Alumni Demand Clarity as Ligon School Renovation Plans Unfold
Wake County held a listening session December 3 to gather public input on proposed renovations to John W. Ligon Middle School, but alumni left frustrated by a lack of clear plans and concerns about preserving the school’s history. The outcome matters for Southeast Raleigh residents because the county has allocated about $141 million to the site and faces choices that will affect community heritage, school operations, and neighborhood trust.
Community tension over the future of John W. Ligon Middle School surfaced at a December 3 listening session convened by Wake County Board of Education member Toshiba Rice. The meeting was intended to solicit feedback on extensive renovations to the historically Black school, which opened in 1953 as John W. Ligon Junior Senior High School and carried an original construction budget of $1 million. Wake County marked the site for renovation in 2022 under its seven year Capital Improvement Plan and has now allocated approximately $141 million for work at the campus.
Attendance made clear that alumni and current parents are not aligned on priorities. Alumni, many of them Black, pressed for specific assurances that the school’s history and fabric will be protected. Preservation Raleigh has deemed the campus a "Place in Peril." Principal Darren Williams outlined physical needs including leaks, mold, a decaying HVAC system that creates a 15 degree temperature variation across the building, and a lack of square footage when compared with Wake County Public Schools standards.
Officials described three broad options under consideration, including renovating the existing building, demolishing and building a new facility on the site, or relocating the original building onto the football field while constructing a new school on the original footprint then replacing the building moved onto the field with a new facility. Consultant Desmond Dunn, a Ligon alumnus who also sent his daughter to the school, disputed the impression that demolition is inevitable. He invoked the legacy of segregation when he said, "Broughton was built out of stone. We weren’t given stone. We were given scraps." He added, "Right now, in the chorus room, there is a trashcan collecting water," and warned, "Whatever we do needs to last my entire lifetime."
Residents raised a broader concern about transparency. A written statement from Daniel Coleman opposed relocating the building to the campus low point known as the bottoms, saying, "[The legacy of Ligon] should not be pushed down the hill into the place where, for generations, those with the fewest resources lived, and what many of us still call ‘the bottoms.’" Superintendent Robert Taylor acknowledged the emotional weight of renovating historically significant Black schools and said, "We need a clear and straightforward message," and "This isn’t about politics, it’s about trust." He proposed additional listening sessions between January and March and admitted, "What we readily admit is that we haven’t always been as clear and transparent as we should be," and "And that is not deliberate."
Practical concerns include potential temporary relocations for students and the durability of proposed work given the scale of the investment. County officials have issued a Request for Proposals and are working with LS3P architecture firm, but community leaders say the next steps must provide specific plans, preservation commitments, and a public timeline to rebuild trust in a project that carries historical and civic significance for Southeast Raleigh.
