Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 26, 1995 TAG: 9506260158
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The city is just beginning to renovate its middle schools, but school officials are already thinking of the high schools that will be needed in the 21st century.
And they believe the community needs to make the decision about whether to keep the two high schools, combine them or opt for other alternatives.
The city's Long-Range Planning Committee for Schools has recommended consultants be hired to develop and present to city residents a series of options on high school needs.
The committee has spent a year studying the issue, but it has reached no conclusion about what the city should do.
``There are no magic answers,'' said John Light, co-chairman of the committee. ``Let's put out alternatives and let the community decide the issue.''
He said the school system needs to develop cost estimates for the alternatives and list the tax impact, advantages and disadvantages of each. He estimates it would take about a year to prepare the information.
And then school officials need to spend a year taking the alternatives to civic and community groups, PTAs and other organizations, he said.
Light said the residents' views are important because William Fleming and Patrick Henry high schools are an integral part of the community's life.
``The high schools are part of the warp and weave of who we are in Roanoke. The city is not going to change rapidly in the next 50 years,'' he said.
Unlike fast-growing cities and counties where new high schools are built every few years, he said, Roanoke won't be building many new schools.
``It's a big decision for us about what we do with our high schools,'' he said.
The committee has found students like the campus style of Roanoke's high schools, he said, but teachers and administrators don't.
In the future, he said, high schools will need to be more flexible and there will be a need for increased physical security for the schools.
Light said the committee visited several recently built high schools in the Richmond area.
School Board Chairman Nelson Harris said the board will decide whether to hire the consultants as recommended by the committee.
The committee is composed of community leaders, parents and others with an interest in schools. It gave no cost estimate for the consultants.
Roanoke is completing a $17.4 million program that renovated its seven oldest elementary schools - Crystal Spring, Forest Park, Highland Park, Morningside, Oakland, Virginia Heights and Wasena.
This month, the city embarked on a $22.5 million plan to renovate four middle schools in four years. Jackson Middle School will be the first, at a cost of $6 million. The other middle schools slated for renovation are Addison, Breckinridge and Woodrow Wilson.
School officials say the city could be ready to renovate or replace the high schools by 1999.
The city's schools' enrollment is not projected to increase significantly, but school officials said the high schools will need to be renovated or replaced if they become too expensive to maintain.
William Fleming's enrollment is about 1,550, and Patrick Henry's, about 1,600.
Current educational research apparently would discourage school officials from considering one high school for Roanoke.
Some researchers say that the optimal size for a high school is 1,500 to 1,700 students. Others say a school with 2,000 students can run well if it's organized into smaller units.
Several high schools in Northern Virginia and Tidewater have more than 2,000 students, but educators said the trend is away from mega-high schools.
A state Department of Education report said large high schools can be justified only in cities where the population density is high. In other situations, the single large high school channels tax dollars into transportation costs, the report said.
by CNB