S.W. Snowden given prestigious award amid talks of the school closing

AURORA, N.C. (WITN) - S.W. Snowden school in Aurora was given a prestigious award to recognize its commitment to military families and students who are connected to the military.

They’re the only school in Beaufort County to receive the Purple Star Award, which is given to schools who show outstanding commitment to military families and students connected to the military. It comes as the community is rallying to stop the potential closure of the school.

It was last month that we reported on the Aurora community rallying behind the school to stay open, as a tentative vote was approved to begin the process of closing down the Aurora school, which officials say is due to state funding allocation challenges and decreased enrollment numbers.

“Geographically, it’s important to Beaufort County. If you take this school away, so many people are completely isolated from a public school,” said veteran and school board member Charles Hickman.

We’re told that the entire community is still doing everything they can to advocate for the school to keep operating.

“The community has really rallied together to try to find ways to pivot and keep the school open,” said Aurora Fossil Museum Executive Director Cynthia Crane.

One business owner says the school closing will have a greater impact on Aurora than people realize.

“We’re gonna lose families, which means we lose customers for my business, for all of the businesses in town,” said Blue Crab Boutique owner, Beverly Horvath.

The school system’s public information officer said they would not cooperate with WITN in telling this story if we brought up the school’s potential closure. They said that we were not allowed to set foot on school grounds.

The president of the Chamber of Commerce, Joy Dunn, said that it makes her angry that Beaufort County Schools didn’t want to work with us on this story today if we mentioned the closure. She says the school system and the county think this is an “us versus them” battle, and the town doesn’t want that.

Dunn says that one of her biggest concerns with the possible closure of S.W. Snowden is the amount of time students would have to spend on the bus riding to other schools. She says they wouldn’t have time to do their homework or study.

She added that she’s not surprised that the school system wouldn’t talk to us because she’s dealt with similar issues regarding them.