School system closes pre-K at Brevard Elementary
Nick Haseloff | The Transylvania Times
The Brevard Elementary School pre-K classroom will be closed for the 2025-26 school year according to Superintendent Lisa Fletcher.
Transylvania County Schools will close the only Brevard Elementary pre-K classroom for the 2025-26 school year because a suitable teacher to lead the program could not be hired, according to a short statement by Superintendent Lisa Fletcher at the end of the board of education’s meeting Monday.
Fletcher said the school system did originally have a teacher lined up for the coming school year, but after accepting the position the applicant later declined the role to take a different position at another school district which offered higher pay.
According to Fletcher, the closure of the classroom is only expected to last through this school year and the two other teaching assistants who are employed with the school system to service the classroom will not lose their jobs as they will be utilized elsewhere.
Tessa Brown, the school system’s spokesperson, said the classroom normally serves 18 students and has been operating since fall of 2018.
Families impacted by the closure were contacted Monday, Fletcher said, and the decision to close the classroom was not due to funding freezes.
None of the board members publicly commented during the meeting about the closure of the Brevard Elementary pre-K classroom.
The classroom is part of the NC Pre-K Program which provides free early childhood education at most elementary schools across the county to eligible families. The program normally leads to a funding deficit for TCS each year as it brings in less funds than it makes.
