BHCS Principal John Betterton said Friday that school leaders had for some time explored several options in the attempt to get buses away from either the Bethel Hill School Road or the Claude Hall Road when students were loading or unloading. Since the founding of the charter school, buses had parked just off Claude Hall Road next to the gymnasium, where space was limited.

Last fall, the school bought 38 acres of adjacent land and will now use a portion of it for bus parking as well as loading and unloading students.

Betterton said the new arrangement will be much safer for students and for other traffic as well. The bus traffic will now be separated from car traffic, he said.

In other capital matters, the principal said, the board was informed that work on covered walkways around the campus had been completed. Students and staff now may walk to any building on campus, except the gym, which is across the road, under shelter from the elements.

The walkways were completed, Betterton said, with funding from PTA donations and construction workers who donated part of their time on the project.

A parent, Kevin Fox, put the shingles on the walkways, said Betterton, and worked “during the cold and rain and wind” of the past couple of weeks.

“It was amazing,” Betterton said, of Fox’s dedication. “Just another of many miracles” at Bethel Hill, the principal concluded.

In other matters during Thursday night’s regular February meeting, the BHCS board discussed upcoming elections for board members. Five people are vying for three slots on the board, Betterton said. Parents and faculty vote, he said, and ballots will be handed out during spring parent-teacher conferences. He said information about the candidates would be included in the school newsletter.

The charter school serving kindergarten through sixth grade students will once again hold a lottery, Betterton said, to determine which students on the waiting list will be accepted for next year. This year’s lottery will be held on Tuesday, March 4.

It has been the rule for BHCS to conduct the lottery each year that it has more student applications that classroom slots. Returning students and their siblings are assured spots.

The board of directors also this week approved the BHCS calendar for the 2008-09 school year. It begins four days before Person County Schools open on Aug. 25. Betterton said flexibility in the calendar is just one of the benefits that charter schools enjoy over traditional public schools in North Carolina.

Traditional schools must follow a calendar mandated by the General Assembly, with classes beginning no earlier than Aug. 25 and ending no later than June 10 each year.