At their regular meeting Monday (April 20) in Newton, the Catawba County Board of Commissioners approved the merger plan that was proposed earlier this year. The approval merges the county’s three school systems, Catawba County, Hickory City, and Newton-Conover. The vote was 3-2, with Austin Allran and Barbara Beatty dissenting.
Prior to the final vote, Commissioner Allran made motion to pause and have an official independent study done before taking action. The motion failed. Allran voted against the motion to merge the systems, and explained prior to the vote why he was against the merger.
The decision followed a public hearing that ran for approximately four hours, ending at 11:12 p.m. Most of the speakers were opposed to the merger or wanted commissioners to pause and conduct further studies before voting.
Story: Rob Eastwood-WHKY