Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 20, 1993 TAG: 9307200065
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FINCASTLE LENGTH: Long
The dispute has highlighted differences between Botetourt's more affluent, more densely settled southern end and its more rural portion to the north.
Most of the new school's strongest supporters are in the south; most of its biggest opponents are in the north.
But people on both sides say they don't want to play up the "North vs. South" chasm.
"This is not a war," said Karen Erbe, a Cloverdale parent who is pushing for the new school. "People who feel strongly about an issue have to go for it. But you have to respect the other side's opinion, too."
And besides, Erbe notes, things are backwards: The people to the north tend to be longtime residents who are well-accustomed to mountain hollows and rolling farmland - real Southerners, in other words. The people to the south are much more likely to be Yankees who've moved to the county's burgeoning subdivisions to escape big-city living.
Still, the school question is the most controversial issue to hit the county since Roanoke Cement Co. dropped plans to burn hazardous waste at its Botetourt plant.
Currently, Botetourt Intermediate has been serving all seventh- and eighth-graders in the county. But the School Board has been moving forward since January 1992 with plans to build the new school to handle sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders in southern Botetourt.
The county already owns a site in Cloverdale for the new school. Until early this year, it seemed like a done deal.
But now dissent from some residents - who complain about the cost and the idea of splitting up the county's middle-school students - has put the issue up in the air. Supervisor G.C. Thompson Jr. said Monday he believes the chances the new school will get built are about "50-50."
On Monday, the Board of Supervisors voted 3-1 to tell Superintendent Clarence McClure to go ahead with planning for the school.
But the board also stipulated that he report back in August - to give them another chance to consider whether they want to keep paying the bill for planning a new school.
Supporters of the school say it's needed to serve the growing population in the county's southern corridor.
"Two-thirds of the kids are here," said Erbe, former PTA president at Cloverdale Elementary. "Right now they're all bused an hour, an hour and a half, up to Botetourt Intermediate."
She said the elementary schools in the southern part of the county are at or nearing capacity. Opening a second middle school would allow the county to shift sixth-graders there and free space at the elementary schools.
Ken Taylor, who lives in northern Botetourt, told the county supervisors on Monday that having a second middle school would "deny every child in this county the chance to meet, come to know and understand all other children in this county." They wouldn't get a chance to appreciate the "demographic, ideological and sociological" differences in the county, Taylor said.
At Botetourt Intermediate sporting events, Taylor said, you'll find parents from all over the county sitting side-by-side, the best of friends. But, he said, if you go to a game between the county's two high schools - James River and Lord Botetourt - "those same people are barely on speaking terms."
Donna Mooney, a supporter of the school plan, said she believes the educational advantages of a new middle school outweigh any social benefits. "We don't send our kids to school to socialize," she said. "We send our kids to school for an education."
Some opponents of the new school have also said it will cost too much. Original estimates were in the $5 million to $7 million range. Now they go as high as $10 million.
At a School Board meeting this month, a group of 40 parents passionately urged the board to drop plans for the middle school. Instead, they said Botetourt should build a new countywide high school to unite Lord Botetourt and James River students under one roof.
The Fincastle Herald reported that School Board Chairman Ray Sprinkle was twice shouted down when he tried to end the meeting before everyone who wanted to speak had their say. School Board member Jim Ruhland said he was upset about the "Confederate and Yankee" division in the county. "We're behind the parents," Ruhland told the crowd, "but we know we can't satisfy everybody."
Erbe said supporters of the new school were "blindsided" by the turnout of opponents at the School Board meeting. She said pro-middle-school people are upset that objections to the new school have come, in their view, so late in the game.
"Where have they been all this time?" Erbe said Monday. She held up a worn file folder that was thick with news articles and documents she's been collecting on the school plan for more than two years. "We've been sitting through those boring School Board and supervisors' meetings and not seeing anybody there."
Taylor said he doesn't believe citizens were given a chance to truly debate the specifics of the plan - including the growing cost estimates. Taylor, who is president of the county council of PTAs, said he brought the issue up at a council meeting in May "and I tell you, I almost had a war on my hands."
But Taylor believes that there won't be any hard feelings, whoever wins.
After disagreeing over the school plan on Monday, Taylor and Mooney swapped tips for curing swimmer's ear. Their kids are swim-club teammates. Taylor whipped out wallet photos of his twin girls for Mooney and Erbe.
As Erbe headed for the parking lot, she told Taylor with a laugh, "I guess we'll be seeing each other at every meeting from now to Timbuktu."
by CNB