ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 31, 1996 TAG: 9604010084
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: G-1 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: ROANOKE COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER
No new high school is likely to be built in Southwest County - at least not soon. Board of Supervisors Chairman Bob Johnson doubts the board will seek funds through the Virginia Public School Authority to finance the school without bonds.
The middle school concept for Southwest County will be delayed. Ninth-graders will remain at Cave Spring Junior and Hidden Valley Junior high schools.
The School Board is expected to renew a request to the supervisors for $2.5 million to renovate and air-condition Cave Spring Junior. The supervisors refused to provide the money last fall, saying they didn't want to spend money on a school that might close if a new high school were built.
The School Board will ask the supervisors for $2.8 million to finish the auditorium, classroom and gym project at Northside High and Middle schools. The supervisors are likely to provide the money because Johnson said the county won't construct a shell structure and leave it unfinished.
Much of the county's computer and technology needs will be deferred. The schools will have to rely on state funds for technology.
The proposed renovation and addition at Mount Pleasant Elementary School will be postponed; additions to other schools also will be delayed until funds are available.
School officials may have to put some used equipment and furniture in the new Glenvar Middle School.
No plans will be developed for additions at Oak Grove Elementary and William Byrd Middle Schools.
YES - What happens if voters approve the school bonds
A new 1,900-student Cave Spring High School will be built on a site on Merriman Road near the Penn Forest Elementary School. Construction will begin by late this year or early next year and be finished in about two years.
Ninth-graders at Cave Spring Junior and Hidden Valley Junior high schools will be moved to the new high school.
Cave Spring High will be converted to a middle school for 750 students. The sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders at Cave Spring Junior will be moved to the middle school.
The School Board will discontinue use of Cave Spring Junior, but it will likely ask the Board of Supervisors to retain control of the property as a possible future site for a school if there is growth in the area.
Hidden Valley Junior will be converted to a 750-student middle school for sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders.
The Northside auditorium, classroom and gym project, under construction, will be completed and will open during the next school year.
New equipment will be installed in Glenvar Middle School, which will open this fall. Renovations will be made at Glenvar High School.
The county will buy $1 million worth of computers and other technology for all schools. The technology money will be allocated to schools on a per-pupil basis.
Mount Pleasant Elementary School will be renovated and enlarged.
Architects and engineers will be hired to prepare plans for additions to Oak Grove Elementary and William Byrd Middle schools.
The School Board will make studies of school needs in other areas of the county and establish priorities for future improvements. It has already identified about $50 million in needed projects. A
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