Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, November 15, 1994 TAG: 9411150105
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY AND JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Fat chance, some other officials say.
Bowers' proposal would create a high school with about 4,000 students, the largest in the state by far. The biggest now is Woodbridge High School in Prince William County, with about 3,000 students.
Bowers made the recommendation, which he termed "only an example," in a letter to City Council requesting that the city and county planning commissions and school boards meet to plan together for the future.
Attached to the letter was a Charlotte (N.C.) Observer column that commended that city and adjacent Mecklenburg County for regional cooperative efforts going back 40 years.
"I think it is appropriate for our community, both the city and the county, to plan for the future," the mayor wrote. "Wouldn't it be just grand for the city and the county to join together to build a new joint city/county high school in the southwest portion of our area?
"Now, that is progress and would be very cost-efficient for both communities in a valley where we have three courthouses, two jails, two civic centers, et cetera."
A 1990 referendum on consolidation was rejected in the county by a wide margin, partly because many county parents worried that city students would bring security and discipline problems to their schools.
For that reason, some councilmen said the schools ought to be the last item, not the first, on a regional cooperation agenda.
"Practically, [the idea] is no good. I don't think it would be received well by county residents," Councilman Delvis ``Mac'' McCadden said. "Ideally, I think it's a hell of an idea."
"From a realistic standpoint,'' Councilman Jack Parrott said, ``I think we've got to do a lot of other things first. [On regional cooperation] I think we have to go step-by-step. This should be the last step, rather than the first. Or at least somewhere near the end."
The mayor said the idea occurred to him after he read recently that junior and senior high schools in Southwest Roanoke County have too few lockers and after he saw a picture of a crowded hallway at Cave Spring High School.
County supervisors this year voted against a bond issue to finance construction of a new high school, which would cost up to $25 million and might have necessitated a property tax increase.
A committee is studying how best to solve the overcrowding problem, said Board of Supervisors Chairman Lee Eddy. The county has bought land for a new high school and is spending $1.5 million on designs and site plans.
Bowers' idea caught Eddy off guard.
"My initial reaction is that probably Roanoke County citizens would not be too terribly thrilled by the prospect," Eddy said. ``I think we feel it's in the interest of most county citizens that we keep the respective school systems separate.''
He also suggested a combined high school would be too large for effective administration and good academic programs and questioned whether state law would allow partial consolidation.
"When you talk about 4,000 students, you are talking about the size of some colleges," said Frank Thomas, chairman of the county School Board.
The Rev. Nelson Harris, chairman of the Roanoke School Board, said Bowers' proposal is an "interesting concept," but it's too early to speculate on whether it is feasible.
"There would have to be a lot of cooperation for such a proposal to work," Harris said.
But Bowers said he has heard "loud and clear" from many city and county residents about the need for the two governments to cooperate. It's time to tackle the tough issues, he said.
"If there's one comment that I honestly hear repeated to me by county citizens," he said, ``it's that they want the city of Roanoke and Roanoke County to work together ... We must work together if we're going to compete with the Greensboros and the Raleighs and the Spartanburgs to the south of us.''
by CNB