By Karl Cameron
An Analysis
The long and winding road to the decision on the renovation of Ligon Magnet Middle School Building came to a bitter end for many Ligon alumni and community leaders on Tuesday, March 3rd, as the Wake County School Board voted to rebuild the school on the athletic field of the property. The decision came after a Tuesday afternoon work session, where board members heavily debated what to do to improve the school for the long-term and did not agree yet on a solution before the board’s regular meeting and vote later that night.
Board Member Lynn Edmonds said she was still full of new questions and concerns, and suggested a special meeting for board members to think about what they had heard. Edmonds said, “I felt like we didn’t have this discussion until today. Board chairman, Tyler Swanson, said he had already looked at the calendar and didn’t think there was any available room for any further discussion, and he urged a vote for Tuesday night.
The board voted that Tuesday night after an hour and a half discussion. Board member Toshiba Rice commented, “When I constantly hear about the options, when we talk, it basically is set in stone”, which obviously was the case as Wake County Public School Superintendent, Robert Taylor, has all along supported Option 3, which was to rebuild the school on the ballfield.
The entire decision making process was flawed by a lack of openness to Raleigh’s African-American community, as the first meeting Ligon alums became aware of in May 2025, they were not invited to. However, alums and community leaders found out, showed up, and expressed their concerns about the renovation/rebuilding of the Middle School. Three listening sessions followed with one being conducted by Board Member, Toshiba Rice in order to gain clarity by listening to what the community had to say regarding the issue.
Two more Listening Sessions followed, hosted by Superintendent Robert Taylor at the Middle School Auditorium. Those sessions produced two clear camps on the issue, the parents of current middle school students, and Ligon alumni and community leaders, with the second listening session having presenters that asked for an option that would not require students to be housed on site during the construction as all of the current options require.
Now there is no option! Option three will be executed keeping students in the current building while the school system builds a new school on the site of the ballfields. The cost of the project would be $121.8 million, and the project would take 45months. It would move the campus from the top of the hill to the lower back of the property. This site will require raising the terrain a minimum of 10feet by infilling with materials suitable to comply with existing building codes. School officials reportedly say they also could preserve the history and legacy of the original school through design elements on the new building.
So, is this the fate of the Raleigh school system’s only Black high school building? This in addition to the lamentable occurrence in 1971 when then Ligon Senior High School students were removed from their high school in the name of desegregation.
Everyone in this discussion concedes that the existing Ligon Magnet Middle School building has a laundry list of “poor” or “failing” conditions. However, as Board Member, Chris Heagarty, pointed out that with Option three, “The Ligon Project is going to be a lot more challenging than we’re being presented with here.” He noted the hill at Ligon will have to be graded to house sports facilities.
Heagarty further stated that he was disappointed the district and project developer didn’t do more to focus on historical preservation from the start of the Ligon Project, the way the developer had done with a historic high school in Charlotte. The Developers Tuesday night meeting response was that it would be done in the design phase of the project, which they said hasn’t begun yet.
Additionally, what is the effectiveness of the school system’s tool called “ThoughtExchange”? In the Ligon Magnet Middle School Building case, it did not result in any modifications of the original options. To discount the community turnout, and observations presented over four “Listening Sessions" is proof that the community was only invited to “Listen” and not to participate.
It’s a sad commentary for Wake County Public Schools how this all played out. That this happens after having staffed the former J.W. Ligon Senior High School with some of the most outstanding teachers in the district. This after producing some of the most outstanding students, and contributors to our current way of life.
All of this doesn’t say much for any considerations for the future. Yes, Mr. Wake County school board chairman, Tyler Swanson, you may come out of this with a new building that may last another 70 years, but at a price you can’t measure in dollars that make sense.
