ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 24, 1997 TAG: 9703240096
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER THE ROANOKE TIMES
Residents have found leaky roofs; cramped classrooms, halls and cafeterias; outdated labs; inadequate libraries; and dim parking lots at many Roanoke County schools.
The roofs leak at 21 of 28 Roanoke County schools.
Eight schools are more than 50 years old. One was built in 1911, another in 1915, and still another in 1928.
Nineteen are more than 30 years old. Only two were built in the past 25 years.
Many are overcrowded. Some classes are held in storage areas.
A custodian still shovels coal at one elementary school.
Some schools are in rural areas with small enrollments. Others are in urban neighborhoods and must use mobile classrooms to handle the student overflow.
Many lack elevators and other access aids for students with disabilities.
Some elementary schools do not have art or music rooms or space for computer labs.
Many schools do not have adequate parking or exterior lighting. Some do not have clinics or sick rooms for ill students.
The cafeterias and libraries at several schools are too small for their enrollments.
The science labs at Cave Spring, Glenvar and Northside high schools are outdated.
Several schools lack adequate space for administrative offices and storage.
The county is one of the few school divisions in Virginia that has not fully implemented the middle school concept, because there is no room for ninth-graders at Cave Spring High.
These are some of the findings of a 22-member study committee that spent eight months reviewing needs in all of the county's schools.
To remedy the problems, the panel said last week, the county should spend $120 million during the next decade.
The overcrowding at Cave Spring High and cramped conditions at Cave Spring Junior High have gotten the most attention in recent years, but committee members said the problems don't stop there.
"Improvements are needed in all areas of the county," said John Lyden, a committee member.
"Don't look at just one school or one section of the county," Lyden told about 200 parents who attended the presentation of the committee's report. "We need a school system in which all students have equal educational opportunity."
The committee, which included residents from all five magisterial districts, visited all schools at least once - and some schools several times.
"The visits helped us to get to know the schools," Lyden said.
The panel worked with architects, engineers and educators who inspected the schools, too. The consultants prepared detailed reports on the buildings.
Martin & Associates, the consultant architects who worked with the committee, developed options for improvements at each school, with cost estimates.
The committee adopted a set of guidelines for assessing each school's needs: They focused on equal educational facilities, safety, security, size, comfort and other criteria.
Using the standards, the panel then selected an option for each school and ranked the projects.
It recommended closing two of the older schools - Roland E. Cook Elementary, built in 1915, and Roanoke County Career Center, constructed in 1932 - and reassigning their pupils to other facilities.
The panel proposed the construction of a new high school in South County and a new elementary school in Bonsack in the northeast part of the county.
The new schools and three other projects, costing about $40 million, were included in the first phase.
Because of the large cost, the panel said it's unlikely the county can afford to make all improvements immediately. It recommended a three-phase plan over 10 years.
"The committee has been fairly conservative and creative in ways to hold down costs," said Ron Martin, president of the consulting firm.
"They've recommended the redistricting of attendance zones in some cases and other measures to reduce construction costs," Martin said. "The cost figures could easily have been higher."
Still, the committee acknowledged that the county will have to make an extraordinary financial effort to fund the improvements.
The School Board and Board of Supervisors are expected to appoint an implementation panel soon to help develop a financing plan.
Because of budget pressures in the past, school officials have deferred maintenance and put off renovations that can no longer be ignored, the committee said.
The county's school buildings meet the minimum standards for accreditation, according to the consultants, but they will not meet future educational needs.
The county must end its Band-Aid approach to school building needs, maintenance and roof repairs, said Mary Nasca, a committee member. "It's time to pay the piper."
The committee said the county needs to spend $7.5 million alone for the systematic replacement of school roofs.
Few schools meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act because they were built before the federal law was enacted. The panel recommended that all schools be upgraded so they will be fully accessible to students with disabilities.
Many elementary and middle schools do not have adequate art and music facilities, and the committee said that should be corrected.
"These disciplines are an important part of our culture, and adequate space must be provided for instruction and storage for these subjects," said Mike Quinn, a committee member who headed a middle schools subcommittee.
He cited other deficiencies, including security risks and inadequate teacher lounges.
"We saw some pitiful faculty lounges," Quinn said. "We heard scary tales because some school entrances can't be viewed from school offices."
Committee members urged school officials to try to end the disparity in school facilities, saying it is a major problem in the county.
"The ideas of disparity and inequality were the biggest hurdles our committee had to overcome," said committee member Bob Kaplan. "We cannot allow the self interest of any vocal minority to undermine the well being of all the students in our county."
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