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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 15, 1995                   TAG: 9503150066
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HIGH SCHOOL VOTE COULD FACE DELAY

Fuzzy Minnix, chairman of the county Board of Supervisors, said Tuesday that a bond issue now probably would require a tax increase. The county would be in a better position to sell bonds without a tax increase in two or three years, after its bonded debt decreases, he said.

Minnix is considered the key to the timing of a referendum, because he represents the Cave Spring Magisterial District. The other supervisors are unlikely to press for a referendum unless he supports it.

Supervisor Lee Eddy, who said a delay might be a good idea, wants school officials to analyze all options before the county makes a commitment on a new 2,000-student high school. Eddy has developed a half-dozen possible uses for the existing school buildings in Southwest County.

The supervisors voted 3-2 on Tuesday to advance $500,000 to the School Board to begin air-conditioning Cave Spring Junior High School, even though the school likely would be closed or used for nonschool purposes after a new high school is built.

Supervisor Bob Johnson, who opposed the move, said it would be a waste to put taxpayers' money into a building that might be closed in five years. The complete air-conditioning and renovation project will cost $2.5 million, but the School Board asked for only $500,000 now.

``If you put $2.5 million it it, you might not get a new high school,'' Johnson said.

But Minnix and School Board members said parents were promised five years ago that the building would be air-conditioned.

Planning, land acquisition, and architectural and engineering work for the proposed new high school are under way and expected to be completed in 18 to 24 months.

The supervisors approved $1.5 million in architectural and engineering fees for the project last year and indicated they probably would hold a referendum this year.

School Superintendent Deanna Gordon said school officials will review the options on a long-range plan, requested by Eddy, for Southwest County schools. But it is unclear what, if any, effect his request will have on the plans for Cave Spring.

Gordon said she has been operating on the assumption that one new high school would be built.

But Eddy has raised the option of two high schools - one at the existing Cave Spring High and the other at Hidden Valley Junior High - plus a new middle school.

Eddy said many factors would have to be considered in addition to the capacity of the buildings: athletic facilities, quality of education in a large vs. a small school, suitability of buildings for academic programs, neighborhood impact and parking.