Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 5, 1995 TAG: 9510050017
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Education consultants have a possible solution:
Build a new 1,500-student, comprehensive high school to replace aged, overcrowded Cave Spring High.
And construct a 500-student "high school of choice" that would focus on academics and the arts without athletics or other extracurricular activities.
The high school of choice would be open primarily to students from Southwest Roanoke County. Students from other parts of the county might be allowed to attend if there were space.
That's one alternative that consultants from a Richmond firm will present Monday night to Southwest County residents.
"It's an idea that will be suggested, but at this time there has been no decision on the curriculum for such a school or how admission would be handled," said Marty Robison, executive assistant for county schools.
The school of choice might help resolve the conflicting views in Southwest County on the high school issue.
At a community meeting last month, a majority of residents favored a high school with 1,000 to 1,500 students; others preferred a school with 1,500 to 2,000 students.
In 10 years, there will be 1,914 students in grades nine to 12 in Southwest County, consultants predict.
If the school of choice were built, Robison said, a 1,500-student school would be adequate to handle the projected growth in the area.
Cave Spring High has 1,230 students in grades 10 to 12. But it does not house ninth-graders - there is no space for them. They attend Cave Spring Junior High and Hidden Valley Junior High.
Consultants have said it would be difficult to expand Cave Spring High because of its design and location in a residential neighborhood.
School officials had been planning to build a new Cave Spring High that would have accommodated up to 2,000 students. But they put that plan on hold earlier this year, until they could study all school needs in Southwest County.
Robison said Tuesday that consultants also will present an alternative for two high schools of 1,000 students each.
And there will be a proposal for one large school for up to 2,000 students, he said.
Robison said consultants are working on cost estimates for the alternatives. Those should be available by the meeting, which starts at 7 p.m. Monday at the Cave Spring High cafeteria.
Parents and residents will be asked to fill out questionnaires expressing their preferences on the high school issue as well as alternatives for improvements to middle and elementary schools in Southwest County.
School officials said the high school is linked to other school needs in Southwest County. Overall, enrollment in Southwest County schools is projected to increase nearly 10 percent, from 5,497 to 6,014, in the next decade
Consultants will present alternatives and cost estimates for several middle and elementary school projects, including options for realigning the grades in some elementary schools.
Robison said there will be five or six different combinations for high school and middle schools, but all alternatives call for two middle schools in Southwest County.
"The thinking is that we will need two middle schools because we will have 1,500 students," Robison said.
Cave Spring Junior High and Hidden Valley Junior High house grades six to nine, but some alternatives will call for a switch to middle schools for grades six to eight. Other parts of the county already have adopted the middle school concept.
Robison said one alternative will call for the renovation of Cave Spring Junior High. An earlier proposal called for Cave Spring Junior to be closed when the county builds a new high school to replace Cave Spring High.
The Board of Supervisors has refused to provide $2.5 million to air-condition and make other improvements at Cave Spring Junior until the consultants' study is finished. The decision has angered Cave Spring Junior students and parents, who say that the school will have to be used for another five to six years, even if it eventually closes.
All the elementary schools in Southwest County now include kindergarten through grade five. Consultants will present alternatives for kindergarten through grade three in some schools, with grades four and five in others.
Superintendent Deanna Gordon said some alternatives will offer new approaches at the elementary level. "We hope that the people will come out and be heard on the proposals."
After receiving the views of parents and residents on the alternatives, consultants will make their recommendations to the school board this month.
The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at the Cave Spring High School cafeteria.
by CNB