ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 19, 1996 TAG: 9604190058
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
A new Blacksburg Middle School should be built on the current school property, with the old facility being razed after construction is completed, the Montgomery County School Board decided Thursday.
It will send that recommendation to the Board of Supervisors.
The School Board's 5-4 vote came after just more than an hour of discussion in which members batted back and forth three options: renovating the existing school; building anew on the current property; or building a new school on a new site.
Board member Jim Klaage supported Wat Hopkins' motion to demolish the existing school and build anew. Klaage cautioned against the "Wal-Mart mentality" of building new facilities and abandoning old ones, favoring instead a "Harris Teeter mentality" of tearing down and building anew.
Wal-Mart recently opened a superstore in Christiansburg on land it acquired near New River Valley Mall, vacating its existing building across U.S. 460 in the Marketplace shopping center. Harris Teeter last week opened a new store after tearing down a former Leggett building in Blacksburg's Gables Shopping Center and constructing new facilities.
Klaage and Hopkins both cautioned against nostalgia for the current middle school on Main Street. Hopkins said he feared some residents had developed "a psychological roadblock" to tearing down the school, though it was no longer useful to the school system. Should the School Board decide to sell the property and build elsewhere, Hopkins said, the school's new owner likely also would opt to raze it.
"This is an opportunity to take a step for what the community wants that is more than a Band-Aid," Hopkins said.
Hopkins' motion originally died in a 4-4 deadlock when Mary Beth Dunkenberger passed on voting.
It passed only after motions to renovate the existing school and to build on a new site also failed. Dunkenberger then changed her vote to one in favor of a new school on the current property.
Her objection, she said, was to the idea that the school system couldn't use the building as an elementary school, an alternative school or some other "center of education."
Parents, members of a facilities use study group and middle school employees attending Thursday's meeting greeted the board's decision with applause.
"The main thing is we got a decision and can go on," Blacksburg Middle School Principal Gary McCoy said after the vote. "At least there's a common goal that everyone can work for."
Board member David Moore, who voted against the passed proposal, was concerned that the supervisors or voters would reject the proposal to tear down the current middle school and build anew. Voters will likely be asked in the fall to approve a bond referendum to fund the Blacksburg construction as well as a new Shawsville High School and a new Christiansburg Middle School.
Board Vice Chairman Barry Worth, who also voted against the plan, said renovation could work and was an alternative he thought many would accept.
"If we cannot renovate that building, I'm ready to vote for a new building on a new site," Worth said.
Board member Roy Vickers also voted against the plan, saying all three options were good choices, but that the board should select the one that fit best into long-range plans.
The board has "an opportunity to get a new school - not just a crowded school - on a new large site with aims toward the next 20 years," Vickers said.
School Board Chairman Annette Perkins said the decision was a tough one for her.
"My preference all along has been a new school on a new site," she said, but she has heard little support for that concept from residents.
Given that, she supports building a new school on the existing site, which is held in high esteem by many residents because of its proximity to the public library, downtown and Virginia Tech.
The project's estimated cost is $16.7 million. A new school on a new site would cost an estimated $17.5 million; renovation and expansion of the current school could cost $15.1 million. None of the cost estimates include the estimated $1.3 million needed to relocate the high school's football field.
Construction would occur on land now occupied by the stadium. The board asked Superintendent Herman Bartlett to study possible sites for a new football field.
LENGTH: Medium: 83 linesby CNB