THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 4, 1995 TAG: 9505020102
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
Sheryl Brennell, president of the Bay View Elementary PTA, attended last week's School Board meeting to hear the good news herself: The board's revised capital improvements budget contains more than $3.8 million to enlarge and renovate the aging school.
For Bay View parents, who have lobbied persistently for relief since the 1980s, the news was sweet. Design work is scheduled to begin in the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.
``The commitment has been made - there's no going back,'' Brennell said. ``We're going to be happy people. I could do a dance.''
Bay View wasn't the only school family with reason to celebrate the updated, five-year capital budget, which was increased by $3.5 million as a result of negotiations between the School Board and City Council.
Also added to the capital budget was a $2.2 million project to renovate Taylor Elementary, built in 1917 and the oldest elementary school in the city.
More money was added to enlarge and renovate Granby High, which means that construction will start in summer 1996 as planned and the $22 million project will not have to be scaled down in size, board members said. There will be an indefinite wait, however, on construction of a swimming pool at the school, board chairman Ulysses Turner said.
The budget now contains $500,000 for emergency repairs this summer to the brick facade at Blair Middle, another of the city's oldest schools. Earlier this year, sections of the brick facade began pulling away from the structure, threatening to collapse.
The board decided last week to repair the facade with bricks rather than a cheaper stucco covering, which would have cost about $100,000 less.
The damage forced the board to speed up debate over the ultimate fate of the school. During discussion last week, the board reached consensus to eventually renovate Blair rather than replacing it with a new school. The board reached similar a conclusion to save Maury High several years ago and will do the same with the Granby project.
Blair Principal George Boothby, who attended the school, and other community members feared that Blair eventually would be torn down because a new school could be built for less money.
Turner credited City Council for its decision to give the school system more money for capital improvements. Besides increasing the School Board's pot, the city is taking its own initiative to build $1 million stadiums for Booker T. Washington and Lake Taylor high schools.
But citizens will pay the price for the improvements. City Council has proposed raising the property tax rate by 2 cents to pay for the projects. by CNB