Anson school board finds temporary placement for 6th graders

WADESBORO — After much debate, Anson County’s 6th graders will be returning to their local elementary schools for the 2023-2024 school year following the results of the school board’s survey.

Last month, the School Board tried to decide on where they should place Anson County’s 6th graders. Without the funding to build a new middle school ($10 million short of the $47 million dollar project) the board had three options for next school year: returning to the local elementary school, going to the middle school, or, as proposed by Superintendent Howard McLean, creating a 6th grade academy, a school where only 6th graders would be in attendance.

The Board felt like parents should have the most say in the decision, so a survey was sent out to the parents with fourth, fifth, and rising sixth graders to determine where they felt was best for their children to attend.

“Of the 324 who responded, we had 48% (155 people) that wanted them to return to the community or local elementary school that serves tiers attendance area,” chairman Dr. George Truman said. “We had 33% (106 people) that wanted them to attend the middle school, and we had 17.6% (55 people) that wanted them to attend a 6th grade academy.”

Only Dr. Truman was opposed to the board’s motion to accept the survey results, saying that he still would like parents to have the choice in where their child attended school, rather than one choice for all.

“The reason I am opposed is that I would like to give parents the choice,” Truman explained. “That they could either go to the elementary school or the middle school. But I have no opposition to overturn this and so for the next year 6th graders will remain at their elementary school of their attendance area.”

Attendance at the elementary schools is projected to only be for the next school year as the Board continues to try and obtain funding for the middle school. If the school is not built by the 2024-2025 school year, the question of where to place the 6th graders will be returned to at a later time.

“We’re going to apply for a $10 million from the state,” explained Superintendent Howard McLean. “We’re just going to do it year by year, and next year we’ll see what the conversation holds for us.”