THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 12, 1996 TAG: 9611120278
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN JOLLY DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PARKSLEY LENGTH: 49 lines
It's been 30 years since Accomack County built an elementary school. In that time, the School Board has drawn up and discarded more than 22 building plans.
Finally, on Monday, some shovels hit the dirt. In a field outside Parksley, eight members of the School Board broke ground for an elementary school that's part of a $19.5 million construction project.
``He who opens a school, closes a prison,'' Superintendent William Owings said at the ground-breaking, quoting Victor Hugo.
Owings told Sheriff Robert Crockett, who was in the audience, that he hopes to put him out of business.
``I hope so,'' said Crockett.
Over the next 14 months, Accomack will be building the Parksley school and another elementary school on the mainland and one on Chincoteague Island, plus a K-12 facility on Tangier Island.
The School Board also plans to renovate North and South Accomack elementary schools at a cost between $5 and $6 million.
About 2,700 of the county's 5,500 students - including all of the elementary school children - will be affected by the construction. They will leave antiquated, overcrowded buildings with no air conditioning for schools built to handle the latest computer technology.
Superintendent Owings said at the ground-breaking that the new standards of learning will require third-graders to do a project in which they hook into the Internet and download information.
``When we were in third-grade there was no such thing as a computer, much less the Internet,'' Owings said. He said the new facilities will help local children compete in an increasingly technological world.
None of Accomack's nine supervisors attended the ground-breaking at Parksley, nor did the county administrator. Supervisor Wanda Thornton was at the ground-breaking in Chincoteague. Owings said the supervisors were at a meeting at The Homestead resort.
Finding the money to pay for the schools has been a big problem. Supervisors appointed a commission to come up with a plan for building the schools without a tax increase. Some of the commission's measures have been implemented, but some are still under consideration, Owings said.
At the ground-breaking, the schools superintendent came up with another solution.
``After the prayer, we're going to take an offering to cut down the cost of the buildings,'' teased Owings. by CNB