Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 26, 1995 TAG: 9507260038
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
If the School Board serves up a suitable return next week, then trailer-classrooms may be on their way out for overcrowded Riner-area elementary school students. That's where the supervisors see the greatest need for new classrooms.
A committee proposed Monday the Board of Supervisors endorse the pursuit of $7 million in state school bonds next year to build a new, 750-capacity elementary for growing Riner.
The committee also proposed a later bond referendum to build three more schools in Shawsville, Christiansburg and Blacksburg.
But the supervisors balked at an endorsement until they see more specifics. The holdup is the committee's proposal to use $1.3 million from the current school budget to buy land for and design the proposed new elementary school. The committee expects that money would be reimbursed from the bond sale, said School Board Chairman Roy Vickers.
In the end, the Board of Supervisors - which doesn't control county schools but does control county spending - agreed only that Riner is its No. 1 priority for a new school. Both 273-capacity Riner Elementary and 174-capacity Bethel Elementary would be replaced by the new school. Bethel likely would be closed; Riner Elementary likely would be renovated later for middle-school use, though exactly when is another supervisors' concern.
In January, the School Board endorsed the first part of a multiphase school building study. That first section recommended building four new schools over five years to keep pace with growth.
But the School Board never prioritized the four schools and hasn't yet reviewed the funding scheme recommended by the joint committee of Vickers, School Board member Barry Worth and Supervisors Jim Moore and Henry Jablonski. Those subjects are to come up at the Aug. 1 School Board meeting.
by CNB