ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, September 19, 1996 TAG: 9609190065
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
When the bell rang at 10:20 a.m. at Cave Spring Junior High, Lt. Gov. Don Beyer got trapped in the hall. He quickly learned about life in an overcrowded school.
Many students didn't recognize Beyer. He was bumped and pushed Wednesday as students rushed to their next class.
Down the hall, the sixth-graders crowded into the school's cafeteria and began eating their lunch.
"I hate it - having to eat so early," said Bruce Boitnotte. "I get hungry before the day is over."
Harrison Basham, another sixth-grader, said he eats snacks in the afternoon to get him through the day.
Because the cafeteria can seat only 250 students, Cave Spring has four lunch periods a day, and the first begins at 10:20. The school, which was built in 1956 to accommodate 785 students, has an enrollment of 920.
Beyer toured the school and saw the trailers that house the overflow. He visited crowded classrooms and a small music room where up to 55 students are squeezed around a piano.
He stopped to talk briefly with Claudine Shelton, a teacher's aide who was working with a student at a desk in a hall. Shelton had moved the desk into the hall so she could work with the student individually, away from the distractions of the rest of the class.
Beyer, chairman of a commission studying Virginia's school buildings, came to Cave Spring Junior because he said it is a good example of the crowding and other inadequacies in many of the state's schools.
"I came armed with facts and figures, but no statistics can express how it is to be run over by sixth-and seventh-graders," he said. "I'm grateful that I didn't have to eat lunch at 10:20 when I was in school."
The Roanoke County School Board approved a $1.6 million contract last week to install air conditioning in Cave Spring Junior, upgrade the electrical system, and make other improvements.
Principal Steven Boyer said the 40-year-old school also would get new windows, but the project will not ease the space crunch or correct other problems. Consultants have said it would cost nearly $8 million to make all the needed renovations.
If the county's school bond referendum had passed in the spring, a new Cave Spring High School would have been built and the junior high students would have been moved to the existing Cave Spring High.
Some students had posted letters on the wall near a classroom asking Beyer for help in easing overcrowding and improving the junior high.
"I think our school has been in bad shape for too long. I think it is time for the government to step in and do something about it," Katie Schrader wrote.
School construction is primarily a local responsibility in Virginia, but Beyer said the state needs to look for "creative solutions" to help localities because of the growing needs in school buildings.
A recent Department of Education report showed that more than 63 percent of the schools in the state need major renovations or replacement. Nearly one-third of all classrooms are overcrowded, and an estimated 7,900 new classrooms will be needed in the next five years.
One-quarter of Virginia's schools still are not accessible to handicapped students, and some schools are not equipped with basic safety features such as fire alarms, the survey reported.
The General Assembly this year funded the first two years of a five-year plan to provide a computer for every five students. But the state survey showed that 72 percent of Virginia's schools need electrical outlets in classrooms, and 57 percent of all classrooms are too small to accommodate additional computers.
"We have two challenges: to meet the immediate need for more classrooms and safer buildings, and to equip schools for the computers the state is committed to providing into the next century," Beyer said.
The Commission on Educational Infrastructure, headed by Beyer, is a 23-member body of legislators, educators and business leaders. It is expected to make recommendations to the 1997 General Assembly.
Beyer said the commission has reached no conclusions and will be gathering more information in the next three or four months. He said members may make more school visits.
Among other proposals, he said the commission is:
*Examining whether Virginia Public School Authority's $800 million ceiling on low-interest bonds should be raised to provide more money for school projects.
*Reviewing measures to increase funds for low-interest loans through the Literary Fund to localities for school improvements. The fund was created to help with school construction, but the state has used part of the money for other expenses in recent years.
*Examining whether a locality's school debt costs should be included in calculating state school aid. Some localities spend more than 11 percent of their school budgets on repaying bonded debt. Five percent of Roanoke County's school budget is earmarked for debt payments.
*Considering whether Virginia schools can establish a trust fund to buy equipment and software, similar to the higher education trust funds used by colleges and universities.
*Evaluating whether school systems can use public/private partnerships so businesses and communities can help bring computers and technology into the classroom.
Beyer said the commission also is reviewing studies that show students perform better academically in well-kept schools with bright classrooms and sufficient technology. He said this could bolster the argument for upgrading school buildings.
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