Kashi Bazemore served as the assistant principal at John W. Ligon Middle School from 2004 to 2007. She said when she received the offer to work there, she was very excited.
“I wanted to learn about magnet schools, but also because of the diversity of students,” Bazemore said.
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Now, she said she’s upset with the Wake County Public School System after leaders decided to demolish the current school and build a new one on the site of its athletic fields.
Ligon Magnet Middle School was built in 1953 and was Raleigh’s only Black high school at that time.
The school desegregated in 1973.
Bazemore said it is important to preserve the building because of its history.
“I'm asking you to do the right thing, if this hurts to have your local public school doing the same thing out here that political people are doing, billionaires are doing that is erasing Black history,” Bazemore said.
In 2019, Raleigh’s Wiley Elementary School faced renovations. Bazemore said the way the district handled that situation is very different from Ligon’s fate.
“It was always framed through the lens of preservation,” Bazemore said. “I just don't understand why this board, the most diverse board that we've ever had, would vote unanimously to demolish Black history.”
The school is facing issues such as overcrowding and failing HVAC and plumbing systems, which led district leaders to the decision.
The building of the new facility will take place first. When voting on next steps, school board members said they did not want to disrupt student learning.
After the construction of the new building is complete, the demolition will begin.
Mark Strickland, chief of facilities for WCPSS, said there is a lot of conversation around preserving the school’s history. He said district leaders are forming a Ligon Legacy Committee, consisting of alumni, students and community members.
“They will help us capture, show and showcase all the rich history around JW Ligon,” Strickland said.
In the next four to six months, planning for a new building will begin, such as the structure and blueprints.
“That process will be long and extensive and involved, very thorough,” Strickland said.
But a long and extensive plan isn’t what Bazemore is looking for. She said she wants the district to give the decision more attention.
“I would ask them to be more sensitive, to come back to the table and to at least do this the right way,” Bazemore said.
Anjolina Fantaroni is a senior journalism student at Elon University, participating in the CBC-UNC News Media Multiplatform Fellowship. At Elon, she is the executive director of the student-run news organization, Elon News Network. Fantaroni will begin her reporting career at WAFF in Huntsville, Alabama, in late June.
