After a process lasting over a year, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education made the decision to prioritize funding toward a project to renovate Chapel Hill High School in December last year.
Bonds sold by Orange County were originally meant to pay for improvements to Chapel Hill High School and the Lincoln Center, but it became clear the school district could not afford both projects as bids came back on construction costs.
Rani Dasi, president of the CHCCS Board, said she believed the bids for the Lincoln Center were higher than expected because of construction inflation due to natural disasters raising demand for contractors.
Dasi said improvements to the Lincoln Center were meant to construct a best-in-class, consolidated location for preschools, which would be moved out of elementary schools. This would have opened up classrooms in the elementary schools, reducing class sizes and enabling construction to be done on those buildings.
“The challenge right now is that we have significant need for renovations at our elementary school but no place to put students while we do that work,” Dasi said.
Although there is no official timeline to return to the Lincoln Center project yet, Dasi said the district is working to craft a plan to meet the needs of its elementary schools and students.
Orange County Commissioner Penny Rich, whose children attended CHHS, described herself as an outspoken supporter of renovations for the high school, which she said was one of the district's oldest.
Rich said improvements to the Lincoln Center were the focal point at the start of the bond process. Even after bids for the project came in over budget, she said the school board had still hoped to complete the construction but funds are simply not sufficient.
Other renovations to the Lincoln Center would have included an expansion of the Phoenix Academy, an alternative high school located beside the center, Rich said.
