Around 15 people other than board members and media showed up for the school consolidation hearing held on Thursday evening by the Chattooga County Board of Education.  Of those 15 people only about 3 were residents not connected with the school system.

Dr. Dwight Pullen, school superintendent, stated that the meeting was for public input on the proposed merger of Leroy Massey Elementary School and Summerville Elementary School.  According to the information presented on Thursday evening the combined schools would have an enrollment of 815 students.  Dr. Pullen said that would be a large school for Chattooga County, but that there were much larger schools in other parts of the state.

Under the consolidation plan, there would be new classrooms and a new gymnasium built at Leroy Massey Elementary along with expansion of the cafeteria to accommodate the number of students.  The existing gym would be then used as a technology center for the school and the current technology center would be turned into more classroom space.

The plan shows that renovations and modifications at Summerville Elementary School would cost in excess of $6 million if the two schools are not combined.  The system could add on to LMES at an estimated cost of $2.3 million.  By combining the two schools the system would save $509,654.55 in operational costs.

The only resident to speak at the meeting was Lewis Strange of Summerville who spoke in favor of the consolidation plan.