Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 4, 1990 TAG: 9003022863
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: MARGARET CAMLIN NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
They want relief from crowded conditions and they don't want to wait three more years for a new school.
They don't want their children bused to Christiansburg where a new school may be built. They want more space and more teachers at Shawsville Elementary, which they consider the center of their community.
"We want relief right now, not four or five years from now," says Ellen Ryan, president of the school's parent-teacher association. "Five years ago we said [to school officials], `This area's growing, our school is crowded, please start studying it now, start doing something now.' "
Ryan and other members of the PTA executive board plan to present a petition with signatures of at least 150 sets of parents to the Montgomery County School Board Tuesday night.
"We've been following procedures for five years, and from the best I can tell, we've been ignored in next year's budget," Ryan said.
The Shawsville community is not the only area in Montgomery County that has outgrown its elementary school. Christiansburg Elementary School has relied on temporary classrooms for at least 20 years, and Christiansburg Primary also is jam-packed.
What overcrowding means in a kindergarten class at Shawsville is not enough tables and chairs for all 28 children.
"Children need space and if they don't have it, they start acting wild," said a Shawsville kindergarten teacher who did not want her name published. "They don't get the individual attention that they need when they're 5 years old. If there are problems, you can't focus on them."
In Montgomery County, only Prices Fork Elementary has as large a START JUMP TYPE HERE START JUMP TYPE HERE
by CNB