ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, May 15, 1996 TAG: 9605150070
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Lede
The Roanoke County Board of Supervisors, after 70 minutes of bitter wrangling and tangled parliamentary maneuvering Tuesday, voted to provide $5.3 million to install air conditioning at Cave Spring Junior High School and finish the Northside Middle School gymnasium project.
The supervisors also agreed to appropriate $300,000 for instructional equipment at the new Glenvar Middle School - half the amount requested by the School Board.
The vote on each project was 3-2, reflecting the sharp split among the supervisors and voters following the defeat of the school bond referendum last month.
Funding for all projects had been in doubt since the negative vote. Some supervisors said they didn't know, when the meeting began, how the voting would turn out.
Parents in Southwest County had contended it would be unfair to fund any projects in the $37.4 million bond issue without funding them all. They wanted the supervisors to halt work on all school projects until a study of all county needs has been finished and the projects have been ranked in priority.
Supervisors Chairman Bob Johnson supported all three projects and tried unsuccessfully to get the board to stop bickering over them. But some supervisors were in no mood to make a show of unity.
"This was not Roanoke County's finest hour," Johnson said after the voting was over.
School Superintendent Deanna Gordon said she was pleased that the schools can now install air conditioning and upgrade the electrical system at Cave Spring Junior High. The $2.5 million plan was proposed more than five year ago, but it was delayed several times.
Mary Nasca, president of the Cave Spring Junior High Parent-Teacher Association, said the parents are glad the school will finally get air conditioning and an upgraded electrical system.
"But this does nothing to correct the other deficiencies in the school and the larger problems in Southwest County," she said. "It just addresses small problems, and it didn't deal with the larger issues."
Nasca said Southwest County parents are looking to the Board of Supervisors and School Board to develop a consensus and take the lead on providing adequate facilities and easing space problems in the schools.
The supervisors agreed to provide $2.8 million to complete the Northside auditorium and gymnasium project, which is under way.
Gordon said she was disappointed that the supervisors appropriated only $300,000 for Glenvar Middle School, which will open this fall. School officials will have to settle for fewer computers and less laboratory equipment and other instructional materials for the school.
While the vote for funding each project was 3-2, the alignment of supervisors switched on some projects.
Johnson, the Hollins District member, and Spike Harrison, who represents Catawba, voted for all three projects. They also wanted to provide the full $600,000 for equipment for Glenvar Middle, but lost 3-2.
Cave Spring Supervisor Fuzzy Minnix supported the money for Cave Spring Junior High and opposed the funds for Northside and Glenvar. Minnix wanted the supervisors to provide an additional $5 million for other renovations at Cave Spring Junior High, but he could not get backing.
Minnix also wanted the board to address other school needs in Southwest County, saying a piecemeal approach is the "wrong, wrong, wrong way of going about fixing the problem." But he said he was forced to support the money for Cave Spring Junior High or it would appear that he was voting against Southwest County.
Minnix said he voted against funds for Northside and Glenvar because a majority of voters in those areas of the county opposed the bond issue, which included funds for those projects.
Windsor Hills Supervisor Lee Eddy opposed the money for Cave Spring Junior High, but he supported Northside and Glenvar. Eddy said he doesn't think the county should spend $2.5 million at Cave Spring Junior High until school officials know what other renovations will be needed.
Harry Nickens, who represents Vinton, was the only member to oppose funds for all projects.
"This is not the way to go. Without a study of all the county's school needs, we don't know which way to go," Nickens said. "This is an ill-conceived approach when we don't know what the true needs are."
But school officials said all three projects were planned long before last month's referendum.
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