WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Tuesday Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools gave the green light for construction bids at Brunson Elementary School’s new site.
This decision is historic, making Brunson the first elementary school in the state to be built on what's called a Brownsfield site, which means the site has environmental contamination.
North Patterson Avenue is where Brunson Elementary School will stand come 2026 if all goes as planned.
In the early 1900s, the site was once a dry cleaner and a wood-burning furniture plant.
An environmental site assessment showed compounds in the soil and groundwater that exceeded the stated Department of Environmental Quality screening levels.
Former principal Ron Caviness shared his concerns.
"You are talking about young people whose immune systems are not at an adult stage. Students have medical conditions," Caviness said. "It greatly concerned me because there are still a lot of questions."
Winston Salem Forsyth County School’s chief construction officer Darrell Walker said the screening exceeded residential levels not commercial levels.
So he said the findings are not alarmingly for its use and that the district has entered DEQ’s Brownfield program with a mitigation system.
"It's not environmentally dangerous it’s a program you follow when you have some potential opportunities on your site," Walker said. "Along with that comes an environmental management plan with how you manage conditions of the soil when you build on this site. We have a vapor intrusion system with some monitoring system that’s underground under the building that will provide data and will require us to do reporting back to the state."
Caviness was a principal at Hanes Lowrance years ago where they had to move schools because of contamination.
He said he was disappointed in the school board's decision.
"Children and people and staff in your building is your number one priority and when you have toxicity and you can't be 100 percent," Caviness said. "My feeling is choose another site."
"It's difficult in this attendance zone to find a parcel of land big enough to build a school. We went through 25 different locations we analyzed and narrowed it down," Walker said. "It's not over any major markings that created any type of concerns."
Walker said the Brownfield agreement is being finalized. Once complete the public can view it at the new and former Brunson sites.
Walker said hey do plan to have some kick-off meetings for the public.
Site work is expected to begin in the next two weeks.