Bedford school board votes to decommission Stewartsville Elementary, asks staff to pursue portables to avoid moving 5th and 8th graders

The Bedford County School Board voted on March 12 to decommission Stewartsville Elementary and asked staff to pursue portable (mobile) classrooms at Good View Elementary as a preferred alternative to immediately moving fifth graders into the middle school and eighth graders into the high school.

The meeting opened with a contested motion to delay action on the Stewartsville proposal; that postponement failed and the agenda proceeded. The board heard a lengthy staff presentation outlining Option 2—a zone-wide reconfiguration that would move K–4 students from Stewartsville to Good View, send fifth through seventh graders to Stanton River Middle School and make Stanton River High School an 8–12 campus. Staff said the reconfiguration would yield recurring operating savings (staff estimated about $1.1 million) and reduce long-term facility maintenance obligations, while cautioning that some one-time capital costs and transportation adjustments would be required.

A 40-minute public comment period and an extended subsequent public hearing drew dozens of speakers from the Stanton River zone, including parents, teachers, students and former administrators. Speakers warned that moving fifth graders into a middle school environment could harm…