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School Board Hears Presentation from Architect on Construction of New Valle Crucis School

By Nathan Ham

At their regular monthly meeting on April 12, the Watauga County Board of Education had a chance to view a presentation put together by architects from Clark Nexsen on how the new Valle Crucis School could look.

“They brainstormed their vision for the school by submitting ideas of things they’d like to keep, toss and create in the constrictions of a new school in Valle Crucis,” said Garrett Price, the Director of Communications for Watauga County Schools. “The team will now go on to establish more detailed plans and designs and present them to the board in the next few months.”

Price said that the faculty and staff at Valle Crucis also got to participate in a similar brainstorming function at the school to get their opinions on what to include and not include at the new site, which has a completion date set for the spring of 2024. The biggest concern was the flooding that the current school deals with. Faculty, staff and school board members all made that the top issue to make sure that the new school will not have to deal with.

The location of a new Valle Crucis School has been the subject of much discussion over the last two years. The school board first approved the purchase contract for the land that the school will be located on in March of 2019. The 14.4-acre tract of land was purchased by the school system for $1.1 million.

In the fall of 2019, some community members and business owners in Valle Crucis shared their concerns about the property and had hopes that the school board would change their minds and move the school to another location. However, the final due diligence period ended in July of 2020 and no changes were made to where the school would be constructed. The property is located along Broadstone Road between the Mast Farm Inn and the Mast Store Annex, which is roughly a quarter-mile from where the current Valle Crucis School is located.

No date has been given for when ground will break for the construction of the new school.

Photos from Watauga County Schools (@WataugaSchools on Twitter)