Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 17, 1995 TAG: 9511170089
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Roanoke County School Board voted Thursday night to build a 1,900-student school on Merriman Road as recommended by consultants and a committee of school administrators and consultants.
It also approved a contract with the Moseley McClintock Group, a Richmond architectural firm, to begin designing the $33 million school.
Architects have said it will take a year for design and two more years to build the school. They said it could be ready to open in 1998 or 1999.
The decision to build one large school to relieve overcrowding at Cave Spring culminates a six-month study that involved hundreds of residents in Southwest County.
A majority of the residents who attended community workshops said they favored one large school rather than two smaller schools.
Now the School Board must await the Board of Supervisors' decision on funding the new school. The supervisors could hold a referendum on a bond issue to finance the school, or they could sell bonds through the Virginia Public School Authority without a referendum.
Several supervisors have suggested that the Cave Spring project should be packaged with school improvements in other parts of the county to broaden voter support for a bond referendum.
School Board members said they were willing to do that, but they did not make a recommendation on financing the new high school.
However, they adopted a $49.3 million five-year capital improvement plan for school projects throughout the county that could be used to put together a bond package. And they adopted recommendations for a new elementary school and other school improvements in Southwest County that were included in the consultants' report on the new high school.
The School Board will meet with supervisors Nov. 28 to discuss the proposed new school and the other projects. The supervisors will decide whether the funds will be provided, but they cannot overrule the School Board's decision to build one large school.
Supervisor Lee Eddy has said a new high school likely would require an increase in county taxes.
School Board members are united in their support for a new Cave Spring High. Some of the strongest support came from members representing other areas of the county.
Chairman Jerry Canada, who represents the Hollins District, said the entire county needs to back the proposal. "We are all in this together, and I hope everyone feels that way."
Vinton District member Michael Stovall said county residents must realize that education should be the county's top priority.
"We need to construct the new school and move on," Stovall said.
The board also decided to convert the existing Cave Spring High into a middle school after the new school is finished.
Students in grades six through eight at Cave Spring Junior High will be moved to the middle school. Ninth-graders will attend the new high school.
Cave Spring Junior is overcrowded and does not have air conditioning. The supervisors decided recently not to sell bonds to air-condition the building pending completion of the consultants' study.
If Cave Spring High is converted to a middle school and Cave Spring Junior students are moved there, it is unclear what will happen to the junior high building. Consultants have suggested other possible uses: an alternative school, adult education center, government offices or a library. They also said it could be converted to commercial use.
by CNB