ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, June 28, 1996 TAG: 9606280069
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
The Roanoke County School Board will use a resident committee to end the sectional split among voters that helped defeat a bond issue in April for a new Cave Spring High School and other projects.
To build support for a new package of school improvements, the School Board appointed a 21-member committee Thursday night to participate in a study of all school needs and rank the projects.
"We hope this committee can help persuade the community and develop a consensus on our needs," said Jerry Canada, chairman of the School Board.
"Once these folks go into our schools and take a look at the conditions, I don't think it will be difficult to get a priority ranking of the projects," Canada said.
The committee will work with Martin & Associates, a Roanoke Valley architectural and engineering firm that recently was hired to assess school needs throughout the county following the recent defeat of the bond issue.
Canada said the committee members will be asked to attend a series of public meetings at each school to get the views of parents and others on needed improvements.
"We're asking for a big commitment from the committee, and we know the study will take time, but it's important for the county and the schools," he said.
Canada said the study could take six to eight months, but no target date has been set for its completion. "We want it to be thorough and valid."
The study won't be finished in time for a bond referendum in November because the public meetings won't be conducted until this fall.
The panel includes four members from each magisterial district and one at-large representative.
Two from each district were selected by School Board members, and the other two from each district were nominated by members of the Board of Supervisors.
The School Board also chose one at-large member. Canada said the supervisors will be invited to nominate an at-large representative, too.
The committee includes several Parent-Teacher Association leaders and a former candidate for the School Board. The panel members from each magisterial district are:
* Catawba - Barbara Buckley, King Harvey, Terriann May and Jane Milliron.
* Cave Spring - Robert Kaplan, Mary Nasca, Michael Quinn and Michael Ray.
* Hollins - Bill Adkins, Marylee Davis, Al Hardy and Becky Walter.
* Vinton - Doug Chittum, Bonnie Jones, John Lyden and David Semones.
* Windsor Hills - Joseph Byrd III, Wayne Newman, Al Thomason and Donna Vittur.
The at-large member is Jeff White, who lives in the Hollins District.
School officials decided to undertake the countywide study to counter complaints of favoritism that arose during the bond referendum campaign. Ninety percent of the defeated $37.4 million bond issue would have been spent on a new Cave Spring High with smaller amounts earmarked for half a dozen other projects.
Voters in Southwest County approved the bond issue by nearly a 2-to-1 margin, but it was rejected overwhelmingly in other sections of the county.
School officials said earlier the cost of the new package of improvements could be higher than the previous bond issue because an earlier five-year capital plan included school projects totaling more than $70 million.
Canada said Thursday night the board has not set a ceiling on the cost of a possible package for another bond issue.
"We will present the entire study and all of the needs to the Board of Supervisors," he said.
At some point, Canada said he expects the supervisors and County Administrator Elmer Hodge to provide figures on the funding level that the county can afford. The supervisors will decide whether to hold another bond referendum or to finance the improvements through the Virginia Public School Authority without asking voters to approve them.
In other action, the board approved a $495,000 budget for the federally funded Title I program next year for special help in reading and math for disadvantaged children. Joseph Kyle, director of federal programs and testing for county schools, said the funding is about the same as the past year, but $300,000 below the level four years ago.
Homer Duff, director of facilities and operations for schools, told the board that construction has started on a 22-room addition at William Byrd High School. School officials awarded a $3.1 million contract earlier for the project to Thor Inc., a Roanoke contractor.
Duff said the steel work will begin soon on the Northside Middle School auditorium and gymnasium project. Construction on the Glenvar Middle School will be completed by the opening of school in August, he said.
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