Commissioners Continue to Consider Million Dollar Match
The Oakwood renovation project is expected to address major safety and operational issues currently affecting the learning environment and provide students with a modern, safe facility.
Lance Stokes, Interim Superintendent of Caswell County Schools appeared before the Caswell County Board of Commissioners during their Monday, March 16, 2025 to answer questions regarding concerns that the county had applied for a grant without the Board knowing it required a substantial local match.
"The content of this grant application has never been discussed jointly with the Board of Education," Commissioner John Claggett said on Monday night. "With the lack of transparency and accountability, how do these two Boards move forward? Where's the trust?"
"I found out on Saturday that your signature is on this without having talked to us," Commissioner Finch Holt said to Board of Commissioners Chair Tim Yarbrough. "You stated you didn't sign things without reading them."
Yarbrough has maintained that he was unaware of the 5% match required by the $18.8 million Needs-Based Grant awarded to renovate Oakwood Elementary School and that he was only given the signature page, not the full packet. He explained that he had been informed by Scott Whitaker, who was serving as County Manager at the time, that his signature was simply to acknowledge that he knew the grant was being submitted as it required signatures from the the Chairs of both the Board of Commissioners and the Board of Education.
Stokes said that he could not comment on what information the former County Manager did or didd not relayed but that he had made both Whitaker, and the Board of Education aware of the match.
