By Miles Layton

CHOWAN COUNTY — The Chowan County Board of Commissioners approved a series of change orders for John A. Holmes High School Monday night, including a contentious $59,388 lock replacement that drew sharp criticism from board members who questioned why the school’s architect had not designed classrooms with modern safety standards from the start.

Twas a longish meeting with lots of news, be it from public comment about revaluation or the sheriff’s annual report — those stories are coming. For now, let’s start with the meat of the meeting.

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Locks Draw Sharpest Debate

The change order replaces existing classroom door locks — which automatically unlock when a student leaves the room — with closet-style locks that remain secured regardless of whether anyone exits. Edenton-Chowan Schools Superintendent Tammi Ward explained the practical danger of the current system to commissioners.

“We’re having class and a student needs to leave the classroom,” Ward said. “When they walk out of that door, it unlocks it. And when they come back in, in order for it to be locked from the outside of the classroom, it has to be manually locked. Our teachers don’t have time for that. They don’t need to be spending their time going back and forth to the door. And if we have an emergency, we need to be confident for the safety of our students that those doors are locked.”

Commission Chair Bob Kirby was blunt about where he believed responsibility for the cost should fall.

“In this day and age of mass shootings and things like that at schools, I cannot concede that an architect would not design a lock system for classrooms that would stay locked,” Kirby said. “I look at this, unless someone explains something to me a whole lot better than has been explained thus far, as something that this architect should be recouping — or should be paying for himself, or through his errors and omissions insurance.”

Kirby went further, questioning whether the standard itself was outdated. “That standard, if that is the standard, must have been written before Columbine High School got attacked,” he said.

Ward acknowledged the school system had raised those same concerns internally before bringing the request forward. “We discussed that also. We had concerns. Trust me, you’re not saying anything that we did not cover, go back through, rehash multiple times,” she said. “But what it comes down to right now is that it’s not safe for our students.”

County Manager Kevin Howard acknowledged the design flaw but noted the difficulty of proving fault.

“The building was designed and unfortunately nobody in the school system now was connected with the original design,” Howard said. “We did ask them — so you get your errors and omissions — but is it just a preference issue? Proving that’s kind of hard.”

Ward also addressed a key concern about what happens when a student needs to return to a locked classroom. Under the new lock system, a student would knock and be admitted by the teacher — but crucially, the teacher would not need to re-lock the door manually with a key afterward. “The issue is that the locks that we have right now, they have to physically relock it with a key,” Ward said. “The ones we’re requesting don’t require that.”

Ward confirmed the school system had gone through a thorough vetting process before bringing the request forward. “We asked for the lock that we were requesting to be installed on one door,” she said. “We went through a vetting process with our teachers and with our administration to make sure that what we are getting here is exactly what we were asking for, and that it functions in the way that we felt was best for the safety of our students before we got the price.”

Commissioner Larry McLaughlin, while voting in favor, expressed frustration. “Safety of teachers and students is paramount,” he said. “I will vote for this, but I am frustrated.”

Other Change Orders Approved

The board also approved three additional change orders and a furniture purchase for the high school project. Change Order 17, totaling $7,316.19, connects the armory building’s intercom system to the rest of the campus. Howard described it as a safety necessity. “The intercom system is a safety issue, as far as I’m concerned, as much as anything else — to get the word out when they have to,” he said. Howard also noted the project has been in development for nine or ten years and has gone through three superintendents. “There are some things that were done in the beginning that may not have been what’s actually needed now,” he said, explaining why some changes are only surfacing now.

Change Order 19, the largest at $207,109.92, adds access control and cameras to bring all campus buildings onto a single unified system, bringing the school’s total camera count to approximately 100.

Commissioner McLaughlin raised concerns about long-term technology costs.

“Technology we need keeps going up and then it becomes obsolete,” he said. “You have to buy back in and that price is higher than it was.” Howard countered that the system would meet the school’s needs for roughly 15 years.

The board also approved the purchase of $97,250 in additional furniture, with $50,095 drawn from the existing furniture line and $47,155 from contingency. Ward explained the need arose after the school opened and staff discovered gaps.

“When we got in the building and started utilizing the classrooms, we have some classrooms that we did not know exactly how the structure of the classes were going to work,” she said, noting items such as desks for instructional assistants, conference tables, and whiteboards that had been held back pending confirmation of available funds. “If it was outside of the contingency, I wouldn’t have made a request,” Ward said.

After all approved change orders and furniture, approximately $310,000 remains in the project’s contingency fund.

Jail Agreement Moves Forward

Commissioners also approved an interlocal agreement to join the Albemarle District Jail consortium, a move years in the making. The agreement includes a $4,196,050 buy-in fee covering previous facility costs, and assigns Chowan County 70.3% of operational and capital costs on an appropriated basis.

Commissioner McLaughlin reflected on the long road to the decision. “Finding an alternative for our jail has been in process over the last three or four years,” he said. “The one we wanted to be involved with was Albemarle District Jail, and at that time we couldn’t get involved. And then an invitation was extended to us.” McLaughlin noted that building a county jail had been estimated at $25 million two years ago, plus ongoing staffing increases. “Considering the options that were in front of us, this is the most prudent way to go.”

Kirby added context about the urgency. “This jail needs to be done,” he said. “If we don’t do it— a judge is going to order us to do it, and we’re going to be under duress.”

Commissioner Tony Shaffer, who conducted a law enforcement assessment of the current jail prior to his election at the request of the sheriff’s department, echoed that assessment. “It was clear that the jail could not be sustained in any good manner based on any number of adverse conditions, which were only going to get worse,” Shaffer said. “After a lot of review on both going inside of this and outside of this, I think this is the most economic and secure and most practical” path forward.

In related news, the board unanimously approved an interlocal agreement with Pasquotank County covering shared office space for the District 1 District Attorney and Public Defender offices, at an annual cost of $17,270. Howard explained the county is legally required to provide office space for both offices, but currently has none available.

“Since we are in a district that has ten counties — one of the largest in the state — all their offices are located in Pasquotank because that’s the largest court system for the district,” Howard said.

Howard noted that the price has remained unchanged for roughly a decade, and that the agreement includes not just lease space but also cleaning and building maintenance. The motion was approved contingent on final review by the county attorney.

Optimist Club Eyes Bigger Fourth of July Show

Mike Williams of the Optimist Club presented the board with an update on fundraising for the 2026 Fourth of July fireworks celebration, which marks the nation’s 250th anniversary. Williams noted that the fireworks are community-funded, not government-funded, but acknowledged the county and town’s in-kind contributions. “We couldn’t do it without that,” he said of public safety and permitting support.

Williams provided a historical perspective on the show’s growth, noting that when it began in 1980, the total cost was $2,500. Last year’s show cost $22,000. This year’s fireworks budget has been increased to $25,000, and organizers are working with the chamber of commerce and Destination Downtown to expand daytime events beyond last year’s car show and golf cart parade. “Because this year will be their twenty-sixth show and the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary, we’re trying to make it a little bit bigger,” Williams said.

Williams said he was not formally requesting funds, but Howard encouraged him to return if the fundraising effort falls short.

Commissioner Ron Cummings pushed back on any potential county appropriation. “As an individual, each one of us should be donating,” Commissioner Ron Cummings said. “But as a governing body, should we be donating? That’s my two cents worth.”

For folks who may have moved here from somewhere else after the Covid lockdowns, this fireworks show is spectacular — over the water at the bay, lots of colors, booms. Get there early, bring a lawn chair and please donate to the Optimist Club’s fireworks show.

Resolutions, Reappointments Round Out Agenda

In other business, the board passed resolutions declaring May as Older Americans Month and June 15 as World Elder Abuse Awareness Day in Chowan County — the latter passing five to one. Commissioner McLaughlin, who voted for the Elder Abuse resolution but against the Older Americans Month resolution, offered a colorful objection to the latter’s language.

“Being an older American, young at heart, the language in this resolution is condescending, paternalistic, and it’s sickening,” he said.

The board also reappointed Haywood Bond and Brian Ward to the Chowan County Planning Board.