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'A lot of schools will have to go without' | ABSS halts hiring amid budget crisis

After years of financial strain, ABSS now confronts a critical budget crisis that threatens the education and opportunities of over 22,000 ABSS students.

ALAMANCE COUNTY, N.C. — ABSS leaders will speak on the budget crisis Thursday at 1 p.m. We will stream the press conference on WFMY+ - download it for free on your Roku or Fire TV.

The Alamance-Burlington School System says it is reaching a tipping point in its budget crisis.

This budget crisis has caused ABSS  to enter a hiring freeze for all non-teaching positions such as nurses, counselors and coaches. 

This has parents concerned, like Tameka Harvey, she said her student is already seeing the effects of this freeze, "a lot of schools right now are going to have to go without, as of right now, at our Cummings High School, we don't have a wrestling coach and wrestling season is in full effect."

The school system's Public Information Officer, Les Atkins said the over 40 million dollars spent on mold remediation really put a dent in the district's budget. 

He said there are currently three ABSS schools working through heating issues, "we are working with one boiler at Southern High School right now, one of our boilers is down. We had the heat go down at Cummings High School in the gym, so they are working over there. So, all of these unexpected things have come up in addition to the projects that we already had planned and we are down to $100,000 in our fund balance or what we call our savings account." 

Atkins said the school system plans on asking Alamance County Commissioners to help fund projects they've had to put on hold such as window replacements, HVAC repairs, paving, and playground replacement.

RELATED: ABSS issues hiring freeze due to district-wide mold repairs at schools

Alamance County Commissioner Pamela Thompson said in a statement, "as a former board of education member for eight years, even once a chairman, I have always been on the side of the child. As a commissioner, I am honored to advocate for all citizens of my county. For someone who has worked with domestic violence and sexual assault victims for many years and now drug addiction, I know the dangers kids face and our schools are many times their safe haven. It burdens me to watch the power struggles between boards of education and county commissioners. We are not the only county that experiences this; same with state and federal government tug of wars. However, Alamance MUST be the county that is the example for others to work together to find a solution. The future lies within our young people and I want that future to have a safe, DRY, MOLDLESS school with a roof that does not leak. Why would anyone who has been elected and entrusted to be a leader spend millions of tax dollars to rid a building of toxic mold and not fix the very thing that can prevent it from happening again? This should never be about politics, it should be about people, especially the young ones and ones who teach them."  

Alamance-Burlington School System will meet Thursday, November 30, as a board. Then, ABSS is set to speak with county commissioners come Monday, December 4.

RELATED: 'The big shuffle' | ABSS find mold in parts of central services building

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