Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 12, 1995 TAG: 9509120078
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
That was evident Monday night, when nearly 300 people expressed their preferences on the optimum size for a high school and other school issues in the southwest part of the county.
A majority favored a high school with 1,000 to 1,500 students, but others preferred a school with 1,500 to 2,000.
In 10 years, there will be 1,914 students in grades 9-12 in southwest county, consultants predict.
Cave Spring High School cannot accommodate the projected growth in high school students, said William DeJong, a consultant with the Richmond firm that's doing the schools' feasibility study for the county.
"I'm not sure that the answer is clear," he said. "These are difficult issues with no easy answers."
DeJong said consultants will develop two options: one for a single school for 1,800 to 2,000 students, the other for two schools for 900 to 1,000 students each.
"We'll take it to the next step and see what the costs are," he said. "This was a good start tonight."
The options on the high school and other improvements to schools in southwest county will be presented at the next community meeting Oct. 9 at Cave Spring High.
School officials had been planning to build a new Cave Spring High that would have housed up to 2,000 students. But they put that plan on hold earlier this year, until they could study all school needs in the section.
Supervisor Lee Eddy and some parents have raised the possibility of two small high schools rather than one large one.
Parents and residents were invited to express their views by filling out questionnaires and working in small groups to develop a consensus on the issues.
Cave Spring High has about 1,230 students in grades 10 through 12. It does not house ninth-graders because there is no space for them. They attend Cave Spring Junior High and Hidden Valley Junior High.
Consultants said it would be difficult to expand Cave Spring High because of its design and location in a residential neighborhood.
Regardless of whether the ninth-graders remain at the junior high schools, DeJong said, Cave Spring High cannot absorb the projected growth in its enrollment. The county will have to make some arrangement to handle the increase, he said.
The residents appeared unanimous in preferring that the county adopt a middle-school concept, with grades six through eight, similar to that used in other areas.
Cave Spring Junior High and Hidden Valley Junior High house grades six through nine.
Over the next decade, the enrollment in grades 9-12 in southwest county will increase 18.5 percent, from 1,615 to 1,914. The total enrollment in all grades is expected to increase 9.5 percent, from 5,497 to 6,014.
Consultant Jim Copeland said several elementary schools in the district and Cave Spring Junior High are operating over capacity. Copeland said Cave Spring Junior needs to be replaced or undergo major renovations.
Clearbrook Elementary also needs major renovations and Oak Grove Elementary needs remodeling, he said.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***