ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 30, 1997 TAG: 9701300063
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
Glenvar doesn't want to be left out when Roanoke County puts together a package of school improvements.
Some parents said Wednesday night that the county should make repairs to existing schools and correct mistakes in buildings before it constructs new schools.
Teachers and parents said the 33-year-old Glenvar High needs better air conditioning, improved lighting inside and outside, more electrical outlets, new lockers, an upgraded auditorium and another gymnasium.
They said plumbing repairs should be made in the school's science labs and better traffic access is needed to reduce congestion around the building.
And parents of students in Glenvar Middle, which opened as a $3.1 million wing of the high school last fall, said the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders should have their own cafeteria, library and auditorium so middle and high school students would not be mingled.
"We finally got a wing, but we need a separate school for middle school students," said Glen Durrett, father of a seventh-grader at Glenvar Middle.
"It's not good to mix middle and high school students," said Durrett, adding the new middle school wing also has many deficiencies.
The school doesn't have proper ventilation or enough bathrooms and storage space, he said. Neither does it have a name on the building or a pay telephone, he said.
Durrett voted against last year's bond referendum that included a new Cave Spring High, but he said he would support a referendum that included money for school improvements in all areas of the county.
"Let's put [last year's] referendum behind us," he said. "I'm sick of hearing about it."
Speaking at a community meeting by a residents' committee studying county school building needs, several parents said they shared his concern about middle and high school students having to share facilities.
"A terrible mistake was made by hooking this [middle school] onto the high school," said Dot Eller. "These mistakes should be corrected before we build new schools."
Other speakers said school officials told the Glenvar community two years ago they didn't have enough money to build a separate middle school. "They made the middle school fit the pocketbook," one parent said.
Several teachers at Glenvar High said many facilities are worn and outdated. The auditorium, which is used for five theater arts classes daily, is in bad condition with creaky seats and poor lighting, they said.
There also were complaints about the high school's library, inadequate parking, sloping access road that is often icy and the poor quality of its drinking water.
Wayne Newman, a member of the study committee, told the Glenvar residents that they should support the committee's recommendations and urge the Board of Supervisors to provide the funds.
"We have to work together," Newman said. "The only way to get it approved is by having total community support for the school system. No Cave Spring, no Glenvar, but everybody working together."
The committee is holding a series of meetings in different parts of the county to hear from parents and others before making its recommendations to the School Board in early March.
School officials decided to undertake the countywide study to counter complaints of favoritism during the $37.4 million school bond referendum that was defeated last spring.
The bond issue was approved by voters in Southwest County, but it was rejected overwhelmingly in other parts of the county.
Committee members, architects, engineers and educators have made several visits to each of the 28 schools in the county during the six-month study.
The community meetings, which concluded Wednesday, were the final step in gathering information about the schools, said Ron Martin, a consultant who is working with the committee. The committee will develop options and rank the school needs.
LENGTH: Medium: 75 linesby CNB