LUMBERTON — The idea of making Janie C. Hargrave Elementary School the Public Schools of Robeson County’s new, permanent district office building takes a tentative step toward reality Tuesday.

The agenda for Tuesday’s meeting of the city’s Planning Board contains an item that reads, “Public Schools of Robeson County: Request a Rezoning for property located at 100 Hargrave Street from R7 Residential Single Family/Duplex to B3 Office/Residential for office space.” The only property owned by the PSRC at 100 Hargrave St. is Janie C. Hargrave Elementary.

The Planning Board meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday in City Council chambers on the third floor of City Hall, located at 500 N. Cedar St.

The idea of making the school the district office building was presented to the board a couple months ago, Campbell said. The board authorized the exploration of the proposal, with the idea that what was learned would be reported back to the board.

“It is a step in exploring that option,” said John Campbell, Board of Education chairman.

Hargrave Elementary was one of four schools closed as part of a school district plan to address a $2 million deficit. Also closed were R.B. Dean Elementary School in Maxton, Green Grove Elementary in Fairmont, and Rowland Middle.

The district office staff is housed in the old BB&T call center building on Kahn Drive in Lumberton. Campbell sees advantages to leaving Kahn Drive for Hargrave Street.

“We’re spending over $100,000 a year to lease a building that has flooded on us a time or two because of heavy rain,” he said.

The district is paying $11,700 per month for the 20,000-square-foot building it moved in to in July 2018. The lease on the building expires in June.

“So we have plenty of time,” Campbell said.

The Hargrave building is old, but is well maintained, he said. The flooding threat is much lower.

“It’s on high ground,” he said.

Another financial advantage is the fact the district owns Hargrave Elementary.

“All we would have tied up in that is the money it would take to renovate it,” Campbell said.

The school district also owns 50 acres of land off N.C. 711 near Deep Branch Road, which was bought in December 2017 with the intent of building a district office complex or a new school. The district paid $192,000.

What the district will do with that land if Hargrave Elementary becomes the central office building remains unclear.

“The Public Schools of Robeson County administrators stated that no immediate plans have been made for the 50 acres purchased in 2017. Further, this will be a decision that has to made by members on the school board. A decision on the future of the land may be set in place as early as November’s Board of Education meeting,” Gordon Burnette, PSRC’s new public relations officer, said Monday.

Burnette
https://www.robesonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_20191014_143240-1.jpgBurnette

Campbell
https://www.robesonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_Campbell-John-2-3.jpgCampbell

T.C. Hunter

Managing editor

Reach T.C. Hunter via email at [email protected] or by calling 910-816-1974.