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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 24, 1995                   TAG: 9505240108
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER AND SARAH HUNTLEY STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

MIDDLE SCHOOL OK'D

A plan to build a $3.1 million middle school in the Glenvar community was approved Tuesday night by the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors.

The school, to house grades six through eight, will be built next to Glenvar High School.

The supervisors approved a special-use permit to allow the new school to be built on the high school property. It will be attached to the high school, but be a separate structure.

The School Board has awarded a contract to build the school to Lionberger Construction Co. in Roanoke, but it needed the supervisors' approval to proceed.

Chairman Frank Thomas said construction will begin in June and will be finished by August 1996.

Glenvar High now houses grades seven through 12, but will have only grades nine through 12 after the middle school is built. Sixth-graders will be transferred from Fort Lewis and Glenvar elementaries to the new middle school.

On another school issue, the supervisors won praise Tuesday night for making up a $960,000 deficit in next year's school budget and providing an additional $440,000 for raises for teachers.

Richard "Butch" Kelly, president of the Roanoke County Education Association, said the additional funds will help eliminate inequities in teacher pay.

Teachers will receive average pay raises of 4.8 percent.

Earlier this month, the supervisors made a "moral commitment" to provide the additional funds for the schools, but they won't vote on the budget until June 13.

In other action Tuesday:

The supervisors voted to allow police to ticket drivers of tractor-trailer trucks and recreational vehicles who park along public streets in residential and agriculturally zoned districts. The fine is $15.

On a 3-2 vote, the supervisors refused to grant a special-use permit for an 80-foot radio broadcasting tower on Read Mountain. Supervisors Harry Nickens, Bob Johnson and Fuzzy Minnix voted against the petition.

The board unanimously agreed to donate 300 square feet of office space in the Roanoke County Administration Center to the Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

by CNB