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

DATE: THURSDAY, August 4, 1994                   TAG: 9408180076
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: W-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By CHARLES STEBBINS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEW CASTLE                                 LENGTH: Medium

SCHOOL RENOVATING TO INCLUDE DAY CARE

Renovations will take most of the next year, and the center is scheduled to open in September 1995.

Creation of the center has been in the works for about three years and is becoming reality with the help of Del. Richard Cranwell, D-Roanoke County, who was instrumental in winning funds totaling $80,000 to renovate the old high school building.

Deborah Snead, who originated the idea of the center, said $70,000 will come through a line item in the state budget and $10,000 will be federal funds from the Council on Child Day Care.

Snead, a community service agent with the Virginia Tech Extension Service, also is chairwoman of the Craig County Youth and Community Services Board, which is in charge of the project.

Snead said the center will have a capacity of 40 children in its first year of operations.

A nonprofit corporation will be created to operate the center, which is expected to be self-sustaining through user fees, said Richard Flora, Craig County administrator.

Flora said some bids are in hand to overhaul the heating and air conditioning systems.

In addition, the roof will be repaired, the kitchen renovated, restrooms upgraded and interior partitions erected.

Some of the work, especially interior partitioning, mostly will be done by carpentry and cabinetmaking students at Craig County High School.

Flora said a project director to supervise the renovation is expected to be named soon.

The center will be created in part of what was the gym in the old high school. Snead said the center makes the old school an intergenerational facility with the New Castle Commons senior citizens apartments in the front part of the building. This will open the possibility of some joint programs between the seniors and the children, she said.

Cranwell told members of the Craig Board of Supervisors that, to his knowledge, this is the first time the state has provided direct funding for a day-care center. He said this is because Craig has a special need in that there is no other facility available and there are many parents in Craig who must commute to jobs outside the county.

Zane Jones, chairman of the board of supervisors, praised Cranwell for his efforts in getting funds for the project. Jones said Cranwell is "one of the few people in Virginia who could have accomplished this."