The Catawba County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday voted in favor of a controversial proposal to merge Catawba County Schools with the smaller Hickory and Newton-Conover City School Districts.
The new district would be called the Catawba Valley School District – but the proposal still needs approval from the state Board of Education.
Hundreds of residents packed the Catawba County Commission meeting room and two overflow rooms to voice their near-unanimous opposition to the proposal. For more than four hours, dozens of parents, educators and students called on the commissioners to pause the proposal and do a comprehensive analysis of its impacts, something they say hasn’t been done.
“To put it simply, to tell the truth, you commissioners have not done your homework,” said Betty Lohr, a retired teacher in Catawba County. “There is no evidence in your proposed merger that you have adequately prepared or communicated the potential effects of the school merger.”
Commissioner Austin Allran made a motion to pause the proposal and commission a study, but it failed in a 3-2 vote, with Barbara Beatty voting alongside Allran in favor, and Commissioners Randy Isenhower, Robert Abernethy and Cole Setzer voting against it. Then the merger passed 3-2, with Isenhower, Abernethy and Setzer voting in favor.
The county started the process to combine Catawba County Schools with the smaller Hickory City and Newton-Conover City school districts to create the Catawba Valley School District last year. County leaders say that Catawba County Schools is projected to see growing enrollment, while the two city school districts are projected to decline. Isenhower said since state funding is based on enrollment, this could lead to funding inequities between the districts.
“The point of this is to true that up, to have it more equitable with regard to the funding across the three systems,” Isenhower said.
Isenhower said he believed the county had good educators, students and school board members.
“With that ability, with the intellectual capacity, with our ability to work together, with our great educators, I think that would work better in a combined system for the betterment of the students,” he said.
Opponents of the plan disputed the suggestion that their districts needed support and argued the county was disrupting functional school systems. They say the county hasn’t done enough to look into the effects a merger might have on programming, student assignment, state and federal funding and staffing. Some said they’d be willing to consider a merger, but wanted a more detailed analysis of the proposal. And others questioned the process, alleging local politics had come into play.
Many came from the Hickory and Newton-Conover communities – including school leaders. Some argued in favor of the more intimate educational experience provided by smaller school districts. Newton-Conover School Board member Tim Hayes voiced strong opposition.
“What’s being proposed is not a merger,” Hayes said. “A true merger means two or more parties voluntarily coming together as equals. What we’re facing is a hostile takeover: a forced transfer of control over our school district without consent of our elected school board or our community.”
The superintendents for both Hickory and Newton-Conover County Schools opposed the merger. Hickory Superintendent Jennifer Griffin said the merger’s impact on federal funding was a key question, and she worried that it could affect access to free-and-reduced meals for students in need. Newton-Conover Superintendent Emily Shaw also wanted more information.
“I have not heard a clear, student-centered answer to the fundamental question: How does this make things better for our students? Not structurally better – but academically better,” she said.
If approved by the state, the new Catawba Valley District would start operations in 2028. Before then, the county commission would appoint an interim board of education with two members of all three existing boards. By July 1, 2028, a new Catawba Valley Board of Education would be formed, consisting of nine members – one from each of the seven county-wide high school attendance zones and two at-large members.
But the first election won’t take place until 2030, another point of contention for opponents. They also feared that the change could lead to less representation with fewer minority school board members, since Hickory represents one of the most diverse parts of the county.
The plan says the new district wouldn’t reduce staffing levels for two years following the merger, and specialized programs and magnets would also remain unchanged for two years – though many residents questioned what would happen beyond that time.
You can read the whole merger plan here.
Catawba County Schools has more than 15,700 students. Hickory City Schools has around 3,600. Newton-Conover has around 2,500.
