sessions on the bond in October, before voters head to the polls. Those information sessions are on Oct. 11, 13 and 20.