Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 7, 1995 TAG: 9507070079
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A school could help renew Gainsboro and the Northwest neighborhood, Bowers said, just as the renovation of seven elementary schools in recent years has encouraged revitalization in other neighborhoods.
He has asked the School Board to consider building a school in the area bounded by the Norfolk Southern Corp. railroad tracks on the south, Interstate 581 on the east, Orange Avenue on the north and 24th Street on the west.
"This geographic area is home to thousands of Roanokers who have made an investment in their neighborhood and want to see that investment continue to thrive," Bowers said in a letter to City Council members. "Yet, their neighborhood is no longer home to a neighborhood elementary school."
Bowers has discussed the proposal with several School Board members.
Nelson Harris, chairman of the board, said Thursday that the mayor's proposal will be considered as part of the school system's long-range plans, but no action is likely on it for several years.
For the next seven or eight years, he said, the board will focus on the modernization of four middle schools and the two high schools.
"We have already planned the middle school projects, and then we have to consider the high schools," Harris said.
During the 1960s and 1970s, Bowers said, several schools in Northwest Roanoke were closed and destroyed. That has hurt efforts to revitalize the neighborhood, he said.
"The closing of elementary schools in the Northwest neighborhood was the wrong decision, and the revitalization and operation of elementary schools in other neighborhoods was the right decision," Bowers said.
Northwest Roanoke has three elementary schools immediately outside the area cited by Bowers: Lincoln Terrace, Forest Park and Roanoke Academy for Math and Science.
Forest Park is one of seven elementary schools that have been renovated in recent years.
The city must make an investment in Northwest Roanoke to anchor the neighborhood to help attract and keep young families, Bowers said.
"If an elementary school can anchor Wasena, Old Southwest and South Roanoke, it can work in Northwest, also," he said.
The need for a new school is a social as well as an educational issue, he said.
During the 1980s, council decided that older elementary schools would be renovated, instead of being closed, to help encourage neighborhood renewal.
Bowers said the success of the renovation projects offers "real evidence that continued investment and operation of elementary schools" is essential for neighborhood revitalization.
by CNB