ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, November 22, 1996 TAG: 9611250122
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
Gradual relief is on the way for the overcrowded Cave Spring Junior High School - apparently without controversy.
Enrollment at the Roanoke County school will be reduced by about 150 students over the next four years by sending all pupils from Cave Spring Elementary School to Hidden Valley Junior High when they finish fifth grade.
Cave Spring Junior was built to hold 785 students but has 919 enrolled this year. The school has been using mobile classrooms for several years to handle the overflow.
Some of Cave Spring Elementary's pupils now go to Cave Spring Junior when they enter the sixth grade. The rest attend Hidden Valley Junior.
Both junior high schools house students in grades six through nine who live in Southwest County. Their attendance zones adjoin.
Cave Spring Elementary's attendance zone will be entirely within the Hidden Valley attendance area beginning next fall. About 35 to 40 sixth-graders who would normally attend Cave Spring Junior next year will go to Hidden Valley.
School officials said the full benefit of the plan will be realized in four years because there are four grades in the junior high schools.
No other changes will be made in the attendance zones for the other six elementary schools in Southwest County. Pupils at those schools will continue to attend the same junior high when they reach the sixth grade.
Hidden Valley Junior High can absorb the additional students without a problem, said Principal David Blevins. It was built to accommodate 1,100 students and has an enrollment of 900 this year.
The county School Board approved the plan Thursday night and directed school officials to implement it next fall. It was recommended by a committee that included parents from each elementary and junior high school in Southwest County.
Committee members told the board that parents at Cave Spring Elementary support the proposal.
"I have talked with the [Parent-Teacher Association], and I have heard nothing but positive comments," said Thad James, principal at Cave Spring Elementary.
Many parents believe the current arrangement - with some Cave Spring Elementary children attending Cave Spring Junior and some going to Hidden Valley - has split the community, he said.
Under the plan, current students at Cave Spring Junior who attended Cave Spring Elementary will be expected to remain at Cave Spring Junior to allow Hidden Valley to gradually absorb the additional students, school officials said.
All Penn Forest, Back Creek, Bent Mountain and Clearbrook elementary pupils will continue to attend Cave Spring Junior when they enter the sixth grade. All Oak Grove, Green Valley and Cave Spring elementary children will attend Hidden Valley.
The support for the plan to ease overcrowding contrasts with the negative reaction to earlier proposals for shifting some students to Hidden Valley.
A plan to realign the grades at the two junior highs met with strong opposition two years ago.
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