THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 16, 1994 TAG: 9412160535
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
In the movie ``Field of Dreams,'' the words, ``If you build it, they will come,'' prompted the construction of a baseball diamond in an Iowa cornfield.
But Dare County school officials won't be applying that philosophy when it comes to the building of a new high school to serve north beach communities.
They don't plan to build the new facility until there's a need.
The site for the new school was worked out Tuesday, when the School Board, the Town of Kill Devil Hills and the Nature Conservancy announced the completion of a complex land swap which will provide land for Dare County's third high school, and at the same time protect the environmentally sensitive sand dune known as Run Hill.
``But we won't build a school until the school population warrants it,'' said Board of Education member Fletcher Willey, a member of the Run Hill Working Group that negotiated the land swap. When the population necessitates it, ``we'll build the new school. The board will go to the Dare County Board of Commissioners and ask for a referendum on a bond issue.''
There are about 840 students at Manteo High School, a population slightly higher than the 760 capacity recommended by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. In three years, when the current ninth-grade class at Manteo High School reaches the 12th grade, and current sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders make up the underclassmen, then some 1,036 students will be enrolled.
Those figures, Willey said, are based on current enrollment in the sixth through ninth grades, and do not include transfers in or out of the system.
``Even though our current enrollment is above the rating given Manteo High School by the state, it's not a problem right now. But once you get to 1,036 students, you've got some problems as far as crowding,'' Willey said.
For the immediate future, the board will begin long-range planning for the new school. In 1992, the system outlined plans for a third county high school in a report compiled by the High School Task Force. However, Superintendent Leon Holleman said, the new school will not be the only construction project considered by the school in the new year.
``We'll be looking at not only the new high school facility, but at some of the older structures in the system,'' he said.
One of those facilities, Holleman said, will be a portion of Cape Hatteras School that is about 40 years old and was severely damaged by Hurricane Emily in 1993.
``We'll be looking at an entire series of structural needs, but ultimately the voters of Dare County will decide whether or not those projects are done.''
The construction needs of the system will be a priority for the board in 1995, Holleman said.
``We'll have a little better feel for what we need to do after the board reconvenes in January.''
KEYWORDS: DARE COUNTRY BOARD OF EDUCATION by CNB