ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 11, 1996 TAG: 9603110007
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
AS THE VOTE for a new Cave Spring High School nears, some Roanoke County taxpayers say they are being slighted because other school facilities that need replacement aren't in the mix.
Donna Dean finds herself in an awkward situation: She'll probably vote against the Roanoke County school bond issue on April 2 even though she is a strong supporter of education.
Dean has three children in county schools - two at Glenvar High and one at Glenvar Elementary. She has been a leader in the Parent-Teacher Association and has supported past school bond issues.
She was chairwoman of a committee that helped plan a middle school for Glenvar. The bond issue contains $1 million for equipment for the middle school now under construction and renovations at Glenvar High.
Yet, despite the money for their community, Dean and other Glenvar parents are angry about the referendum.
They believe their schools have been slighted as the county plans to spend $33.6 million for a new Cave Spring High School if the bonds are approved.
The parents question whether the county should commit $37.4 million for specific projects before making a study of school needs in all areas. They believe Southwest County gets favored treatment.
"The rules are not the same at both ends of the county. I'd like the same standards to apply everywhere," Dean said.
That prompted a PTA leader from Southwest County to suggest at a recent bond referendum meeting that parents in some areas are biased against her area.
"I didn't realize how much prejudice there is in Roanoke County," said Terri Langford, president of Penn Forest Elementary PTA. She is also co-chairwoman of Citizens for Education, a group of residents promoting the bond issue.
Langford said some county residents mistakenly believe that Southwest County is an affluent section that gets everything it wants for schools.
"Not everybody in Southwest County drives a BMW and not every mom is a nonworking mother," she said. Some families in the Cave Spring area have to struggle to make ends meet, she said.
"We don't have to be stepping on each other. It does not have to be a 'We-vs.-they' battle," Langford said.
Southwest County schools are overcrowded, with no room at Cave Spring High for ninth-graders, she said.
The referendum has stirred emotions among parents and split the solid support that is usually found among parents for school bond issues.
It has pitted parents against parents despite Langford's plea for countywide unity. It has triggered letters to The Roanoke Times accusing Southwest County of "ZIP-code elitism" - with angry denials from Southwest County residents.
"It's not that I'm prejudiced against that end of the county. It's that I don't feel my kids are being treated equally," Dean said.
The parents said Glenvar didn't get a separate middle school because school officials said there wasn't enough money for it. Instead, they said, Glenvar had to settle for an addition to the high school.
Another Glenvar mother, Terriann May, said school officials should make a study of all school needs before asking voters to approve more than $30 million for a new high school.
"I don't feel the situation is so critical you need to go ahead with a bond issue before a study," May said. "This is a big load to put on the county. The study might show other school needs, and where would the money come from?"
School Board Chairman Jerry Canada said officials will conduct studies for other schools similar to the study that prompted a recommendation for a new high school. But those studies would come after the referendum.
"We're not whining. This is not sour grapes," said Cheryl Taylor, another Glenvar mother. "We're saying there are a lot of questions that need to be answered."
Taylor believes the School Board should have considered expanding Cave Spring High, as was proposed several years ago, rather than constructing a new school. She said it would have been much cheaper.
But architectural and educational consultants said the school is not suitable for expansion because of its design and location in a residential neighborhood.
"If the bond issue passes, there will be little money to pay for other school needs," May said. "We might not be able to finance other projects."
Kathy Monclova is upset that school officials keep saying Cave Spring is one of a few high schools in Virginia without space for ninth-graders. When the middle school addition is complete, Glenvar will be one of a few schools with grades six through 12 in the same building, she said.
Monclova said Glenvar parents don't resent Cave Spring, but noted they didn't get a separate middle school, such as William Byrd Middle, where sixth-, seventh- and eight-graders are in one building.
"This is not the middle school we wanted, but we were told there was no more money," Dean said. The middle school will share the cafeteria, library and some other facilities with the high school.
Superintendent Deanna Gordon said the middle school was planned with the parents, whom she said agreed with the proposal to share the cafeteria and other facilities. Many middle schools are attached to high schools in other school divisions, she said.
If the parents still feel the need for a cafeteria and other facilities a year or two after the school opens, Canada and Gordon said school officials will consider it.
"We can't tear down the bricks and undo what has been done, but we will do what we can to address their concerns," Canada said.
The Glenvar parents also question projections showing enrollment growth in Southwest County but not in Glenvar and other areas.
Langford said she has been surprised by so much animosity toward Southwest County. She believes some parents in other areas aren't aware that Southwest County residents have raised funds for parks and other improvements at their schools.
Not all Glenvar residents are unhappy with the referendum, however. David Simmons, who has grandchildren in the schools, will vote yes because the bond issue contains $1 million for technology for all schools.
"Technology is the wave of the future. We're doing our children a disservice every day we delay technology for them," Simmons said.
All voters should be able to agree on the need for technology for all schools, he said. "When I see what the referendum has to offer the county as a whole, I can wholly support it."
Catawba Supervisor Spike Harrison, a teacher at Glenvar High, believes the referendum will benefit the entire county although the lion's share of the money will go for the new Cave Spring High. Emotions are running high on the referendum, Harrison said, but he supports the bond issue as a supervisor, teacher and parent.
Got a question about the upcoming Roanoke County school bond referendum? Let us know so we can follow up. Write: Joel Turner, The Roanoke Times, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke VA 24010.
LENGTH: Long : 128 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: WAYNE DEEL/Staff. (From left) Donna Dean, Kathyby CNBMonclova, Cheryl Taylor, and Terriann May are some of the parents
who feel that Glenvar High School is being overlooked as Roanoke
County prepares an April 2 referendum that will determine whether
$33.6 million is spent on a new Cave Spring High School. color.