ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 23, 1997 TAG: 9701230063
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
STUDENTS AND A TEACHER spelled it out at a meeting about Roanoke County's school building needs. The teacher wants more room. The students want better facilities.
Not all of the aged and crowded schools in Roanoke County are in Cave Spring.
Just ask Linda Kidd, a kindergarten teacher at Burlington Elementary School on Peters Creek Road in North County.
Burlington, a three-story brick structure, was built in 1939. It's one of the county's oldest schools.
Burlington's capacity is 400 children, but its enrollment is 414 this year.
"We're teaching children in a space that is inadequate," and the problem has existed for years, Kidd said Wednesday night.
Kidd knows the school well. She attended Burlington as a child and has been a kindergarten teacher there for 22 years.
Speaking at a community meeting held by a residents' committee studying county school building needs, Kidd said more space for kindergarten and primary classes is the school's most pressing need.
She knows that some schools in Southwest County are overcrowded, but Burlington has acute space problems, too, she said.
Kidd said one proposal calls for a new wing for kindergarten rooms to be added to the school.
As Kidd was appealing to the committee to consider Burlington's needs, some of her former students, now high school seniors, asked for a larger cafeteria, new desks, better lockers, and toilet paper dispensers for Northside High.
They complained about the condition of the bathrooms, saying students smoke there and vandalize the fixtures. Some bathrooms have no toilet paper dispensers, they said.
Senior Nicholas Drinkwine told the committee there is no point in making improvements to the bathrooms and schools if students are going to tear them up.
School officials need to enforce the rules more strictly and impose harsher penalties for violations, Drinkwine said. When students are caught destroying school property or smoking, they are punished too lightly, he said.
Students who smoke in bathrooms should be prosecuted because it's illegal for youngsters under 18 to possess tobacco products, he said.
"Our desks are in poor condition with obscenities written on them," said Northside senior Michael Ward. "We need better desks."
Other students complained about dilapidated lockers and said lockers are infested with cockroaches. "They tell us not to put food in them," one student said.
Several students said the cafeteria is so crowded and the lines are so long that they can't finish their lunch before they have to return to classes. They said unsightly trash cans are placed near the tables where they must eat.
Mary Nasca, a member of the study committee, said the enforcement of school rules and prevention of vandalism are not part of the group's charge from the School Board and Board of Supervisors.
But the students' complaints show that desks, lockers, cafeterias and related facilities seem to be more important to them than buildings, she said.
"What is important to you is what you use every day, " Nasca said. "You have helped me focus on that."
Other committee members said students' concerns about vandalism and enforcing rules would be referred to school officials.
The committee is holding a series of meetings around the county to hear from parents and others before making its recommendations to the School Board in early March.
School officials decided to undertake the countywide study to counter complaints of favoritism during the school bond referendum that was defeated last spring.
Ninety percent of the money in the $37.4 million bond issue would have been spent on a new Cave Spring High School.
Committee members, architects, engineers and educators have made at least five visits to each of the 28 schools in the county during the six-month study.
The community meetings are the final step in gathering information about the schools, said Ron Martin, a consultant who is working with the committee. The committee will develop options and a priority ranking for the school needs. |By JOEL TURNER| |STAFF WRITER|
Not all of the aged and crowded schools in Roanoke County are in Cave Spring.
Just ask Linda Kidd, a kindergarten teacher at Burlington Elementary School on Peters Creek Road in North County.
Burlington, a three-story brick structure, was built in 1939. It's one of the county's oldest schools.
Burlington's capacity is 400 children, but its enrollment is 414 this year.
"We're teaching children in a space that is inadequate," and the problem has existed for years, Kidd said Wednesday night.
Kidd knows the school well. She attended Burlington as a child and has been a kindergarten teacher there for 22 years.
Speaking at a community meeting held by a residents' committee studying county school building needs, Kidd said more space for kindergarten and primary classes is the school's most pressing need.
She knows that some schools in Southwest County are overcrowded, but Burlington has acute space problems, too, she said.
Kidd said one proposal calls for a new wing for kindergarten rooms to be added to the school.
As Kidd was appealing to the committee to consider Burlington's needs, some of her former students, now high school seniors, asked for a larger cafeteria, new desks, better lockers and toilet paper dispensers for Northside High.
Some students whom Kidd taught in kindergarten are now seniors at Northside.
They complained about the condition of the bathrooms, saying students smoke there and vandalize the fixtures. Some bathrooms have no toilet paper dispensers, they said.
Senior Nicholas Drinkwine told the committee there is no point in making improvements to the bathrooms and schools if students are going to tear them up.
School officials need to enforce the rules more strictly and impose harsher penalties for violations, Drinkwine said. When students are caught destroying school property or smoking, they are punished too lightly, he said.
Students who smoke in bathrooms should be prosecuted because it's illegal for youngsters under 18 to possess tobacco products, he said.
"Our desks are in poor condition with obscenities written on them," said Northside senior Michael Ward. "We need better desks."
Other students complained about dilapidated lockers and said lockers are infested with cockroaches. "They tell us not to put food in them," one student said.
Several students said the cafeteria is so crowded and the lines are so long that they can't finish their lunch before they have to return to classes. They said unsightly trash cans are placed near the tables where they must eat.
Mary Nasca, a member of the study committee, said the enforcement of school rules and prevention of vandalism are not part of the group's charge from the School Board and Board of Supervisors.
But the students' complaints show that desks, lockers, cafeterias and related facilities seem to be more important to them than buildings, she said.
"What is important to you is what you use every day, " Nasca said. "You have helped me focus on that."
Other committee members said students' concerns about vandalism and enforcing rules would be referred to school officials.
The committee is holding a series of meetings around the county to hear from parents and others before making its recommendations to the School Board in early March.
School officials decided to undertake the countywide study to counter complaints of favoritism during the school bond referendum that was defeated last spring
Ninety percent of the money in the $37.4 million bond issue would have been spent on a new Cave Spring High School, with smaller amounts for half a dozen other projects.
Voters in Southwest County approved the bond issue, but other parts of the county overwhelmingly rejected it.
Committee members, architects, engineers and educators have made at least five visits to each of the 28 schools in the county during the six-month study.
The community meetings are the final step in gathering information about the schools, said Ron Martin, a consultant who is working with the committee. The committee will develop options and a priority ranking for the school needs.
LENGTH: Long : 163 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: JANEL RHODA/Staff. 1. At Burlington Elementary School,by CNBwhich is nearly 60 years old and over its 400-student capacity, this
trailer is used for teaching students with learning disabilities.
Space is the school's greatest need, a teacher there said. 2. With
Burlington over capacity, some classes are too large for the space
available. This basement kindergarten classroom is very narrow, has
one small window and has a low ceiling. color.