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GREENSBORO — Undeterred, leaders for Guilford County Schools will seek county approval to purchase land in the Triad Business Park in Kernersville for a new high school.

The Board of Commissioners, which must approve land purchases for new schools, plans to discuss the request at its meeting Thursday.

Kernersville leaders have refused for months to rezone the land.

“We wanted to make sure commissioners were in agreement with us about buying the land,” said Ed Price, a school board member. “We could spend months negotiating with Kernersville, and the commissioners then say we don’t want this.”

The school board wants to buy up to 125 acres along South Bunker Hill Road in Kernersville at a cost of up to $10.8 million. The request is on the meeting’s consent agenda, but county officials likely will discuss the matter at length before making a decision, Commissioner Kirk Perkins said.

He said the purchase price seems too high and the industrial location unsuitable for school traffic.

“Basically, I see a lot of red flags at this point,” Perkins said. “From what I know now, I don’t support it. But I want to have an open mind.”

Commissioners Chairman Skip Alston said the commissioners will not discuss the item this week if they don’t receive additional information from the school system.

“It’s not certain we’ll be voting on it Thursday or not,” Alston said.

For the past two years, the school board has sought a suitable site to build an airport-area high school by 2014 and later add a middle school. The school board budgeted $74 million in 2008 bond funds for the land and construction of the high school.

Members considered about 60 properties but settled on land in the northeast portion of the business park that is owned by TDO Land Holding.

The park straddles the Guilford-Forsyth county line near Interstate 40 and includes the FedEx Ground sorting center.

Some Kernersville officials worry the sale will compromise future job growth in the area. The Board of Aldermen passed a resolution in June opposing any effort by TDO to nullify the land’s previous annexation into Kernersville.

Town leaders repeated their opposition to the sale in a September meeting with school officials.

“With Guilford County commissioners, I’m sure their priority is creating jobs and a strong tax base,” said Jeffrey Hatling, the town’s director of community development. “With schools, there are other options where you put it.”

Contact Morgan Josey Glover at 373-7078 or morgan.josey@news-record.com