Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 21, 1995 TAG: 9510230016
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Choosing between the original proposal - building a new middle school on a different site - and renovating the old school may be a tough choice for this community.
A community meeting on the issue will be held Monday in the auditorium at Blacksburg Middle School at 7 p.m. sponsored by the committee that conducted the school facilities study.
Originally, a group of parents and teachers studied the Facility Use-Space Study and recommended ways to handle an increase in student population and a need for improved technology and equipment.
The number of students in the school is expected to rise to about 1,000 in the next few years; the middle school is already augmented by eight trailer classrooms.
Lunch rounds begin at 10 a.m. and don't end until 1 p.m., Principal Gary McCoy said, because only 200 students will fit into the cafeteria at a time.
"Trying to pull cables through the school is a nightmare," McCoy said, "and the plumbing is terrible."
What's more, he said, the design of the school "doesn't lend itself to middle school philosophy." Middle schools should be designed so that open spaces can hold several classes working in teams on projects.
The school does have five decades of character, McCoy conceded, "but I want to be futuristic enough to plan a school for 21st Century."
But a new century without a centrally located school would damage the sense of community the town has now, say Donna Dunay and Cathy Albright.
The two Virginia Tech architects studied the middle school in a theoretical presentation of how a school enhances the quality of life in a town.
"In a broader context," Dunay recently wrote in an article published in an architectural magazine, "the gradual devaluation of civic institutions severs our ties to the past, thus breaking our link to tradition."
The trend to build modern facilities away from the heart of town is a national problem, they said. Small, local businesses are closing as residents drive out of town to shop at large discount stores. Historic buildings are being abandoned for modern office parks built on large plots of land away from town centers.
Dunay and Albright were delighted that the town opted to renovate the Blacksburg branch of the Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library, rather than move it elsewhere.
In a 1993 bond referendum, "voters decided that keeping it here is good for the town and is important as an extension of the middle school," Albright said.
A site-selection committee, made up of members from the Board of Supervisors and the School Board, suggested that the School Board look at renovating the current middle school. The committee estimated the cost would run about the same as building a new school - approximately $13 million - without the additional cost of land.
The long-range benefits to the students and the community are even more important, the architects said. The school sits at the corner of the original 16-block town, established in the early 1800s. Teachers don't have to explain history or community; students simply need to look outside their school room window.
"You see kids downtown all the time doing some kind of observational learning, like touring the post office," Albright said.
The original facilities committee opted to start anew in part, McCoy said, because the long-term plan was to build the middle school and the high school on the same property.
That way, both schools could share staff and facilities, like an auditorium or kitchen.
"I have one Latin teacher who teaches here for two periods then has to drive to Auburn for another three classes. If we shared a campus [with a high school] we could utilize the staff more efficiently," he said.
McCoy said the committee plans to meet after the presentation Monday to decide how to move forward with the new option.
Dunay plans to be there too, ready to answer any questions.
by CNB