Future appears bleak for Snowden Elementary School due to multiple factors
While there is no guarantee the school will be shut down, the future of the school appears grim. Beaufort County Schools Superintendent Dr. Matthew Cheeseman said there are three main factors that led to his decision to bring this to the board.
They said the school is impacting the district in a negative way financially, the enrollment numbers are dropping and the possibility of a better education elsewhere in the district exists.
Over the past decade, the board has seen signs of academic improvement at Snowden, Dr. Cheeseman said a familiar problem may have become too much to handle.
'Actually, I consider the quality of education, whether we can actually staff a school with certified and licensed public school educators and administrators and that has been a historical issue, at Snowden,' Dr. Cheeseman said.
He said the location and the enrollment play a large part in the lack of consistency as it pertains to teachers and he's worried about the impacts that could have on students.
'The issue is how do you have consistency among the educators in the building? You know, you can't go long without a math teacher or an officer, an English teacher, and not expect students to have achievement gaps,' he said.
In his proposal, Dr. Cheeseman said the students at Snowden would attend Chocowinity Primary School and Chocowinity Middle School in the fall of 2026.
He elaborated on what a closure would mean for the staff. 'We would look at the available positions that we have open in the district and who is licensed and certified and qualified to slide into those positions. Some of it will come down to contract law,' Dr. Cheeseman said.
Dr. Cheeseman said they plan to have public input and information sessions.
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