ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 10, 1996 TAG: 9602120005
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: DUBLIN
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
Most citizens who turned out for a meeting on school needs are against consolidating Pulaski County's elementary schools and middle schools.
They prefer to keep the eight elementary schools operating and favor two middle schools instead of one.
Those conclusions came from polling the 300 people who turned out for a community dialogue Thursday night on the future of the county's schools.
Everybody at the meeting got a surprise "pop test" in the form of a questionnaire, after hearing from consultants who have studied the county's building needs.
"We don't live here, we don't work here, we don't pay taxes here ... We are not going to ask you to buy our assumptions," said William DeJong, president of DeJong & Associates Inc. "The questions we are going to ask you tonight are going to tell us what the assumptions should be."
DeJong said the county is seeing fluctuations in school enrollment. More homes are being built in the county, he said, but student enrollment is down because families today are generally smaller.
Enrollment at the county's eight elementary schools has remained level overall, with a decline at the two middle schools and large drops at the high school. The numbers of elementary students indicate declines at the middle and high schools may be about to bottom out, DeJong said. Projected total enrollments through the year 2003 still show declines, however.
Preliminary answers from the questionnaires (not all of them were completed when the consultants started going over them) reflect a number of citizen attitudes toward school needs that the consultants will consider.
Residents favor high levels of technology for classrooms at all grade levels.
They believe that the quality of schools influences prospective businesses locating in the county. "That's a 'gimme,'" one man said.
Internships and mentorships where students would work at area businesses, plus an emphasis on technology and computers in classrooms, are among suggestions for ways the schools and businesses can support each other.
Better gymnasiums and cafeterias are among the physical needs cited at various schools.
Additional programs people would like to see at county schools include access to computer training, adult education and parenting skills.
Participants were split between whether portable classrooms should continue being used at county schools.
Schools needing major repairs include Claremont, Northwood and Snowville elementary schools; Pulaski and Dublin middle Schools, and the Alternative School at Pulaski County High School. Minor repairs are needed at Critzer, Draper, Dublin and Riverlawn Elementary Schools and at the high school.
A second community dialog will be held March 13. By then, the consultants will have totaled the responses, and will list long-term options and costs based on those responses.
"Here in a single night, in a couple of hours, it's amazing how much input we were able to get," DeJong said after Thursday's meeting. "This is what community is about. It's about you all defining your future."
Earlier in the day, members of the Pulaski County Board of Supervisors toured five of the county's schools and both middle schools to see how much repair or renovation would be needed to ready them for the kind of technology classrooms will need in the 21st century.
"Confirmed some of our worst fears," one supervisor said afterward.
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