School Board To Move Hanes/Lowrance Students

The Winston­-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education on Tuesday decided to move the students at Hanes and Lowrance middle schools by March 2. The Winston­-Salem Journal reports the vote was 7-­2, and came on the heels of revelations about toxic waste, poor oversight and what many view as a dearth of
information concerning the contaminants under the campus.

All of Lowrance's 150 special needs students will move to a vacant wing at Atkins High School. Hanes sixth­graders will move to Smith Farm Elementary, a new school that is not yet fully occupied.

Hanes seventh­ and eighth­ graders will move to the former Hill Middle School, which is currently vacant but not large enough to hold Hanes' 1,000 students. School officials will continue with plans to conduct a battery of environmental tests at the Hanes and Lowrance campus over the weekend. Preliminary results from indoor air, outdoor air and soil vapor tests are expected to be back to the school board by the end of the month.