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Calhoun County Superintendent Jose Reyes speaks during a meeting a meeting for White Plains community to address the future of their three schools at the First Baptist Church of White Plains.
Adapting to the future within a school’s community is never an easy process, but in a neighborhood meeting for White Plains parents, students and residents, Calhoun County Schools Superintendent Jose Reyes told them they would have a voice in their schools’ future.
That future could conceivably include closing the current high school, and creating a new one on the campus that now contains the elementary and middle school, with some structural modification. Essentially, three schools would become two.
The neighborhood meeting, the first of several Reyes will be holding for the system’s schools, was held at First Baptist Church of White Plains, which sits adjacent ot the high school.
Calhoun County Superintendent Jose Reyes speaks during a meeting a meeting for White Plains community to address the future of their three schools at the First Baptist Church of White Plains.
Reyes told those in attendance, around 150, which included several school board members, that an all-new high school could not be built without massive debt. And, he said, decisions must be made soon, on account of several conditions:
— The population of public school children is falling, and Alabama bases its education funding on attendance records. The population of White Plains’ three schools was 1,425 in 2009-10 and 1,293 in 2022-23, only a 132-student difference, but other schools in the system have bigger differences, and the same is true throughout the state.
Parents’ willingness to send children to non-public schools on a account of the COVID pandemic is one reason for the falling populations, officials said. Also, the birth rate has dropped, and there have been closures of major economic entities, such as Fort McClellan.
— The state legislature is not adequately funding schools.
— The cost of building is now $400 a square foot.
— The cost of transportation, employee benefits, HVAC systems, are all rising.
The last few years have had an adequate budget because the federal government has given the school system COVID relief money, but that money had strings attached and has now ended.
“Our 2023 budget is $120 million,” Reyes said. “That sounds like a lot of money, but 75 to 80 percent of any budget goes for salaries and benefits. That means three-fourths of our money is about $90 million, and that leaves us only $30 million. Out of that we also must pay for lights, heat and most other things.”
Reyes showed an aerial view of the elementary and middle White Plains schools, which are built about two miles from the high school. The current school is on White Plains Road, just off Alabama 9, the same highway where the other two schools are located. He pointed out how both the new lower schools were built with expansions in mind, and there is plenty of land on the two schools’ grounds.
After the explanation of the problems and the possible solutions, Reyes paused as he looked at the crowd.
“What would you do?” he asked.
The crowd grew quiet as the realization set in that the three schools might become two, and that redesigning the two lower schools and adding some buildings may be the solution for getting a new high school.
“Our heart wants to build a new high school here,” Reyes said. “Our mind says, ‘Let’s look at the existing schools and see what we have, but there is nothing down on paper now.”
He reiterated how talks are in the initial stages, but making decisions soon, within six to nine months, is important. If the budget gets too low, harder decisions will be needed.
Several comments and questions centered on the conditions of the current high school. Some parents said their children were exposed to black mold from the rain that comes through the old part of the roof. Some said their children complained of rodents and insects in parts of the building.
Reyes said something should be done quickly regardless of future decisions, and one person in the crowd who is partially responsible for the upcoming repair said as soon as the students leave the school this June, the tiles with asbestos will be removed from the roof, and the roof will be repaired.
Parents asked about the alternative facilities where classes such as agriculture, home economics, and more might take place. One parent said she was worried that a new upper school would be a patchwork of buildings. Reyes assured them the upper school would not be a patchwork, and that the need for classrooms that teach additional courses would be addressed.
A third question was how the high school students would be transported back to the existing athletic facilities after school. Reyes said older students could drive themselves and non-drivers would be bused.
One parent asked if Reyes might leave the system before better facilities could be constructed.
“I am 51 years old,” he said. “I have a three-year contract, but I told the board I would like to work at least six more years.”
He suggested that, if a decision is made soon, the changes may be made within that six-year period.
“I appreciate all of you for coming and that there have been no unkind words,” Reyes said. “We must have these conversations and get things rolling. We know you have concerns. These board members have been good to me, and they want what is good for Calhoun County.”
At the end of the meeting, Reyes described how some school systems throughout the state decided to raise taxes for only the residents in that community and were able to build fine new schools.
“They created what is like their own municipality,” he said.
The Saks and Alexandria school communities are next on Reyes’ agenda. A meeting in the Saks Middle School lunchroom will be Jan. 25 at 5:30 p.m. and a meeting in the Alexandria Middle School gym will be Feb. 1, also at 5:30 p.m.
