Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 25, 1995 TAG: 9502270026
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
During the session, board members enthusiastically pored over the nearly final drawings that depict how the addition will be laid out. In fact, Chip Craig got so excited, he poured ice water on the prints when he knocked over his cup.
"I'm proud of the board's continuing commitment to the arts," Chairman Guy Gentry remarked after the vote.
Bids to build the new classroom addition will go out in March, Superintendent Michael Wright said. The board has allocated just over $96,000 for the project, and wants to build a similar addition at Belle Heth Elementary School. Bid requests will include a cost estimate on the Belle Heth expansion, but that project will have to wait until additional money is available.
In other business, the board reviewed concerns raised by some parents of chorus and band students about the cost of a trip the groups plan to make this spring to Hartford, Conn. So far, 111 students have signed up, Choral Music Director Lois Castonguay said. When the board approved the excursion in December, she had estimated the cost per student at $250.
Castonguay said she later had to revise the estimate to $355 to reflect reality, and letters to parents only mentioned the higher figure. But the School Board never learned of the change, and that bothered some board members.
Guy Wohlford also said some parents expressed concerns about the trip's cost, which totaled just over $39,000.
Band and chorus supporters pointed out that the per-student cost of similar trips has been in the same vicinity. Band booster Gary Nunn conceded that some parents have worried about such trips becoming "an elitist activity" reserved for those with the ability to pay. But he said students whose families don't have the money can work to raise it, and scholarships are available.
Wright concurred that in his approximately 15 years in Radford, he'd never heard of anyone unable to make a similar trip because of a lack of money.
But Wohlford and board colleague Carter Effler agreed that the $105 difference from the estimate provided to the board was substantial. "This is the second time this has happened with this group," Effler said.
Brent Strange, a senior chorus member and the son of board member Chris Strange, said he planned to sell candy bars, flower bulbs and peanuts to raise the money for the New England trip. Strange said the trip would broaden students' horizons. "Living in Radford, you kind of get a narrow view of the world," he said.
by CNB