ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 1, 1996 TAG: 9603010080
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
Glenvar residents are angry because they say they have been shortchanged again in Roanoke County's upcoming school bond referendum.
They complained Thursday night that it's unfair for the county to spend more than $30 million for a new Cave Spring High School while only $1 million is earmarked in the bond issue for Glenvar schools.
``How can you justify that?'' Ricky Crouse asked county and school officials. ``How can you say you're making things equal?''
``Other schools get bigger and better things than Glenvar,'' said Crouse, father of a Glenvar High student and another at Glenvar Elementary. ``It's not fair.''
At an informational meeting on the referendum, sponsored by school officials, a parade of speakers said Glenvar has been slighted in school facilities in the past.
Others complained about what they say will be the additional tax burden that the $37.4 million bond issue will put on homeowners.
``It's not that we are against money for improving education, but we can't afford this increased tax burden,'' said Robert Crouse, an unsuccessful candidate for the Catawba District seat on the Board of Supervisors in last fall's election.
``Taxes are the issue. The assessments just keep going up, and we don't understand the figures,'' he said.
Donna Dean said Glenvar gets second-class treatment while money seems to always be available for schools in other areas of the county.
Glenvar residents were told there was not enough money for a separate middle school for the community and they would have to accept an addition to the high school to house sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders, Dean said.
But this is not a real middle school, as the county has built in some areas, because these students will have to share the cafeteria, library, music room and art room with the high school students, she said.
``We wanted one like the William Byrd Middle School, but we were told this was the only thing we could get,'' said Dean, mother of children in the Glenvar elementary and high schools.
``The resentment we feel is not toward Cave Spring,'' said Lonzo Kennedy, ``but our facilities are always stripped down to the bare minimum.''
Kennedy said the Glenvar middle school facility, now under construction, was supposed to have been financed with the county's last bond issue several years ago. But it is just an addition to the high school, he said.
``Now they say this project has to be finished with what looks like a carrot in this bond issue,'' Kennedy said.
The $37.4 million bond referendum on April 2 includes $1 million for equipment for the Glenvar middle school and renovations at the high school.
The bond issue also includes $33.6 million for a new Cave Spring High; $2.8 million to complete the Northside gym project; $1 million for technology for all schools; and several smaller projects.
School officials denied that Glenvar has been slighted. They said school improvement funds have been distributed throughout the county in the past decade.
Superintendent Deanna Gordon said the Glenvar middle school was planned with the parents, who she said agreed with the plan for the middle school to share the cafeteria and some other facilities with the high school.
``We went ahead believing this would be the facility that would make you happy,'' Gordon said. Many middle schools in other school divisions are attached to high schools, she said.
The middle school will open this fall. If the parents still feel the need for a separate cafeteria and other facilities a year or two after the school opens, Gordon said, school officials will consider the request.
``I will watch the middle school, and we will address it if there is a problem,'' said School Board member Marion Roark, who represents Glenvar.
Two supporters of the bond issue and a new Cave Spring High School asked Glenvar residents to consider the educational needs in all areas of the county and not to reject the bond issue on emotion.
``If you vote `no,' you will send the wrong message to the Board of Supervisors,'' said Terri Langford, co-chairwoman of Citizens for Education, a group promoting the bonds.
``You will send a message that education is not important, and that will hurt education in the county,'' she said.
James McAden said the county has concentrated on other capital projects, such as the Spring Hollow Reservoir, in recent years, but that now it's time to focus on education.
Catawba District Supervisor Spike Harrison, a teacher at Glenvar High, said he supports the bond issue because he believes it will benefit the entire county. Harrison said the Glenvar schools are the best-kept secret in the county and he doesn't consider them to be deprived.
Cave Spring Supervisor Fuzzy Minnix said the county's need to improve school facilities will remain even if the bond referendum is defeated.
``You can run from it, but the problem is not going away,'' he said. ``If Roanoke County is going to continue to have the kind of schools you want, it's going to cost you big time in the next 10 to 15 years.''
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