ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, September 21, 1996 TAG: 9609230009
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
Like many in Montgomery County, the only news of a school building plan to reach Teresa Hixon's ears came through controversy.
"I heard about that new school in Riner in the newspaper," she said, "because of the fight about land."
That battle - over 40 acres of land for a new elementary school and athletic fields - split the Riner community in the spring.
On one side stood parents and teachers, many of who came up with the plan for a new school to replace the cramped Riner and Bethel elementary schools. On the other, residents complained they had no input in the plan to take land from a local farmer until it was too late.
That, says Ann Hess, is the problem.
Many Montgomery County residents, she said, "feel like decisions are made and they have no idea that this project is happening."
Hess, a former county Board of Supervisors member, now serves as the vice chairwoman of the Town County Citizen Partnership. The group will hold a forum Thursday on the proposed school-building project.
Audience members will hear from three key players in the project's development, and will have a chance to discuss the impact the plan might have on their communities.
Hess is hopeful the forum will not only generate future meetings, but produce some input to help the county develop a long-range plan for growth.
"This is going to affect the county for years to come - and especially the whole attitude of the residents," she said. "This is a county where we grow and we grow through a hodgepodge."
Hixon, who works at the Kroger grocery store, has three grandchildren in public schools. Her oldest granddaughter complains about the pushing and shoving in overcrowded Christiansburg High School halls.
But she said she hasn't heard much about plans to alleviate overcrowding in Christiansburg, Blacksburg and Shawsville with two new middle schools and a high school.
She grimaced when she heard conservative estimates of $34 million for three new schools; she said the current buildings seem fine.
Still, she said, she'd like to hear more about it.
Since the first voices spoke out against the land purchase in Riner, the School Board has stood behind its building plan - particularly since residents helped developed it.
Two years ago, Transportation and Maintenance Director Larry Schoff asked a parent from each area of the county to head a committee. They, in turn, selected teachers and parents to join and find the best way to handle growth. Schoff said some committees had difficulty finding members.
When people did volunteer, said County Council of PTAs President Jim Johnson, they came from a small circle of people.
"You usually have a fairly small core of volunteers in the school system, as long as things are going well," he said. "If a controversy spurs up, people will come out of the woodwork."
That happened in Riner, twice. Once, with the land negotiations, and again when residents in the Bethel community protested the closing of their school to merge with Riner.
In Blacksburg, parents and residents are still debating whether to keep the middle school in the heart of town or build a new school farther out. Last week, the Board of Supervisors sided with those who wanted the school downtown and asked the School Board to come up with a renovation and expansion plan for the present building.
Schoff said school administrators have presented various building options to schools, the Blacksburg and Christiansburg town councils, the Kiwanis Club and other groups. Attendance, he said, was good in most instances.
But because both boards discuss actual land purchases behind closed doors, Hess said, people have a hard time keeping up with the project until action is taken.
"It is so difficult to get people involved, really, until an issue affects them directly," Hess said. "One of the goals of the forum is to equip citizens so that when they have an issue that affects them they'll know how to get involved."
She said the Partnership has another forum scheduled for Oct. 17, though she hopes more discussion will take place in each community.
"It's not our role to do this, really." The goal, she said, is for the "PTAs or parent groups or whatever to continue to look at this."
About the forum
The forum on Montgomery County school building needs begins at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Christiansburg branch of the Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library.
Speakers:
Annette Perkins, chairwoman of the Montgomery County School Board, will discuss the plan to build three new schools in the next several years.
Jim Moore, member of the Board of Supervisors, will address funding options for the project.
Donna Dunay, Virginia Tech professor and architect, will discuss the relationship between a school and the community that surrounds it.
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