Hallyburton moving to Draughn next school year after split vote

• Hallyburton Academy will relocate to Draughn High School beginning in 2026-27 school year.
• Burke school board approved the move Monday night after weeks of public debate.
• Supporters cited expanded CTE access, while opponents warned of stigma and student regression.

Hallyburton Academy students will be moving to Draughn High School at the start of the 2026-27 academic year.

The Board of Education, on a 4-3 vote, approved the decision to relocate the alternative school to an independent wing of Draughn at its Monday evening meeting.

Board members Leslie Taylor, Reid Beck, and Sonya Rockett voted against the move, while Board Chair Tiana Beachler, Vice Chair Jamie Wycoff, and board members Aaron Johnson and Brad Camp voted in support.

The controversial topic has drawn public comments from staff and parents for weeks, with a wide range of support and opposition from the public, but Monday, it caused tempers to flare among board members.

“Hallyburton is already missing a lot,” Beachler said. “These kids, under North Carolina law, and based on the oaths that we took, have a right to a sound, basic education. What they’re receiving right now is not a sound, basic education.”

Beck snapped back, “If we are not providing those kids an education that they deserve, that is on this board, that is on our superintendents, but (the Hallyburton principal) is doing everything she can do with what we have given her.”

He continued, “I think that it is a smack in the face to sit here tonight and say that that woman does not do everything that she —” Beachler briefly interrupted, then stopped and allowed Beck to finish. “I think that is absolutely ridiculous. She got an award tonight. We should have been standing up and clapping for her. That’s all I can say without cussing.”

Part of the proposal from the superintendent rested on the available capacity for Hallyburton students to attend career and technical education (CTE) classes at Draughn, which are not currently available at Hallyburton due to budgetary constraints.

Taylor argued that she’d rather see a CTE teacher added at Hallyburton than televisions installed at the new central office.

“Isn’t that coming out of two different budgets?” Beachler asked.

“Taxpayer money is taxpayer money,” Beck retorted.

“Taxpayer money is taxpayer money,” Beachler said, “but you making the insinuation that we can just use different pots of money, when we can’t — now we’re gonna have people on Facebook sitting here saying ‘Move the money from the central office to keep Hallyburton.’ We can’t do that.”

DEBATE LEADING TO THE VOTE

The tensions rose following a debate about the realities of relocating the school.

Taylor led the board into the decision, listing her concerns and the items that would result in her “No” vote 32 minutes later.

“When we go to changing this set up, we’re risking the possibility of regression, with how far that Hallyburton Academy has come,” Taylor said.

“I want Hallyburton students to be able to privately correct their actions,” she continued, “(To) have a chance to make plans for their future, free of stigma, free of judgments. I don’t feel like this will happen with putting them back on a larger campus.”

Another of Taylor’s concerns traced back to the Hallyburton middle school student moving to Draughn as well, clarifying that, as a mother of a middle schooler, she wouldn’t be comfortable with her daughter being on the campus of a high school.

She said she didn’t expect an actual financial impact until the third or fourth year, due to the approximate $250,000 of expenses associated with preparing the wing of Draughn for the alternative school.

According to Taylor, the five teaching positions Superintendent Dr. Mike Swan claimed the district could save with the move were positions that were already absorbed through retirements and attrition.

Since the custodial services are already pulled from another school, the relocation of students only impacts how employees are “shuffled around,” she explained.

“Regardless of the numbers,” Taylor said, “I would rather know that we saved the futures of 100 kids a year, in this program that has been successful, than to save $350,000.”

Rockett, who stated she still wasn’t certain how she’d vote because both sides had such strong arguments, said she felt the decision would be better if the board could reset at square one and approach it with a fresh slate publicly.

“Our job is to make sure that every student is safe and has a good basis, and a good place to learn and get a good, basic education,” Rockett said. “That’s what we need to be focused on.”

Johnson echoed her desire to provide a viable education, and Beck agreed that it may be the wrong time.

Camp weighed in, “This whole thing started with the projection from the state that we were gonna be $4.5 million short. It wasn’t something that we intended, in the beginning, but that is what we got from the state.”

“If we had the time, if the state would just give us another year to soak up that $4.5 million shortfall, that would be great. The state’s not doing that. They’re not giving us another year. It’s coming to us no matter what we do about it.”