The second priority of the board is to build a new middle school that would combine the 6th through 8th grades from Cullowhee Valley, Fairview, Scotts Creek and Smoky Mountain Elementary. It is estimated the roughly 700 to 900 students will be consolidated to the middle school from across the county.
Roughly $60 million has been set aside for this project including the $52 million needs-based grant from the NC Department of Public Instruction which was awarded back on Sept. 27, 2024. The county has 24 months from the grant was approved to break ground on the new middle school.
The definition of “breaking ground” for the NCDPI grant are very loose. Ayers explained the NCDPI requirements include having purchased land and are in the process of starting construction.
Chairman Wes Jamison quipped, “If you buy it, I’ll go throw a shovel in it.”
Four months post approval, very little has been done so far.
As Ayers explained during the joint meeting with the Board of Commissioners, groups of staff members have traveled and continue to travel across Western North Carolina viewing different traditional middle school styles to find aspects to include in Jackson County’s middle school.
“Our intent is to bring the teachers in who are going to be doing the work and really start looking at the programing piece and what that might look like,” Ayers said.
Currently the board of education is in the process of setting up stakeholder meetings to figure out where the middle school can be constructed. The vision is to have multiple stories and buildings to work around the mountain terrain on anywhere from 30 to 55 acres.
Both boards aim to have the school in a centralized location so students from all parts of the county do not drive long distances.
The board is aiming to include all sporting facilities, an auditorium and potentially an auxiliary gymnasium. They also plan to expand the programs offered at the school including the career and technical education programs from the current four to eight as well as teaching foreign languages courses and offering an all-encompassing arts program.
“It doesn’t need to be a Taj Mahal, as I’ve said all along, we need functional, accessible space for all our kids,” Ayers said.
Architect, Randy Baker estimates designing for the middle school could be roughly 6 months depending on the number of programs included and 18 to 20 months of construction to finish the project.
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Fairview Elementary
Blue Ridge School
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