ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, August 28, 1996 TAG: 9608280020
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICHARD A. RIFE
YOUR AUG. 5 news article on the new Moneta Elementary School (``"Bedford County questions just what schools need") did a disservice to Bedford County School Superintendent John Kent, the Roanoke architectural firm of Cox & Associates and, most of all, the taxpayers of Bedford County by not challenging the inference of several School Board members and residents that this "designer school" represents a frivolous spending of the taxpayers' money. In fact, just the opposite is true.
According to data published by the Virginia Department of Education, construction began on nine new elementary schools statewide during the 1994-1995 school year. Of those nine schools, only one was less expensive than Montvale when compared on the basis of their costs per square foot of floor area.
At $82.88 per square foot, Montvale Elementary School cost 9 percent less than the median cost of the other schools. Rather than nit-picking at a uniquely shaped skylight, the article should have lauded Kent and Cox & Associates for creating a magnificent educational facility at a bargain price.
As your article stated, the school's design reflects input from the faculty and community. North-facing windows reduce operational costs by illuminating classrooms naturally, thus minimizing use of fluorescent lights. Two ball fields and an oversized gymnasium will maximize recreational use. A generator allows the school to function as an emergency shelter during power outages. An adult-education room enables the school to educate the adults as well as the children of the Montvale community. Use of standardized building plans, as suggested by one School Board member, wouldn't allow school projects to incorporate such input from the local communities they serve.
Another School Board member, however, bemoans the loss of "the old brick schools,'' not understanding that Montvale Elementary School, with adjustments for inflation and today's standards of educational quality, was less expensive than those Depression-era buildings he so admires.
The lack of vision displayed by many of those quoted in your article is disappointing. It's very easy to make provocative public statements about architectural features that strike one as odd; it's much more difficult to display leadership and to publicly advocate the long-term wisdom of investment in school facilities that are both innovative and cost-effective.
The quality of the design and construction of public schools is a direct reflection of a community's commitment to the education of its children. I doubt that anyone in Bedford County favors providing the cheapest facilities possible for children. Most residents want a balance of quality and value, which is exactly what the architects delivered at Montvale Elementary School.
Richard A. Rife is editorial-committee chairman of the AIA Blue Ridge in Roanoke, a chapter of the American Institute for Architects.
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