ELIZABETHTOWN — Effective Friday, July 1, three schools in Bladen County will have new phone numbers. Bladen Lakes Primary, East Arcadia School and East Bladen High School will no longer be using their current phone numbers. In December 2015, the board approved plans to convert the current phone system to a Voice over Internet Protocol system.

Bladen County Schools currently purchases local and long distance voice services for 10 schools and central services through the North Carolina Department of Information Technology Services with CenturyLink providing services for local phones and AT&T providing ser-vices for long distance, and three schools (East Arcadia, East Bladen, and Bladen Lakes) with local and long distance services through Star Telephone.

The FCC (managers of E-rate funding) announced last year that they would be phasing out support to school districts using traditional voice services and encourage districts to look at other options for providing voice service such as a VoIP.

With the VoIP conversion, Bladen Lakes Primary, East Arcadia School and East Bladen High School would be assigned new phone numbers while all other schools and administrative offic-es would maintain their current phone numbers.

The new phone number for Bladen Lakes Primary is 910-247-4608; the new phone number for East Arcadia School is 910-247-4609; and, the new phone number for East Bladen High School is 910-247-4610.

Below is a complete run down of all Bladen County schools and administrative offices phone numbers:

Booker T. Washington Primary (910) 647-4161

Bladenboro Middle School (910) 863-3232

Bladenboro Primary School (910) 863-3387

Bladen Lakes Primary School (910) 247-4608 Clarkton School of Discovery (910) 647-6531

Dublin Primary School (910) 862-2202

East Arcadia School (910) 247-4609

East Bladen High School (910) 247-4610 Elizabethtown Middle School (910) 862-4071

Elizabethtown Primary School (910) 862-3380 Plain View Primary School (910) 862-2371

Tar Heel Middle School (910) 862-2475

West Bladen High School (910) 862-2130

Board of Education Administrative Office (910) 862-4136

Maintenance Office (910) 862-2899

School Bus Office (910) 862-2417

Technology Office (910) 862-2264