Thursday, October 1, 2026
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Gaston County, NC (WNN) - The Gaston County Schools Board of Education held its Operations Committee Meeting on June 1, 2026. While several topics were discussed, the meeting began with new information regarding the potential closure of W.B. Beam Intermediate. This included the date of the public hearing for the closure. At 6 PM on June 11, 2026, the public hearing will be held at the Myers Center on the Dallas Campus of Gaston College.
While W.B. Beam may be the school poised to close, it is not the building being affected by these changes. As discussed at the May regular school board meeting, option C is being pursued. This option would see W.B. Beams' student population transferred to Cherryville Elementary, bringing the school to its maximum capacity of 500 students. As part of this move, one pre-k class will also be transferred to Tryon Elementary to keep the student population close to the 500-person cap. Should the closure proceed, this is the most likely student placement, instead of sending the 5th grade to John Chavis.
Superintendent Morgen Houchard explained that sitting at maximum capacity is also a temporary condition. This year’s 4th and 5th-grade classes have a “population bubble,” according to Houchard. This means that the numbers here are slightly higher than the expected average. Once this round of students has passed through the school, the student population should decline to about 90% of capacity, according to projections from the feasibility study.
After this, Tyler West, the Executive Director for Elementary Instruction for Gaston County Schools, took over the presentation to explain some of the changes to the school. Outside of the obvious size increase, these enrollment numbers would cause the school to gain funds in several ways. The first is that it would now qualify for a full-time assistant principal position, which addresses one of Robbie Lovelace's previous concerns as Cherryville’s school board representative. This change will allow art, music, and PE programs to keep their full-time teachers. If Beam’s closure does not occur, these positions will be shared across the two schools. It will also see an increase in Title 1 funds, but the exact amount is not specified.
They also attempted to answer questions regarding teacher allotments. The change will see the intermediate schools' teachers transferred, totaling 26 teachers at Cherryville Elementary. This will add four 4th-grade teachers and three 5th-grade teachers to the school's staff.
The discussion then moved to the floor plan changes. The 4th- and 5th-grade classes will occupy a single hallway and hall bathroom to keep similar-age groups together. K-2 classrooms will have bathrooms, and 3rd grade will occupy its own hallway and hall bathroom. The art and music classes will each have a dedicated classroom, and PE will continue to take place in the school's gym. The areas that will lose space through movement to smaller offices are speech therapy, the computer lab, the counselor’s space, and the teacher meeting space.
Dot Cherry began the discussion segment of this presentation by asking whether there was any major upfitting of the school. Several of the planned improvements to the school were mentioned. This includes:
John Crisp then asked for clarification on whether the rooms planned to be used as classrooms under the new population were classrooms to begin with. The answer to this was yes, these spaces were designed as classrooms before their current usage. Cherry then asked about the community-use spaces, such as the walking track, but there was no conclusive discussion following it. Cherry and Crisp also asked about the pond in the school's courtyard, which was said not to have any plans to change.
Keep in mind that the public hearing for the closure of W.B. Beam Intermediate will be held at 6 PM on June 11, 2026, at the Myers Center on the Dallas Campus of Gaston College. This is at 201 Highway 321 South, Dallas, North Carolina. If you’d like to see this part of the meeting for yourself, watch the video below.
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