ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, October 25, 1996               TAG: 9610250099
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-4  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER

SCHOOL BUILDING UP TO COMMITTEE

A study of school building needs in Roanoke County is expected to be finished by late February or early March, when recommendations will go to the School Board and Board of Supervisors.

Consultant Ron Martin said Thursday night that a 22-member residents' committee is still gathering information on school needs and probably will begin ranking the projects in January.

The committee includes four members from each magisterial district and two at-large representatives.

It was named by the School Board and supervisors in the aftermath of the defeat of a $37.4million school bond referendum last spring.

The group was asked to evaluate the building needs at all schools and give them a priority ranking.

Martin told the School Board that the committee finished its visits to all 28 county schools this week, but it will probably make more tours before submitting its recommendations.

Martin heads Martin & Associates, a Roanoke Valley architectural and engineering firm that was hired by the School Board to work with the committee on the study.

Each school has been visited four times, he said: twice by consultant architects and engineers, once by educational consultants and once by the committee members. The architects and engineers also accompanied the educational consultants and committee members on their tours.

Martin said a preliminary report with detailed information on conditions and a list of needs that have been identified by architects, engineers, school staffs, parents and others has been prepared on each school..

"We'll probably be back in each school at least twice more before the committee makes its recommendations," Martin said. "We don't have the answers yet."

He said the committee, which he described as an "active, hands-on group," hopes to meet with the county planning staff, Superintendent Deanna Gordon and the Board of Supervisors in coming weeks.

The committee also has met with former state Superintendent of Public Instruction John Davis, who has been hired as an educational consultant for the study.

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