ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, September 14, 1996 TAG: 9609160020
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOANNE POINDEXTER STAFF WRITER
MONTVALE
MONTVALE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is brand spanking new. Here's what people have to say about it. - The rooms, hallways and gym seem big to the pupils, but students give the new Montvale Elementary School rave reviews.
Sixth-graders who remember the leaky roof and the noise of air horns from tractor-trailers passing the old Montvale say they will be proud to be the new school's first graduating class. The say they also are glad to get away from the gasoline tanks.
Sixth-graders like the music room, the school's color schemes, carpeting and air conditioning, and the larger, gray desks. And they also love their lockers, which, after less than two weeks of classes, are beginning to fill up with mirrors, hairbrushes, lunch money and bookbags.
First-graders, who attended kindergarten at the old school down the road, like the gym, amphitheater and cafeteria; they also appreciate having hooks for their coats and bookbags, and sinks in their classrooms.
Of the 10,184 students enrolled in Bedford County schools this fall, 317 attend the $5.2 million Montvale school, which replaces one a couple of miles east on U.S. 460. Landscaping now blocks some of the noise from the four-lane highway, and the front of the school faces the mountains and a new recreational field.
The school, with all new furniture and fixtures, has an additional first grade and a pre-kindergarten program that was not at the old school. Sixteen classroom teachers and 10 resource teachers, in addition to the cafeteria and custodial staffs, work with students from pre-school through sixth grade.
Contractors were adding final touches to a teachers' work room Thursday as the library staff unloaded books. The library, Principal Ron Mason said, will be fully operational by Oct. 1. The new computer lab adjoining the library opened Wednesday.
Bleachers for the gym and the playground equipment have not yet been installed, but pupils don't seem to mind that.
None of the pupils acknowledged getting lost in the new school, but several first-graders say they have gone into the wrong classroom. Mason made the same mistake with a visitor.
First-year teacher Brenda Beisser said what makes the school year exciting is that everybody is learning their way around together.
Seeing students so excited makes teaching in a brand-new building "really neat," said Beisser, who has a big green frog on the door to help her first-graders remember where their class is.
Jackie Craggett has been at Montvale longer than anyone. She's taught the parents of six of her current sixth-graders during her 29-year tenure. Everything, she said, is different at the new school, but she's enjoying it. She does, however, miss the "beautiful, level plot that was surrounded by hills."
Mason said that despite a tour for students and parents before opening day, there were still a lot of big eyes and students in awe the first few days of school. He likes the new school, but added, "I can't say it's been easy." Teachers and the custodial staff put in long hours to get the school ready, Mason said.
Mason's favorite feature is the climate control in each classroom. Several pupils agree with him, but others think the new gym is the best. They're glad they don't have to eat lunch and hold assemblies there like they did in the old school.
"It's BIG!" Travis McDaniel said.
First-graders like the new amphitheater, the dome because of its skylight, and the spacious library.
Kyle Douglas, a first-grader, thinks the cafeteria isn't large enough, even though it has a stage and round tables. But sixth-grader Lacy McClure thinks the cafeteria is great because the stage has special lighting for activities and carpeted steps.
Fannie Brunk has worked in the cafeteria for 28 years, and she likes the new cafeteria, too. "We have all new, modern equipment," said Brunk. "We didn't have as much work space at the old school."
Ashley Linville, another sixth-grader, said she thinks the best feature is the wider hallway where "you can walk side by side."
"I like the new school because the roof doesn't leak and you get spots on your white blouses," classmate Ashley Richards said. One thing she especially likes is the skylight, which critics had called unnecessary.
"It's pretty, especially at night because I can see the school from my house," she said.
A dedication ceremony will be held at Montvale Elementary School Tuesday at 7 p.m.
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ROGER HART/Staff. 1. Megan Swartzel, 6, ponders theby CNBorder of a comic strip she colored in her first-grade class at
Bedford's new school. 2. The skylight dome
in the new Montvale Elementary School is a focal point as you enter
the school. 3. Anna Craver (left), 10, personalizes her new locker.
The students did not
have lockers at the old school. color.