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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 23, 1994                   TAG: 9411230115
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SCHOOL'S OUT

In an editorial last week, we applauded Roanoke Mayor David Bowers for calling for regional cooperation among Roanoke Valley planners and educators. But we criticized the idea of a joint city-county high school to replace the aging Patrick Henry and Cave Spring high schools.

Bigger wouldn't be better, we said.

The problem is: The mayor says this never was his idea. In fact, Bowers did not explicitly suggest that the two schools be closed and their student bodies merged into one mega-institution. This was an inference, wrongly attributed to the mayor in the editorial and our news pages.

Here's the text of what Bowers wrote in a Nov. 7 letter to other members of City Council:

"I think it is appropriate for our community, both the City and the County, to plan for the future. . . . For example, much has been reported lately about the problems with overcrowding in southwest County schools and the inability to build a new high school in Roanoke County because of debt limit restrictions. It has also been suggested, since Patrick Henry High School is now over 30 years old, that the school administration of our City may begin plans to build a new high school in the southwest part of the City. Wouldn't it be just grand for the City and 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, etc. It certainly would be a step in the right direction for the City and the County to join together in the building of a new high school."

Remove the assumption that Bowers is talking about replacing, rather than adding to, the two existing high schools, and the idea takes on an entirely different light. Scrape away the layers of distrust dividing city and county, and the notion of a joint educational endeavor comes across as natural, even beautiful.