County Joins New School Plan

Transylvania County is joining with other area school systems to try and start a regional agriscience and biotechnology school.

Transylvania County Schools, partnering with Asheville City Schools and the Buncombe and Madison school systems, are pursing a grant that would help them establish the school in western North Carolina.

It would be the first regional school in the state, said Superintendent Jeff McDaris. “This would be a great opportunity,” McDaris said.
While it could decrease enrollment slightly in both Transylvania high schools, he said the academic opportunities that could be provided to students interested in bioscience and agriscience outweighed the loss of enrollment.

The regional school would allow students, as in college, to focus more intensely on math and science-related subjects. If approved, the new school would be housed in the Valley Springs Middle School building in Buncombe County. “Students would go to this school full time,” said McDaris. “(But) theoretically there may be an opportunity for a student to also take a fourth-period class here.” McDaris cautioned the likelihood of their plan being approved was a “long-shot.”

There are only one or two regional schools planned for the state, said McDaris. All North Carolina school systems had the opportunity to apply for the grant, which was established in 2009. The goal is to find a regional school location for the 2011-12 school year. A specially-created commission will review the submissions and make its recommendations to the General Assembly.

While McDaris believes it will be hard to compete with the influx of biotechnology and agriscience industry occurring in other parts of the state, the mountains could still be a viable selection for the commission. “The biotechnology we have here in the mountains is picking up research,” said McDaris, who listed local businesses such as Gaia Herbs and Blue Ridge Biofuels.

McDaris said the area’s rich history, culture and natural surroundings have attracted these businesses and hopefully it will provide the same attraction to this regional school.


County Joins New School Plan

TO SEARCH HOMES GO TO WWW.TEAMCROWDERONLINE.COM