
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, September 10, 1994                   TAG: 9409120066
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HEARING SLATED ON SCHOOLS REALIGNMENT

Residents in Southwest Roanoke County will get the opportunity to express their views on a proposal to realign the grades at Cave Spring and Hidden Valley junior high schools.

Because of the potential controversy over the move, the county School Board has decided to hold a public hearing. No date has been set, but it will be this fall, said Marty Robison, executive assistant for county schools.

``We will be working with the principals and the PTAs as the plan is developed,'' Robison said. ``We want to get their input.''

He said no decision has been made and all alternatives are still under study.

Both schools have grades six through nine. Under one option that has been considered, Hidden Valley would become the school for sixth and seventh grades, and Cave Spring would serve eighth and ninth grades.

Overcrowding at Cave Spring Junior High is one reason for the possible change. Cave Spring's enrollment is about 900; Hidden Valley's is 779.

School administrators said the alignment cannot be resolved completely until a new high school is built, which ninth-graders would attend. Another proposal would convert Cave Spring High School to a middle school for grades six through eight, close Cave Spring Junior High and make Hidden Valley into a middle school.

Cave Spring High has about 1,200 students. About 400 ninth-graders attend Cave Spring Junior High and Hidden Valley Junior High.

Cave Spring High is the only high school in the county without ninth-graders. It is one of only 10 high schools in the state without ninth-graders.

At a meeting Thursday night on the proposal for a new Cave Spring High School, many Southwest County residents said the ninth-graders need to be at the high school because of academic, social and athletic considerations.

by CNB