Thursday, October 1, 2026
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Cherryville, NC (WNN) - On Thursday, June 11, 2026, the Gaston County School Board held a public hearing for the potential consolidation and closure of W.B. Beam Intermediate. After an introduction from the board’s chairman, Josh Crisp, Superintendent Morgen Houchard spoke on the most likely option.
As a refresher, option C is to have all students from W.B. Beam return to Cherryville Elementary. This will result in the school being slightly overpopulated, with an estimated 501 students. This transition will include moving the pre-k students to Tryon Elementary. The school will retain a full-time music, art, and PE teacher. It will also gain a full-time assistant principal and title 1 funds. A few spaces will be shuffled around, with speech therapy, the computer lab, the counselor, and the teacher meeting room all being moved to make classroom space.
Houchard also listed some of the pros and cons of the transition. They believe not changing schools for 4th and 5th grade will help them maintain academic momentum. They also believe this will enable greater collaboration among teachers to enhance student learning. It is perceived as a more stable social-emotional development structure for students, as well as providing parents with greater engagement.
The cons dealt heavily with logistics. The schedules would need to be reviewed, as would potential design changes to the schools. They will need strong student support structures for each grade level, with more grades being present. The bus routes would become longer, and meal services would need to start sooner and end later. This is all under consideration by the board and Gaston County Schools.
After hearing what Houchard had to say about the positive aspects of the change and the public response, it is clear there are significant disagreements. One of the recurring complaints was that Gaston County Schools' feasibility study may be inaccurate. Not a single person spoke in support of closing the school.
The first speaker noted that while the board estimates a fairly flat enrollment rate, Cherryville is expected to grow by 1,184 dwellings over the next few years. With this, it raises the question of whether the flat rate predicted by Cropper GIS accounted for this change. The second speaker raised concerns about what the GCS study does not include: adverse effects on minority students. Those with special needs, or who rely heavily on student support services, have not been mentioned. “The study states that decisions must not disproportionately impact any student group, yet it provides no clear demographic analysis.” However, this citizen believes these groups have not been represented in the study.
Interesting angles on this came from teachers who have been in Cherryville schools for multiple decades. Some of them spoke about how Cherryville Elementary was when it hosted K-5. They recalled that before W.B. Beam Intermediate was opened, the school felt completely overcrowded. That dismissals were slow, and the lunch period lasted from 10 AM - 1 PM. The school was at a similar capacity then and used exterior trailers as classrooms, which it no longer has. Some of the teachers who spoke are currently at W.B. Beam. Conceringly, they brought up that the school had not been visited once and teachers had not been spoken with while the study was being conducted. They disagreed heavily that the lack of a transition would create an easier-to-adjust environment for the students. Beam’s grade levels create a safe space for the transitional period that 4th and 5th graders are going through. They also feel the small size of Beam allows every teacher and staff member to know every student, which also helps minimize bullying.
Cherryville Mayor Wade Stroupe echoed the teachers' sentiment: a lack of communication. There were several meetings, orientations, and other events that were originally planned along the way in this process. Most of these things did not happen. He also brought up that his communications have gone unanswered by the school system, which is especially frustrating given that mayors are the city's chosen representatives. Stroupe brought up that he didn’t understand why Beam is the only school being looked at for closure. In 2014, a study identified three schools in Gaston County that could be closed. One was, however, the other two remain open and have not been reviewed for this process.
There were also several concerned parents and community members who did not feel that this was advisable. They spoke about concerns about the size of the elementary school, claiming the small lunchroom and gym make this less feasible. The last speaker, despite not being a Cherryville citizen, spoke on how they felt the heritage of the school was very important and should be considered before closing the school.
After the public hearing, WNN spoke to several individuals. David Chee spoke about the problem based on his previous experience as a school board member and mayor. As a strong proponent of education, he feels that Beam offers a unique experience for students. He hopes the county as a whole can offset the perceived savings by closing Beam.
Stroupe also spoke again after the meeting. He was disappointed that not all of the school board members attended the meeting, and is hopeful the comments did not fall on deaf ears. He feels that the numbers reported in the GCS study are inaccurate compared to those of the Cherryville Education Alliance and that it is crazy to close a school over less than $100,000. He again brought up the PowerPoint he had seen with the week-by-week objectives of this process from GCS, and is displeased that, despite community forums being on that list, the first and last ones were the public hearing. He was further disappointed by the lack of engagement with the questions being asked at the school board meetings and the public hearing. He also feels that, with the board stating they would maintain the school, they will not cut off power or water, meaning the potential savings there are not being accurately represented in the school's study.
We then spoke with Mark Reep, Beam Intermediate’s counselor and teacher for the radio club. Beam hosts one of the only amateur radio clubs in NC, which has placed first in the country two years in a row. People from across the planet have contacted Reep, saddened by how these students will no longer be involved in radio. The school had been instrumental in getting radio clubs started across the United States. If the school is closed, the radio club’s license will end, and this unique opportunity will be removed.
The last person we spoke with was Cherryville’s school board representative, Robbie Lovelace. She was very grateful for the citizens who spoke and hopes the other board members truly consider what was said at the public hearing. She feels that the board members will vote to keep the school open. She thinks the school serves its purpose, despite its small size. When asked about option D, or the option to leave W.B. Beam Intermediate as is, Lovelace said: “Yes, there's going to be an option D because I'm going to make the motion.”
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