Despite months of community pushback and a last ditch legal effort, the vote to close the current Durham School of the Arts landed via the swift and unceremonious cudgel of the school board’s consent agenda.
“Thank you all,” said board chair Millicent Rogers, before moving on to a staff update on Title IX.
In unanimously voting to close the school, the board affirmed its commitment to building a new campus on Duke Homestead Road several miles north of the current downtown site.
But since 2022, the price tag for a new school has doubled from $120 million to at least $241 million.
The 9th Street Journal compared DSA’s price tag with other North Carolina school construction projects and found that the school “will be the most expensive public middle or high school built in the Triangle area and likely in the state.”
On Thursday, residents also argued that the board was not in compliance with the state laws on school closures.
“A letter was sent to you today by an attorney,” said Julia Borbely-Brown. “And I hope that you will take to heart what was pointed out in that letter and not expend any additional funds on the new DSA project until you are in compliance with state law.”
(Before the vote, DPS staff quickly noted that while they have received a letter from a lawyer, the closure process has been fully in compliance with N.C. law)
As at many meetings this year, residents raised objections to the ballooning cost, bemoaned a botched community engagement process, and argued that the arts school is better off in the heart of downtown.
“Being downtown is what makes DSA, DSA,” said Lucia Harrington, the sole current student to speak at the meeting. “Please listen to us. It is not too late to be fiscally responsible, to be equitable and to be engaged with the community.”
DPS staffers and board members have maintained that renovation is more expensive, and that new construction will allow for an additional capacity of 150 students at Durham’s best public high school.
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