'Something is wrong,' school board discusses declining enrollment, Marion school, members speak out

By Chuck Thompson | Shelby Independent

The CCS Board of Education during their public meeting, March 9, 2026.

The discussion over Marion took the main focus last night, as school board members made their thoughts known, keeping in line with where they had been before, months ago, with a few exceptions. Board of Education members Aaron Bridges and Gloria Sherman seemed to have shifted slightly, not in their sincerity to sell the building, but in shifting to supporting an open bid and getting it behind everyone so they could move on with more pressing matters in the months to come.

One by one, almost all board members took turns commenting on the issue, some extended their comments into other realms or saved their thoughts for closing comments, while others just added to their previous thoughts.

On a school board that seems more divided than a bi-partisan board, an ultimate 5-4 vote carried the resolution to put the Marion school property up for the highest bidder.

But, before the vote came down to the wire, one vote from going either way, came the discussion and comments from the board of education elected members, each expressing their thoughts / concerns over the issue. Opinions, facts and stubbornness ruled the night in the auditorium as each board member said their peace.

(For the regular agenda overview, see the most recent board of education news story before this one)

After Chairman of the Board of Education Joel Shores presented the resolution to place the Marion school property up for open bid, Vice-Chair Aaron Bridges made the motion to approve, then Board Member Danny Blanton had a question:

“Would it not be good to do a little homework to see if we need this building down the road?” Blanton asked, as he continued by mentioning the house construction going on across the county. “I honestly believe we need to hold up, in case we need this building.” Blanton said the community should think of leasing the property and let the nonprofit, One More, One Less, use it with a 60 day notification if CCS needs them to vacant the premises.

Blanton then stated CCS didn’t have the money to build a new school and that people are building new homes for young families, adding, “They look like they all have upstairs to them,” stating its too many bedrooms for retired or childless homes.

He then mentioned savings on other projects. “We did projects that were originally 13 million (dollars) that we did for 1.3 million.”  He also said the Marion school building was a disaster and that people needed to go look at it, not further explaining why it was a disaster.

Vice-Chair Bridges read an email from Superintendent Dr. Stephen Fisher about student enrollment dropping 1,000 students. He concluded by stating, “I understand the housing market is growing but we have lost a lot of students.”

Board Member Walter Spurling added, “We've been doing this a couple years now, and when we closed it there was data brought forward.” Spurling mentioned one piece of data that stood out to him, that 28% of homes have a child in a house. “Eight houses is not even a drop in the bucket for a whole school. You would have to build 10,000 houses to even come close to building a new school and this is just maddening. Do the math.”

Grigg rebutted, “I understand the statistics, but I get mine from driving around in my car. That’s where I get mine... We need to wait. We need to get it from our commissioners. We need to wait; we don’t need to sell in case we need it.”

Grigg continued by adding that statistics are not always accurate, in his opinion.

“I was told I was going to lose but I didn’t… so, I know all about statistics,” to which he received applause from many in the audience.

Board member Gloria Sherman stated that it was offered to the county as recently as a month ago (something that apparently wasn’t made very public) and yet, county government did not want it, and the city of Shelby didn’t either.

“I don’t think we’re looking to build a new school, but if we were, it would be feasible where the housing market is building,” she said, and followed up with talk about having to redraw districting lines. “There’s so much going into adding a school or even reopening Marion,” she added.

“I’m not making a decision without looking at numbers,” Sherman added, supporting adding on to Jefferson Elementary or other schools, or possibly getting Graham back form the county.

Kenneth Ledford, another board member, spoke next.

“Statistics can lie,” he said. Ledford also spoke of houses being built behind Jefferson that are two stories, piggybacking off of Blanton’s comments, stating old people can’t go upstairs.

“We don’t know how many kids will be moving in our area” Ledford added. He spoke in favor of keeping Marion, stating, “I’m not in favor of selling this school because we could have additional students and if not, it will gain value.”

Bridges commented next, to which he noted the decision to close Marion was made years ago and the discussion was never about reopening, but whom to sell it to. He noted the wise option is just to sell it for top dollar.

Blanton interrupted, stating, “We can open it back up tomorrow, because it has power!” He felt more discussion was needed, adding, “I’m not saying that’s the best school for us…”

Then, Chairman Shores explained the reality, dropping unexpected truth bombs on the whole discussion, noting they can’t open the school “tomorrow” due to a drastic drop in state funding of $1,800,000. due to reduction of student enrollment, noting cafeteria staff, custodians, maintenance, teachers and admins are all needed in a school.

“That’s money we don’t have,” said Shores. “We’re getting cut because our enrollment has declined… I hate to be the bearer of bad news but somebody is going to lose their job…” he said somberly, while also noted since 2005 student enrollment has dropped from 17,000+ students to under 14,000.

“…Where are we going to get the money? Where? We don’t have it,” But Shores added, “I hope Cleveland County grows, I really hope it grows…”

Shores further explained that it doesn’t make sense to him because the population in Cleveland County actually is growing but student enrollment is steadily going down.

He also noted that thousands of dollars of tax dollars are “being thrown down the drain” keeping the Marion building. Shores also mentioned how it’s still cheaper renting trailers for a class than to open a new school to be staffed with a whole set of employees.

“Something is wrong…” Shores said bluntly, speaking on the population growth but how the school enrollment has reduced. “Some reason – we’re declining.”

"I'm just looking after the taxpayer, and with that being said, let's take a vote," added Shores.

The resolution to put Marion up for open bids passed 5-4, as expected. Spurling, Humphries, Shores, Bridges and Sherman voted to approve; Blanton, D. Fisher, Grigg and Ledford voted against.

In the closing comments, some board members spoke of their own free will, thanking and honoring Severne Budd for her bravery as being one of the original ‘Shelby Four’ students during integration at Shelby High School in 1963. (see previous news story from the same meeting where the board voted on a historic resolution to have a plaque installed at Shelby High School honoring the first four black students).

Several board members thanked Dr. Stephen Fisher for his time while serving as superintendent and congratulated him on his retirement announcement, which goes into effect July 1, 2026.

Ledford and Board Member David Fisher commented on school lunches (see previous school board news story) mentioning it’s unacceptable to run out of full lunches for students.

But Vice-Chair Aaron Bridges took home the metaphorical award for longest, most stern and inspirational lecture Monday night, where he spoke for what seemed as long as 'four score and seven years,' Bridges called out and challenged every board member to move forward by focusing on education and working as a united front.

In a slightly condensed version of his statement, Bridges said, “Over the last four years, I have sat on this stage and listened as members of this board have argued, fussed, and debated many things that have little to do with education and the reason we are here.

Serving on the board of education has never been about politics for me. It has always been about serving this county and ensuring that all children and I mean all children —receive a sound education…”

Bridges also mentioned how difficult the primaries were and claimed that possibly some members on the board of education might have worked against him for reelection. He added that he wasn’t pointing fingers because now they need to all put their differences aside and work as one board.

“Now it is time for us to move forward. Let’s refocus on what truly matters—education. Let’s focus on the students. I am willing to put last week behind us and continue working with every member of this board. It is time for us to focus on our school district.

My challenge to this entire board is simple: go back and watch one of our meetings sometime. Watch how each of us acts and ask yourself, ‘Is this how we want to represent Cleveland County Schools?’ Because I can tell you, it is not how I want this board to be represented.

Tonight, I am calling on this board to come together so we can discuss the important decisions ahead with professionalism and civility in the coming months and year.

When we work together, we can do great things for this district. When we work together, we can show the entire county that this board is functional, committed, and serious about improving Cleveland County Schools.”

Bridges continued by thanking everyone who participated in the primary, by voting, and stated he will continue to work for the district in a positive direction, also taking time to thank staff, teachers, basically everyone employed by the district.

“It is important to me that we make the best possible decisions for this district… I will stay focused on the reason we are all here. And that reason is Education.”

The meeting then transitioned to closed session to discuss personnel matters.

Only time will tell what this board of education can - or cannot do - as one entity, or two or more factions.

The next public CCS Board of Education meeting will be held in the auditorium, April 13, 2026 at 6 p.m.

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Chuck Thompson is a reporter and columnist for The Shelby Independent.

2026, copyright The Shelby Independent.