School E-mail March 6, 1996

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Subj: Blacksburg Middle School
Date: 96-03-06 10:14:28 EST
From: James.C.Klagge@bev.net (James C. Klagge)
To: SchoolIssuesList@sable.cc.vt.edu

And now for the issue everyone has been awaiting!

Since the Roanoke Times was not present at the school board meeting last night, you won't find this in the paper yet, so I'll share it this way:

Last night the Blacksburg FUSS committee presented its report on the Blacksburg Middle School. The history is this: Originally the FUSS recommended building a new middle school on a new site in Blacksburg. Then some VA Tech architects advocated looking into the possibility of expanding and renovating the middle school on the present site instead. The supervisors liked that idea and gave some money to investigate that possibility. The Blacksburg FUSS studied that idea and held a public forum to get input as well, and then formulated its view. They recommend that we build a new middle school, but on the back of the present property (where the stadium is) and tear down the old middle school. Their recommendation is based on the value of the current location, in proximity to downtown and to VA Tech, but the problems with renovation and expansion. They were somewhat concerned about the safety of students in a building that was being renovated, but most importantly they were concerned about the disruption to the education of those students. They were also concerned that the tentative and very rough expansion/renovation plans did not address all the needs of the "middle school concept". But disruption to education for perhaps three years was clearly primary.

I asked the administration to help the committee gather actual evidence (rather than anecdotal and "I can imagine that..." evidence) from other school districts that have undertaken large-scale renovation/expansion projects to see what their experiences have been concerning disruption. Wat Hopkins asked the administration to see if they could formulate a tentative plan about how the school might actually go about trying to move students around for construction & still educate them at the same time, so that we have an idea what we might be dealing with if we opt for renovation/expansion. Other concerns were: How much might it cost to actually tear down and throw away a huge building? Since this is the first time that this third option has really been articulated, there is a need for much more information about it. Perhaps you have questions as well.

Eventually the school board will have to choose between the three options: 1) Build a new school on new land; 2) Renovate and expand on site; or 3) Build a new school on the present site and remove the old building.

My sense is that each view has a large number of supporters, so that whichever one we choose will be OPPOSED by a majority of people! Not a very pleasant prospect for a public official! On the other hand, I have not felt that people feel SO strongly about this that they simply and totally reject any of the options. This makes me optimistic that we may be able to handle this in a reasonably peaceful way. As you may have guessed, I'm interested in your opinions or other input on this. I also urge you to contact your own representative about this if you are not in my district. But I'm hoping people will address ALL the options (or put them in order of preference). This is the only way a compromise consensus could emerge. Most people will have to be satisfied with their second choice--so I'm hoping we can get a sense of which option would be the 1st OR 2nd choice of most people.

I'm under no illusion that this is a valid polling method--many people with a strong stake in this don't have e-mail, or aren't on this list. But at least this constitutes some feedback, and as always the reasons are as important as the opinion.

-Jim Klagge.

email: admin@gisone.com