By Sarah Campbell
scampbell@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY ó The Rowan-Salisbury School System isnít the only district that has aging administrative buildings and staff split up into multiple facilities.
The Davidson County school district has administrative offices spread out across several properties.
ěOur main building is an old county poor house that is 101 years old,î district spokeswoman Meredith Palmer said. ěNo central air, no elevator and the list goes on.î
Iredell-Statesville schools has four campuses for administrative offices. Two offices are located in former school buildings, which were both built in the 1940s. The child nutrition and maintenance staff are located in an old furniture factory. The district shares the bus garage with Mooresville Graded Schools.
ěBoth our bus garage and our maintenance/child nutrition facilities are newer, nice facilities with few maintenance issues,î Dawn Creason, the districtís spokeswoman, said. ěHowever, our two administrative offices are in much worse shape.
ěWeíve had some mold and mildew issues. Both buildings use boiler heat and both units need to be replaced soon.î
Having worked in for Rowan-Salisbury Schools, Creason said she can compare the districtís ADR education enter to the Long Street Administrative Office in East Spencer. She said both buildings are old and in need of repairs.
ěI work at our Race Street office, which I could also compare to the Ellis Street Office in Rowan,î she said. ěSomewhat newer, fewer maintenence issues, but overall still a dark, damp, outdated building.î
Like Rowan-Salisbury, Creason said Iredell-Statesville schools officials cite inefficiency as one of the biggest problems associated with having multiple administrative offices.
The Davie County school district has two separate offices. The school systemís Cherry Street office was constructed as a school in 1911. It was converted to an administrative office in 1976. The Central Davie Education Center was built in 1960 and served as several schools before being converted in 2001.
The districtís spokeswoman, Stephanie Koefoed, said neither building has cost the school system a significant amount of money.
ěThey have been well maintained,î she said.
The Mooresville Graded School District converted a post office built in 1938 into its central office in 1986.
School officials there say theyíve had few maintenance issues and the renovations were done primarily by school maintenance staff.
The majority of administrative offices for the Cabarrus County school district are housed in the districtís Education Center. There are two satellite locations.
Cabarrus administrators moved from a former school into a brand new central office in 2003.
The Kannapolis City school district also has one central office.
Built in 1968, it is located on the campus of A.L. Brown High School.
Looking to centralize?
Palmer said Davidson schools arenít interested in consolidating administrative operations.
ěIf we had all the money in the world, would we build one great big building and put us all in it?î she asked. ěI donít know that we would.î
Palmer said when money comes in for construction projects the school board traditionally uses it to renovate or build schools.
ěWe want (schools) to be safe for students and we want the environment to be very conducive to learning,î she said. ěIf we only have a finite amount of money we are going to put it where the students are instructed daily and we are going to make these older building work for administration.î
Mooresville Graded and Davie school systems are also content with their current arrangements.
Creason said talks of a central office have been off the table for Iredell-Statesville Schools since 2006.
The district was looking to buy an industrial site to house its offices, but a company looking to expands was also interested in the site.
ěSince then, consolidation of a central office has not been mentioned, particularly in light of the current economic situation,î Creason said.
Creason said the districtís top priority is school facilities.
ěAs long as there are needs at our school buildings, our central office will just have to wait,î she said.
Contact reporter Sarah Campbell at 704-797-7683.
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