Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 7, 1994 TAG: 9410100027
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
Radford High School students scored record high SAT scores last year, but overcrowding and deteriorating facilities threaten that progress, board members believe.
"Somehow, we've got to get their attention," Guy Wohlford said of city officials.
During the same meeting Wednesday, board members heard of the test scores and of a deadline to file capital improvement requests with the city.
Feeling the squeeze, board members lashed out at City Council's fiscal parsimony and method of prioritizing the need for new school facilities.
"I get the impression that City Council thinks Radford is going to die in three years. That's all the planning ahead they do," Carter Effler said.
"We have to have some more money to get things done. Just raising real estate taxes isn't enough," said Wohlford, who is convinced city schools need a bond referendum.
Meanwhile, School Superintendent Michael Wright will send council a request for $659,800 in capital improvements to schools, including new roofs, classrooms and facilities for school nurses.
The projects aren't visionary, Wright said, but necessities that will merely get Radford schools through the immediate future.
Already pending are about $1.4 million in facility expansion and renovation projects previously requested by the School Board.
In all, Radford's five-year capital improvements plan has about $11 million in project requests, according to City Manager Robert Asbury.
Board member Chip Craig said school projects will continue to back up unless the city reworks the points system it employs to evaluate capital improvement projects.
School facilities also need more vocal advocacy when it comes time to set capital priorities, board members said.
by CNB