Three Goldsboro High School students came to the Goldsboro City Council Monday to ask for help fixing up a school they say once was a source of pride in the city but is now ignored, neglected and unsafe.
Christopher Smith, Desiree Thomas and Maria Newsome, each of whom spoke for three minutes during the council’s public comment period, said they came to the City Council on behalf of their classmates for help getting the attention their school needs — and to share photos and personal accounts of the conditions they see every day.
Mice, mold, wasps, rotting ceilings and floors, roaches, leaks.
Tiles pulling up from the floor and plumbing issues.
Heat that doesn’t function in the winter. Air conditioning that doesn’t cool in the warmer months.
They showed pictures of exposed wood floors with original tile that is falling apart and stained walls, and told stories about cleanliness issues that are so severe that the maintenance staff cannot keep up with them, including a bathroom toilet that has been stopped up for four months.
The conditions are not just an embarrassment, the students said. They are an impediment to learning. And they reflect poorly on the city of Goldsboro.
Smith, Thomas and Newsome, all members of the school’s show choir, which performed at the council meeting, said they were asked by their fellow students to bring the concerns to the council in hopes that council members and the mayor would come tour the school and fight on their behalf with county officials.
“We have problems that people look over because they see Goldsboro High School and they think, ‘Oh, that’s just Goldsboro High’ or “It is so ghetto over there,’” Smith said. “This school is a historic building with some potential safety hazards.”
Thomas said the school used to be well-cared-for and a showpiece in the city.
“But now it is mocked and looked down upon,” she said, adding that the conditions have led to a staffing shortage, too.
“It seems like there are less and less teachers,” Thomas said. “And you may be saying that the reason for that is because the students have no regard for authority, and I completely agree. Some students at my school hold no true accountability for their actions. But part of the problem is that teachers don’t like working in filth.”
The neglect and inattention to the conditions at Goldsboro also raise another concern, Thomas added.
“And I cannot help but to ask myself a question that you should be asking yourselves. Would this be the case if this school was full of kids of a different color?” she said.
In addition to the students’ statements, photos were shown of conditions in the school, including a bucket catching rainwater (for a month, the students said) and a dead bird in a room, as well as the stained/peeling walls and missing or damaged ceiling tiles.
During Smith’s speech to the council members, Councilman Charles Gaylor addressed the students, expressing outrage about the conditions and the state of the high school.
Gaylor said that while he and others would be willing to tour the school to see the conditions firsthand, the city has no authority over the schools or their upkeep.
“But let me know when you take that same speech to the county school board, young man,” Gaylor said. “I will be standing right beside you.”
Mayor Pro Tem Taj Polack thanked the students for their presentation and commended them for coming forward.
The following photos were among those presented to the council. The entire slideshow can be viewed on the “City Government of Goldsboro, NC” Facebook page.
Enough is enough. Disgraceful!
This a disgrace as a fellow student when i see things like this…please look at the pictures and fix what needs to be fix. It could possibly be absentos due to the water damage I see inthe pictures
“absentos” = asbestos. About asbestos, good news is asbestos in completely safe as long as it’s sealed up in some form (paint, floor wax, covered in some manner). Bad news is judging by these photos, there’s a good likelihood that asbestos at GHS might (emphasized MIGHT) be loosened and able to be breathed in by staff and students. That MIGHT be a health hazard and open the Board of Ed to big time future lawsuits.
That’s literally my seat yes the floor is coming up in most of the classes and the roofs fall apart … UNSAFE almost tripped on water that comes from the ceiling in the hallways plenty of times this school is dirty and old and needs to be renewed. Period
As a proud alumna of Goldsboro High School, Class of 1982, I am appalled at what I am seeing in these photos. We all should be! Nothing about this is OK.
This saddens me being a 1975 GHS graduate. How could the “city leaders” and “Wayne County School Board” allow the school to deteriorate to this level? I wonder what condition the County Schools look like inside…..
Why is the school board allowing the school to go down like this????
I do not understand.
Please fix up Goldsboro High School.
This is absolutely ridiculous! How can students learn in this environment? It looks like a place that needs to be condemned! Please don’t play the blame game. Come on people, board of education or whoever need to do something and do it now! You should be ashamed of yourselves! This is America, not a third world country!
Why isn’t the outrage enough to “Fire” the people who fail to carry out the responsibilities we entrust them with. We hire officials to do a job and this is a fine case where our investment is squandered and Students health is put at risk.
There exist no logical reason not to maintain these buildings. The evidence is present in the pictures that everyone in the chain of command should be replaced from the top down. Oh, I forgot politics…fire them anyway. How much time does it take to annually inspect a building and do routine maintenance? Don’t ask me to vote for another City/County Tax hike when you are not effectively using the funds you already have.
Does the Fire Department, Health Department etc. Inspect these building and submit findings to various County, City, and School Administrations? If so, are they being trashed? Maybe that is where the firing should begin.
Everyone who reads this article please take the time to express your outrage. The students deserve safe class rooms and voters and tax payers deserve better accountability from their elected officials
Curious…are these terrible conditions also present in the Wayne School of Engineering which is located on the GHS campus?
Sickening!! Disgusting! I am a retired teacher of the Wayne County Schools and can’t imagine an administration allowing this to happen! Is the School of Engineering lacking anything? Honestly!!! Administrators, did you not know this was happening? Goldsboro High School Faculty, did you not see this? Students should not have been the VOICE, but YOU!! I am absolutely appalled by this county….my county, allowing these disgraceful conditions to continue for our children. I am truly thinking that some how this is a mistake…a joke…not true. UNBELIEVABLE!!
This breaks my heart! I graduated from Goldsboro High School in 1965 and was very proud of my school! The pictures I have seen are disgusting and makes me feel so sorry for the students who are being exposed to such filth! This should be taken care of immediately beginning with management!
This revelation and exposure is totally unacceptable and disgusting. I serviced and dedicated my entire professional life to this school system. I taught and nurtured for 37 and a half years to the Central Attendance area and loved every second of it. After being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007, I taught at GHS for 3 years, Freshman Academy, for 3 years, and this school was not of the caliber that I see here. Question: what happened??? I applaud the courage and tenacity of these young individuals for the conditions of their instruction of learning. RETIRED Educator, Rosemary Singleton, WCPS, for 37 and a half years, prior to official retirement in2005.
I certainly hope that all of the appalled commenters here voted in favor of the proposed sales tax increase that failed TWICE because Wayne County voters don’t care enough about schools to actually fund them. There are needs across this county on every school campus, but the old adage is true: you get what you pay for. If you’re angered by these conditions contact your county commissioners and demand that they adequately fund the schools in this county.
This is a disgrace. How can the Board if Education and Administration allow this and how can students and teachers supposed to function in these conditions. I was in the Class of 1971 and proud of it.