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Burke County Public Schools plans to combine Hildebran and Icard elementary schools into a new school, replacing the 90- and 68-year-old schools.

Burke County Public Schools Superintendent Mike Swan recently updated school board members on planned community meetings about the new proposed elementary school in Hildebran.

He said tentative dates for community meetings are 6 p.m. in the auditoriums of Icard and Hildebran elementary schools on Sept. 23 and 25. Those dates have not yet been confirmed, said Cheryl Shuffler, public information officer for the school system.

Swan said plans will be presented and community members will be able to ask questions during the meetings.

The school system is making sure the required general statute reports, construction reports and traffic studies are done before the meetings are confirmed.

Swan said school leaders visited three schools in the state and saw various designs with footprints that already have approval from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

Some school board members and administrators toured two-story schools during the site visits in Fort Mill and Pineville, Shuffler said.

The current proposal is to build a two-story school for the consolidated Hildebran school, Swan said. The proposed layout for the new school is based on the layout of Mountain View Elementary School, except the two wings of Mountain View would become the second story at the new Hildebran school, Shuffler said.

Shuffler said the architect’s preliminary renderings have a two-story school and ball fields. However, they tabled that prototype because not all school board members were able to go on the tour and they want more input and information on a two-story building, she said.

The second story is proposed for fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms for the older kids, and the cafeteria, media center and gym will be on the first floor, Shuffler said.

The current architectural proposal is to build the new school, and after it is complete, turn the area where the current Hildebran Elementary is located into a parking lot, Shuffler said.

The school system purchased 12.84 acres at 305A Third St. SW, Hildebran, for $675,000 on July 9 to build the new school, according to county land records and the school system. The property is next to the current Hildebran Elementary property.

The school district received a $42 million grant from the state to build a new elementary school.

School officials did look into renovating the old schools to make them suitable for students and teachers alike, but the low-end estimate for costs would come in at more than $50 million combined, Hamilton Cort of McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture told the school board in August 2024. The grant the district received can only be used for new construction — it cannot be used to renovate older buildings, school officials said previously.