WS Chronicle

By Tevin Stinson 

The Chronicle  

To get a grasp on how long advocates have been fighting for a new Ashley Elementary, here are a few facts to put the progress into perspective:  

*When voters approved funding for plans for a new school, President Barack Obama was in his second term.  

*The students who were third graders at Ashley when mold issues were brought to light, are now seniors in high school.  

*There has been nearly a dozen different changes on the board of education during that time.  

*Current Superintendent Tricia McManus is the third person to hold the position since the 2016 Education Bond was approved.  

In the fourth installment of our series on the ongoing push to have one of the district’s oldest schools replaced, we will go back to 2019. That year Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools (WS/FCS) began talks about the possibility of purchasing land in East Winston for the future home of the new Ashley Elementary. 

In October 2019, the district made a request to purchase 18 lots near East 21st Street and New Hope Lane from the City of Winston-Salem. Public records at the time priced the lots at $276,000. To finalize the deal, the Winston-Salem City Council had to rescind a previous deal for the sale of the lots to the Housing Authority of Winston-Salem. 

Over a decade earlier, the City adopted a resolution that made HAWS the preferred developer for the lots that WS/FCS were trying to purchase, along with several others in the area. The resolution which was approved by the city council in 2005 also authorized HAWS to purchase the lots at their appraised value. Although the agreement between the City and HAWS was in place for 14 years, there hadn’t been any development in the area. 

It’s important to note that around the same time that the City approved the sale of the land, HAWS and the City of Winston-Salem was awarded a $30 million federal grant to transform Cleveland Avenue Homes and the surrounding community. Awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Choice Neighborhood Grant is designed to replace outdated public housing units with mixed housing and other community needs, such as healthcare facilities, community centers, and schools.  

When discussing the plans for the land purchased in East Winston, district leaders said they wanted to integrate the new school into the overall plans for the area. Darrell Walker, WS/FCS senior executive director of construction and planning, said plans  

called for the school to serve as a community center that serves the entire community. Walker mentioned they had already been in talks with organizers. “Our plan is not to just build a school,” said Walker when answering questions about the future of Ashley Elementary. “We consider schools more now around community centers and getting people in our community to get involved … we would like to partner up and build some wraparound services at this school related to health care, dental, daycares, those kinds of things for families.”  

Although the acquisition of the land and continued conversations about development in East Winston were a step in the right direction, members of Action4Ashley (now Action4Equity) continued to push for the community to be involved in the planning process. Kellie Easton, coordinator for Action4Equity, said although she’s happy to see development come to the community, stakeholders should make sure that the people who live and work in the community every day have input.  

Less than six months after Action4Ashley filed a lawsuit that alleged WS/FCS violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with their decision to not move students from Ashley after mold was found inside the school, the Office of Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education agreed to look at the claim.  

“The community definitely needs development, we’re experiencing development throughout the downtown area and there are not enough projects going on in historically Black communities,” Easton continued. “So, I’m happy about that; however, we do have to make sure that there is a community-driven process around the development that centers the voices of the community.”  

Shortly after the land was acquired in East Winston and HAWS was awarded the Choice Neighborhood Grant, the pandemic swept across the country. There were no changes in the status of the future of Ashley until 2024. 

On Sept. 24, 2024, the board of education approved a resolution to move forward with Construction Documents (CDs). Architect fees and construction documents are based off a percentage of the estimated total construction cost. Completed CDs will allow district leaders to request bids for the project.  

A few weeks later the board voted 6-3 to allocate $46 million to build a new Ashley. While a lot has changed over the years, Easton and others are doing their part to ensure the community is involved in every step of the process. With the district planning to present its budget to the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners in a few weeks, Action4Equity has been meeting with community leaders to ensure the students at Ashley aren’t forgotten, again.