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As county leaders and citizens argue their points on whether S.W. Snowden Elementary should remain open or shutter its doors, one commissioner is proposing a third option. 

Chairman of the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners, Frankie Waters, would like to see the construction of a new school on the south side of the Pamlico River. This hypothetical new school, located between Aurora and Chocowinity, would combine S.W. Snowden Elementary, Chocowinity Primary and Chocowinity Middle to be one K-8 facility. 

Waters’ personal belief is that the three schools are “no longer safe, not in a good state” and need to be replaced to make them more “efficient to operate.”

Funding for the construction of a new school could come from North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s (NCDPI) Needs Based Public School Capital Fund, Waters said. This is the same $42 million grant Beaufort County Schools received in 2024 to construct Washington Elementary School which combines Eastern Elementary and John Cotten Tayloe Elementary in Washington. 

Need Based Public School Capital Fund grants are funded with revenue from the N.C. Education Lottery and help pay for new school buildings as well as additions, repairs and renovations to existing buildings, NC DPI’s website states. 

“I’m not going to stop anything that they don’t want to stop,” Waters said, referring to the Board of Education. “But I’m also willing to fund some additional costs. If I fund some additional costs, I want a commitment that we’re going to apply for another grant from the lottery to build a new school on the south side.” 

Waters believes the school district’s “chances” of receiving the grant a second time are “extremely good” given three factors: the combination of three schools, those schools being in a rural area and Beaufort County can provide money for a local match. The county paid a $10 million local match to NC DPI when it awarded the needs based grant for Washington Elementary.

Waters added that the North Carolina General Assembly is looking to spend N.C. Education Lottery money in rural areas to modernize school facilities. 

“If we could do it tomorrow, if we could go ahead and apply for a grant tomorrow, that’s fine with me,” Waters said. “I would say the sooner the better.” 

Waters also said that he would support any decision the Board of Education makes about the future of S.W. Snowden even if it means using county funds to keep state funded positions. The North Carolina Department of Education does not fund a principal’s 12-month salary if a school’s enrollment falls below 100 students; therefore, local money would have to be used to maintain a principal’s salary. Local dollars are already being used to fund the assistant principal’s salary at Snowden, according to Beaufort County Schools. 

However, Waters believes that funding the principal’s salary is a temporary fix. He noted how difficult it is for Snowden to hire teachers and that giving bonuses to new teachers is another temporary fix. 

“What I want to see us do is make sure that we build a new school on the south side and that it’s  brand new, it’s state-of-the-art and handles the future needs by combining all three of those schools, ” Waters said. 

Waters believes a new school on the south side of the river could attract young families with children. 

“The only thing that I see is that it’s to their benefit,” Waters said when speaking about the Aurora community. He continued to say that a new K-8 school could be an “economic driver” for the south side of the county. Other “economic drivers” for Aurora include building homes along the waterfront and the addition of broadband internet access, he described. According to Mayor Clif Williams, the Aurora community will have better access to broadband internet by spring of next year. 

At this time, Waters’ hypothetical new school for the south side of Beaufort County is a personal dream he would like to see manifested one day. Not all of the county commissioners share his dream. Commissioner Hood Richardson believes S.W. Snowden should remain open and be funded by local money, according to a post he published to Beaufort County Now on April 7. 

“It is the difference between paying the principal for a 12-month year versus a 9-month year.  If the student population falls below 100, the State of North Carolina will pay only a nine-month principal’s salary instead of a 12-month salary.  My estimation is about thirty thousand dollars. That difference could be paid by Beaufort County. Thirty thousand dollars is very little expense when one considers what would happen when Snowden is closed.  Ninety-nine children would be bused from Aurora to Southside School. Most would then get on another bus and be taken to the schools inside the Town of Chocowinity.  The cost of this transportation definitely is more than thirty thousand dollars,” Richardson wrote. 

Richardson said his $30,000 estimation comes from what he believes is the average pay for a principal in North Carolina – $100,000, he told The Daily News. Richardson is under the impression that NC DPI won’t pay for three months or what is essentially summer break, but would pay for the nine months that students, faculty members and administrators are in school. 

According to NC DPI, funding for principals’ salaries is not divided between 12 and nine months. For schools that have opened prior to July 1, 2011, NC DPI’s Employee Salary Manual for 2024-2025 states that “each school with 100 or more pupils in final [Average Daily Membership] and/or seven or more fulltime equivalent state allotted/paid teachers and instructional support personnel, unrounded, (based on prior year 6th pay period) is entitled to twelve months of employment for a principal.” 

The current S.W. Snowden Elementary building was constructed in the 1990s, according to the Town of Aurora Historic District Plan (2022). 

The Daily News asked Beaufort County Schools Superintendent Dr. Matthew Cheeseman if the school district has considered combining Snowden, Chocowinity Primary and Chocowinity Middle.  He said there has been “no formal discussion” to combine the three schools. 

When asked if Beaufort County Schools (BCS) has considered applying for a second Needs Based Public School Capital Fund grant, Cheeseman said,“no formal discussion as BCS is currently engaged in a construction project that consolidates two schools. The application process typically starts in September,” Cheeseman said. 

Beaufort County Schools will host community forums on the closure of S.W. Snowden Elementary. This is an opportunity for Aurora community members to voice their opinions and concerns to the school district and Board of Education. The first forum is scheduled for Wednesday April 16 at 6 p.m. at Snowden (693 7th St., Aurora). 

The following forums are scheduled for: 

Tuesday, April 29, at 6 p.m. at Chocowinity Primary School (606 Gray Road, Chocowinity)

Thursday May 1, at 6 p.m. at S. W. Snowden 

Monday, May 5, at 6 p.m. at Chocowinity Middle School (3831 US HWY 17 S, Chocowinity)