Will Fort Liberty get a new high school on post?
FORT LIBERTY — In addition to Harnett County and Cumberland County schools serving as "host high schools" for the children of Fort Liberty soldiers, parents could see a new high school on post, an official said during a Nov. 15 Fort Lberty town hall meeting.
Currently on post, there are nine schools for pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, serving 3,500 to 4,000 children of active-duty military parents who live on post. The schools are overseen by the Department of Defense Education Activity.
All high school students on post attend public schools off post.
The high school for students living on Fort Liberty’s main post is Cumberland County's E.E. Smith High School in Fayetteville. The school for military families living in Linden Oaks, a military housing community about 9 miles north of Fort Liberty, is Harnett County's Overhills High School in Anderson Creek.
New high school for Fort Liberty?
During Fort Liberty’s monthly Community Action Council meeting, garrison commander Col. John Wilcox acknowledged that there will be a high school on post in the future.
“There’ve been some rumors about a high school,” Wilcox said. “The bottom line is we are 100% committed to creating a high school on Fort Liberty. We got the right command in place right now. We think we’ve got the right community in place.”
During a meeting in February, Wilcox and Fort Liberty Superintendent Kathryn Downs said that despite parents frequently asking about the installation not having a high school, there currently are no military construction funds for a high school.
This month, Wilcox said leaders want to do something “in conjunction with partners off post.”
“I won’t get too deep into the details right now, but it’s certainly something that we’re trying to pursue, and I think we’ve got some good opportunity to either build something akin to a hybrid school if we can get there,” Wilcox said.
Parents: Why doesn't Fort Liberty have a high school on post?
E.E. Smith High School
Fort Liberty leaders have also provided input, while the Cumberland County Board of Education works to identify a site for building a new E.E. Smith High School.
In August, Kevin Coleman, associate superintendent for the district's auxiliary services, told board members that a potential site for the new E.E. Smith High School was on Bragg Boulevard near Stryker Golf Course, Coleman said.
During the August meeting, school board members Judy Musgrave and Carrie Sutton voted against evaluating the site near Fort Liberty, while members Donna Vann, Jacquelyn Brown, Alicia Chisolm, Deanna Jones, Nathan Warfel, Greg West and Susan Williams approved evaluating the site near Fort Liberty to determine if it is feasible for future consideration.
Musgrave and Sutton said they don’t think moving E.E. Smith away from the Murchison Road area, where it’s currently located, is appropriate and would prefer community input before making a decision.
Where should a new E.E. Smith High School be located?
The current building, which houses the historically Black school, was built in 1953.
The school, originally founded in 1927, is named after Ezekiel Ezra Smith, a Fayetteville educator and statesman from the late 1800s.
Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fort Liberty officials consider having an on-post high school
