Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 29, 1994 TAG: 9410310036
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Fresh out of the flap over a proposed realignment of grades at Cave Spring and Hidden Valley junior high schools, Gordon hopes to avoid a repeat.
She wants parents, teachers, neighborhood residents and school administrators to have a voice in planning the new high school.
The school, estimated to cost up to $25 million, will be the largest-ever building project for county schools. It has the potential to create dissent, because it will affect many groups.
To ensure that everyone's concerns and ideas are heard, Gordon will establish a 30-member advisory committee chaired by Martha Cobble, principal of the school. The School Board has approved Gordon's proposal.
"We want it to fit into the community, and we want to hear everyone's ideas and concerns," she said.
Despite recent complaints by some School Board candidates and parents that they have been left out of school projects, the county has a history of parental involvement, said Frank Thomas, board chairman.
"We strongly believe in involving the community in building projects," Thomas said.
The school system should involve not only parents, but county residents without children as well, said board member Charlsie Pafford.
"It is imperative that we involve people who do not have children," Pafford said. If the county has a bond referendum, as expected, to pay for the new school, it will need the support of all voters. It also wants the backing of nearby residents on traffic and related issues.
The site is on Merriman Road, across the street from Penn Forest Elementary School. The county already has bought part of the land.
Maurice "Buck" Mitchell, vice chairman of the board, said the entire south county area should be involved in the planning. Mitchell said he was also pleased that the committee will include teachers and other educators.
This should counter the criticism that the county school system does not seek the views of parents and others, Mitchell said.
The Board of Supervisors has agreed to provide $1.5million to begin the school's planning and engineering phase, but no decision has been made on how the project will be financed or the timing of a possible bond referendum.
In the meantime, school officials will hire an architectural and engineering company to begin work on the Cave Spring plans.
Gordon said the funds for architectural and engineering services won't be available until spring, but the work can begin soon, because most of the fees won't be due until then.
School officials have estimated that it will take four or five years to plan and build the school. They hope to equip the school with the latest in educational technology and equipment.
The middle school concept, which has been implemented in other areas of the county, can't be used in the Cave Spring area now. The current high school is filled with 1,200 students, leaving no room for the ninth-graders, who go to Cave Spring and Hidden Valley junior high schools.
Middle schools include grades six through eight, while Cave Spring and Hidden Valley junior highs have grades six through nine.
by CNB