When East Arcadia School dismissed students in December for the holiday break, Addie Lockamy heard startling news.
The Bladen County school announced plans on its Facebook page for two public hearings about whether East Arcadia will close forever in June. School officials are considering merging the school, which has seen a drop in enrollment, with Clarkton School of Discovery 23 miles away.
Lockamy, whose 7-year-old daughter, Monalisa, is a first-grader at East Arcadia, is reeling from the possibility. She wonders how she would have time to travel that far to drop off and pick up her child, and she worries how Monalisa would adjust to a bigger school that currently serves students in fifth through eighth grade.
Lockamy said other parents and even some teachers were blindsided. “It felt like a gut punch,” she said. “I was like, wait a minute, what? Where is this coming from? Why has nobody said anything about this before?”
Bladen County Schools conducted a study about possibly closing East Arcadia, which has seen declining enrollment for years. The school in Riegelwood now has 58 students, down from 78 in 2018, according to the study’s report. Some years, the school has not had enough students to offer pre-kindergarten or fifth-grade classes, the report said.
The state does not pay administrators of schools with fewer than 100 students, so the district has had to pay $535,000 in salary and benefits for the East Arcadia’s principal, David Wimert, since 2018, the report says.
Most classrooms at the school are in disrepair, and it would cost nearly $2 million over the next one or two years to renovate the facility, according to the report. The property needs a new septic system, and the building needs new windows, floors, and heating and cooling systems.
“It would cripple the school district to keep the school open,” the report says. “Closure and consolidation will not only help address budget challenges, the district will still be able to provide a high quality education for our students.”
The report notes that East Arcadia is “geographically isolated” and is far from medical facilities. Emergency workers have faced delays in getting to the school in the past, according to the report.
In addition, the report says, Columbus County is building a school within eight miles of East Arcadia. When it opens, some East Arcadia students will likely enroll there.
Parents Voice Concerns
Nearly 30 parents spoke during public hearings on January 7 and 21. Most encouraged school board members to keep East Arcadia open, with many expressing concerns about travel times.
Jessica Dominguez said her 8-year-old daughter who now attends East Arcadia would have to ride a bus to the Clarkton School of Discovery. She said her other children, ages 13 and 14, get on their bus at 5:10 a.m. for a two-hour ride to Elizabethtown Middle School 27 miles away.
“An elementary kid on the bus for that long would be kinda bad,” Dominguez said.
Fannie Long told the board she drove a school bus from East Arcadia School to Elizabethtown Primary School for four years. She said students had little time to eat breakfast because they would arrive shortly before classes began.
“They came to school tired, sleepy, and hungry,” Long said. “How can a child learn when there isn’t that space for them? Please keep our children in mind.”
Declining Enrollment
Like some other rural public school districts in North Carolina, Bladen County has seen a drop in student enrollment as families move away or opt for private, charter, or home schools.
Bladen County Schools enrolls about 3,630 K-12 students, down 4.4% from last school year, according to the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. Meanwhile, the county’s two charter schools have more than doubled their enrollment over the past several years. Emerau: Bladen now serves about 670 students, and the Paul R. Brown Leadership Academy serves nearly 250.
The district has been trying to reduce its number of schools. It closed Booker T. Washington Primary School in 2016, citing declining enrollment, faculty concerns, and poor classroom conditions. In 2024, the district opened Tar Heel School when it consolidated Plain View Primary and Tar Heel Middle.
The Clarkton School of Discovery has about 150 students. It received a “C” on its most recent report card from the N.C. Department Public Instruction and met the state’s academic growth standards last school year. East Arcadia got an “F” but also met growth standards.
Lockamy’s husband, Carl Lockamy, told the school board during the January 7 hearing that he worried about his young daughter mingling with middle schoolers.
“Children are very different and their needs are very different from those ages,” He said at the meeting. “I prefer to reduce the exposure to the topics and interests of older kids, away from the younger ones as much as possible. Not because I think older kids are a problem, but their needs and focus are different than that of young kids.”
Lockamy says she hopes the district will keep the community informed about plans for East Arcadia.
“Everyone is hoping that they decide to keep the school open; that’s the general consensus,” she said. “None of the parents want the school to close. None of the faculty want the school to close.”