ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 29, 1996 TAG: 9602290044
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-8 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
Radford schools are growing - again.
This time, McHarg and Belle Heth elementary schools will sprout two new classrooms each and Dalton Middle and Radford High schools will grow together with an added commons area.
The two elementary schools began using their most recent renovations - an art and music classroom addition at each of the schools - just last fall.
This round of additions, scheduled to begin this summer, will add rooms at the back of each elementary school - covering part of what is now a blacktop near the playground.
Existing rooms near the schools' libraries also will be renovated into computer labs.
The middle and high schools will gain two computer labs and a classroom when renovations are complete. The classroom will be added to the front of Dalton; the labs will sit between the schools, behind the connecting corridor.
Superintendent Michael Wright said the connector will provide a covered walkway for students who take classes in both schools.
When architect Larry Martin presented drawings for the commons area to the School Board recently, member Chip Craig said the glass-fronted corridor looked so good he was afraid people would forget to use the official high and middle school entrances.
A portico, constructed from a light brown brick (the color of the high school before it burned in 1970), and benches will front the corridor and face the Memorial Bridge.
Martin said he's building the corridor so that another floor could eventually be added on top.
It's the kind of bit-by-bit expansion Wright said works perfectly for the gradual increase in population.
"We haven't had sufficient increase [in school population] to justify a new school," he said. "The construction we have planned will meet our needs for at least next five or 10 years."
Enrollment has risen slowly, from 1,458 at the end of the 1994 school year to 1,506 in January.
Martin said the total cost of the additions will run about $1.4 million.
Last fall, City Council agreed to front the money for the renovations until a Virginia Literary Loan is approved.
|By LISA APPLEGATE| |STAFF WRITER|
RADFORD - Radford schools are growing - again.
This time, McHarg and Belle Heth elementary schools will sprout two new classrooms each and Dalton Middle and Radford High schools will grow together with an added commons area.
The two elementary schools began using their most recent renovations - an art and music classroom addition at each of the schools - just last fall.
This round of additions, scheduled to begin this summer, will add rooms at the back of each elementary school - covering part of what is now a blacktop near the playground.
Existing rooms near the schools' libraries also will be renovated into computer labs.
The middle and high schools will gain two computer labs and a classroom when renovations are complete. The classroom will be added to the front of Dalton; the labs will sit between the schools, behind the connecting corridor.
Superintendent Michael Wright said the connector will provide a covered walkway for students who take classes in both schools.
When architect Larry Martin presented drawings for the commons area to the School Board recently, member Chip Craig said the glass-fronted corridor looked so good he was afraid people would forget to use the official high and middle school entrances.
A portico, constructed from a light brown brick (the color of the high school before it burned in 1970), and benches will front the corridor and face the Memorial Bridge.
Martin said he's building the corridor so that another floor could eventually be added on top.
It's the kind of bit-by-bit expansion Wright said works perfectly for the gradual increase in population.
"We haven't had sufficient increase [in school population] to justify a new school," he said. "The construction we have planned will meet our needs for at least next five or 10 years."
Enrollment has risen slowly, from 1,458 at the end of the 1994 school year to 1,506 in January.
Martin said the total cost of the additions will run about $1.4 million.
Last fall, City Council agreed to front the money for the renovations until a Virginia Literary Loan is approved.
LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: When one School Board member saw architecturalby CNBdrawings for the commons area, he said the glass-fronted corridor
looked so good he was afraid people would forget to use the official
high and middle entrances.