Staff Writer

Will one of Union County's four elementary schools be located in Excelsior Middle School or Sims Junior High School?

The Union County School District is in the process of building a new K-8 school at the intersection of U.S. 176 and New Hope Church Road and a new 6-8 school on U.S. 176 in the Union area. Opening of the new schools will also require a reorganization of the elementary school system in the Union area.

Superintendent Dr. David Eubanks said that when the decision was made to build the new schools it was also decided that each elementary school in Union would be K-5. Currently, Foster Park, Buffalo and Monarch elementary schools are K-4 while Excelsior houses grades five and six. Eubanks said this would change with the construction of the 6-8 school.

“The ultimate goal is to move grade six (from Excelsior) to the new 6-8 school,” Eubanks said. “Grade five would be disseminated between the three existing elementary schools as well as one as yet undetermined school, either at Excelsior or at Sims.”

(Sims currently houses grades seven and eight. Those grades would also be moved into the new 6-8 school.)

To help make that determination, Eubanks asked the Union County Board of School Trustees to hold their next two meetings at Sims and Excelsior. The meetings would include tours of the buildings to help the trustees determine which would best serve as a K-5 elementary school.

“The two new schools would open in the fall of 2009 (and) at that point in time, if nothing changes, we would have a fifth grade school at Excelsior,” Eubanks said. “Our goal is to have the board look at Sims and at Excelsior and make a determination as to which avenue would be best from the long-term interest of the school district.”

Eubanks described Excelsior and Sims as ‘two very distinctly different buildings ... each has their own positive qualities, each has their own negative qualities.” Both school are roughly a half-century old; Excelsior was built in 1959 and Sims in 1956.

As for what would happen to the other building, Eubanks said that would be decided by the board.

“Many districts hold on to older buildings in the event that something was needed in the future,” Eubanks said. “For instance, if you have a renovation in another facility, it may be necessary to move students to one of those locations. There are multiple uses, the community may need some of them, but the board makes those determinations at the time they're necessary.”

The board voted unanimously to hold its next meetings at Excelsior and Sims.