Last week, Baldwin County Board of Education members approved a plan that would eventually merge Bay Minette Elementary and Intermediate Schools into one K-6 school.

According to plans, all of the elementary general education classrooms for pre-K through third grade as well as six special education classrooms, an assistant principal’s office and nurse’s office would be housed in the new wing proposed as a part of the merger.

All fourth, fifth and sixth grade general education classrooms would remain in the current intermediate building.

No classrooms will be moved during the 2017-2018 school year, nor will any changes be made to the present number of librarians, bookkeepers or office personnel.

The merger will require the hiring of a single principal to be recommended during the June 8 special BCBE board meeting and that principal will help hire one additional assistant principal.

Bay Minette Mayor Bob Wills said the consolidation move had his full support.

“I know everyone would like to have brand new schools, but when you look at funding realistically, it’s not something that can be accomplished currently,” Wills said. “From my vantage point, it’s a good move and I’d like to see it accomplished.”

Wills added the city of Bay Minette might look to enter into a lease agreement with the school system for the old elementary school building so it could be utilized by the community, similar to the agreement Bay Minette has to lease the old Douglasville School campus.

North Baldwin BCBE member David Cox said he had numerous concerns about the potential merger that were shared by many in his community.

“On this plan, you have enough room for all of the existing teachers, and that’s with splitting some classrooms into smaller classrooms,” Cox said. “If we gain at least one teaching unit at the elementary school next year, that’s one classroom we now have find before it’s even being built.”

BCBE President Shannon Cauley said the measure before the board was simply approving the merger between the schools and the final designs would come later.

“All this still has to be approved through the state, and then we approve drawings,” Cauley said. “We can do that when we draw up plans. It isn’t necessarily set in stone and final. If we need to admire classrooms to accommodate future growth, we can do that then.”

Cox said it’s been no secret Bay Minette has had needs for new construction for some time, but said he worried the merger and possible new addition would lessen the likelihood for an eventual new school for the area.

“The big thing with this is that Bay Minette has been in dire need of new facilities for a long time,” Cox said. “I don’t think anyone disagrees with that. If we move forward with an additional to an older building, there will be no new construction for some time.”

Superintendent Eddie Tyler said decisions like that were based on possible funding.

“It all depends on funding and where we are with other areas of the county,” Tyler said. “Growth here hasn’t exploded like it has in the rest of the county, like with the Eastern Shore. I don’t like having old buildings all over the county, but we’re trying to be smart in how we’re doing what we’re doing.”

Academic Dean Joyce Woodburn said the potential benefits for academics for the students involved.

“Having kids under one roof in a K-6 setting allows teachers to collaborate with each other and keep track of kids over a seven year period,” Woodburn said. “It allows them to share resources more easily and builds a sense of community. I think you’re going to see a faculty that is tremendously encouraged because they’re going to work together.”

Several community members also spoke in favor of the merger.

Bay Minette resident Jeb Ball said he felt some of the emotion behind the merger was clouding the benefits of the move from being seen.

“Sometimes, feelings and emotions don’t get things done,” Ball said. “This is a logical approach to something we could have now as opposed to not doing anything. If we can set aside some feelings and separate some of the fears being put out there against this thing, I think we could realize there’s a lot of positive benefits to this, especially the smaller class sizes it could offer.”

Resident Heather Karras said she also supported the merger and she called on Cox to recuse himself from the vote due to conflicts of interest.

“My concern is that our North Baldwin member supports the merger for the Elberta school and others, but not for ours because he has a relative working at the elementary school,” Karras said. “ I don’t want to lose a good thing because there are misguided options here and a little bit of selfishness.”

Cox replied he hadn’t stated whether he was supporting the merger or not and added he didn’t like Karras putting words in his mouth.

During the meeting, Cox addressed the conflict of interest concerns and ultimately chose to recuse himself from the vote.

“Earlier, there was an accusation there would be a conflict of interest,” Cox said. “I hope you wouldn’t believe that would be a case. We anticipated this coming up, and the legal opinion is that it is not a conflict of interest. Because my vote would not go toward the approval of it, I will recuse myself from voting on this.”

Cox still added he felt many in the community were concerned about the merger.

“It’s obvious that the community is split,” Cox said. “One group that we didn’t hear a lot from would be the teachers. Not a single teacher came to me that was comfortable with the merger.”

The board approved the merger 6-0, with Cox abstaining due to his recusal.