THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 1, 1995 TAG: 9502010429
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Short : 38 lines
Officials are hoping for a good turnout at a public meeting tonight designed to give them direction on a planned multimillion-dollar bond referendum for Elizabeth City-Pasquotank schools construction.
``We want to hear what people have got to say,'' School Board Chairman Marion Harris said at a regular meeting Monday night.
School board members and Pasquotank County commissioners have scheduled a joint session for 7:30 p.m. in the media center of Elizabeth City Middle School.
They want voters to tell them how they feel about a bond referendum in general and, more specifically, if they would be more likely to support funds for one new school or for two.
Officials are fairly certain they'll at least ask for a bond of around $10 million for a new middle school, which they say is the most pressing need of the expanding school system.
But they say that, in a few years, a new high school will be needed just as badly. Commission Chairman Zee Lamb has suggested asking for funds to cover both buildings in a single referendum of around $25 million.
Superintendent Joseph Peel said this week he will go to the meeting armed with projections of school enrollments and other information to lay out the need for the new schools. County officials will be prepared to discuss financing.
Peel and Harris said they hoped at least 100 people would show up for the meeting. They said they did not know if a course of action will be decided tonight or in later meetings.
``I'm not sure exactly what's going to happen,'' Harris said. by CNB