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County discusses Lacherman Middle School feasibility and site options as board of education advances study
Summary
County administrators described three potential sites and community concerns for the Lacherman Middle School feasibility study; no funding decision or final site selection was made.
County officials briefed commissioners on the Board of Education’s move to a feasibility study for a replacement Lacherman Middle School and identified three potential options under review, with the feasibility study and public feedback to guide final decisions.
"There is some desire by the community with the Lockerman Association to... have a portion of that building... set aside for kind of a mini museum," County Administrator Kathleen Freeman said, summarizing community input about the existing Lacherman Middle School building.
Freeman said the Board of Education’s feasibility study will evaluate site options, and she listed two active options and said a renovation of the existing building is believed to be ruled out. The two options under study are: building on a vacant site on Double Hills Road, and constructing an addition on the North Caroline High School campus. Freeman said a public survey on the two sites had just closed and that the Board of Education had held a public meeting that produced substantial feedback.
Commissioners discussed practical constraints tied to each site. They noted Double Hills Road would require coordination with Denton on sewer and water allocations and could involve pump-station upgrades, and traffic impacts along Route 404. The North Caroline campus was noted as having existing infrastructure — athletic fields and utilities — but commissioners raised concerns about solar installations on county-purchased land that might limit future site use.
Commissioner discussion also raised concerns about building design, maintenance and expansion: commissioners asked that the feasibility study consider pragmatic, maintainable design choices and make the new facility expandable if future enrollment increases. No county funding commitment or site decision was made at the meeting. Commissioners and staff said the feasibility study will provide cost estimates and that the local share of any project will depend on configuration and will be negotiated as the project advances; a local share estimate was "not specified" at the meeting.
