Residents and a Martin County School Board member are raising concerns about a proposal to close Warfield Elementary and move its students to the Indiantown Middle School campus, citing uncertainty about potential health risks associated with a nearby data center.
Tim Miller, an Indiantown resident, said he believes the proposed school consolidation should be reconsidered because of the potential location of a data center near the middle school.
"You don't have Warfield mixed and move them closer to a potential health risk. Out of the question. You need to be figuring out how do you move Indiantown Middle School further away," he said.
Indiantown Middle School is about two miles from the potential future site of a data center at Tesoro Groves, a 5,700-acre property in Indiantown purchased by Florida Power and Light.
The property was recently rezoned to Light Industrial, which could allow a data center to be built there.
School board member Amy Pritchett also expressed concern about moving forward with the proposed school consolidation without more information about potential health effects.
"I'm very worried about what we don't know about the health risks," she said. "I kind of feel like we're in COVID again, where we don't know and we don't know who to trust. And I feel until we can know that we are making the very best decision for children, I don't think we should move ahead with any type of moving Warfield until we have solid evidence."
The proposed merger would create a K-8 campus at Indiantown Middle School, with Warfield Elementary closing and its students moving to the middle school campus.
The plan is intended to address uneven enrollment across the school district. Planned improvements to the Indiantown campus would increase its capacity from 890 students to 1,640.
Pritchett said she is not calling for the district to abandon its plans, but wants officials to gather additional information before making a decision.
"I'm not asking us to withdraw plans. I just feel we need to get more information and get more health-related data so we know when we do this, we're doing what is in the best interest of children," she said.
No vote was taken during the meeting, and there was no further discussion of the issue.
The concerns come as local governments consider potential restrictions on data center development. The Martin County Commission and Indiantown Village Council are both scheduled to discuss proposed data center moratoriums at upcoming meetings.