Rosenwald Project Planning Committee Meeting
April 8, 2011
Marshbanks First-Floor Classroom, Mars Hill College
The Rosenwald Project Planning Committee held its meeting of April 8, 2011 in the first-floor classroom of Marshbanks Hall at Mars Hill College.
Attending were: Ed and Polly Cheek, Scott Donald, Willa Wyatt, Charity Ray, Dorothy Coone, Richard Dillingham, Doneisha Gartica, David Wyatt, Steve Garrison and Teresa Buckner
Willa Wyatt, committee chair, opened the meeting at approximately 10:15 am.
The minutes from the March meeting were distributed. After a pause for reading, the minutes stood approved as read.
Teresa Buckner said she had asked the Rosenwald Scholar working with her, Nichole Brown, to create a Facebook page for the project. To ensure that the page was named appropriately, she asked the group to restate the “official” name of the planning committee’s project. After some discussion, the group articulated the official name of the project as the “Historic Anderson Rosenwald Rehabilitation Project.”
Simone Bouyer has contacted Wyatt and said she needs an initial payment of $260 to begin work on the project’s website. Wyatt said she would get a check soon to Teresa Buckner, who will take it to Bouyer. With respect to the website, there was some discussion about a logo for the project. Charity Ray said she would ask her painting group to work on a basic design for the logo. Doneisha Gartica said she had a friend who could, at that point, convert the painting into a graphic image. She will ask the student to do this for free, probably at the beginning of the academic year.
Wyatt said the school system is currently working on a new web page, and information about the Rosenwald school has been added to the website. When the Rosenwald project website is completed, it will be linked to the school system webpage.
Garrison said he will get information about a group going down to see the renovated school in Pamlico County. There is a possibility of using the Mars Hill Baptist Church van for this purpose, with Rev. Tommy Justus going as driver. Donald said seeing the completed Pamlico project will be helpful in finishing the drawings for the Anderson School.
Garrison also said that Senator Kaye Hagan will be coming to Madison County in the near future. There was a discussion about trying to get her to make a stop at the Anderson School during her visit.
Dillingham said that history committee has not met since the last meeting because he has not yet received the board minutes on microfiche. He received an email on the morning of the meeting, saying that his order for board minutes is in the lab being produced. When the committee receives those minutes, it will begin going through them.
Dillingham believes that some residents of the Long Ridge community have seemed insulted that the committee has not asked for their input on the verbal record of the school so far. That will begin soon, though. The history committee will depend on Charity Ray and Dorothy Coone to help them locate and interview alums of the Anderson School first.
There was a discussion about having the meetings during the summer months at the Anderson School site. After more discussion, the group decided to plan for another community gathering at the school at the July 8th meeting.
Dillingham suggested that the group could have a “wish list” available at that time, so that willing community members can volunteer to provide needed services at the school. One thing that will be needed soon, according to David Wyatt, is tearing off unsalvageable portions of the back room. This work could be dangerous for unskilled labor though, and he is reluctant to ask volunteers or college students to do it. School maintenance or qualified inmates are two possibilities that were discussed for this task.
There was a discussion about the piano pieces that are still at the school. Garrison suggested that the Wyatts consider taking the pieces to Larry Atkins, a man who restores pianos and lives on the Barnardsville Highway. If restoring the piano doesn’t work, David said he may see if the pieces can be made into an interesting table or other furniture for the building.
Willa Wyatt passed out information about the National Register of Historic Places (incorporated herein) from the NC State Historic Preservation Office, as well as a Study List Application. The History Committee will work on filling out the application before the next meeting.
The next meeting of the Rosenwald Project Planning Committee Meeting is planned for Friday, May 13 at 10 am at the Bull Creek Shoppe on Bull Creek Road outside Mars Hill.
Respectfully submitted,
Teresa Buckner
Secretary