THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 22, 1995 TAG: 9511220501
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN AND KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
Princess Anne High School will rise from its ashes bigger and better than it was before a Sept. 1 fire gutted 29 classrooms, the library and the cafeteria.
A group of students, parents and teachers, who dubbed themselves Operation Phoenix, convinced the School Board and the City Council Tuesday to spend about $1.5 million extra to expand the school's cafeteria and library, and build additional space for its arts programs.
The expansion will be added to the $7 million paid by Aetna Insurance to rebuild what was lost or damaged in a fire started by an arsonist three days before the school year began.
No arrests have been made, although an investigation is continuing.
The vote by both bodies Tuesday was met with a standing ovation from Phoenix members, students and the high school's cheerleaders who showed up in their red and white uniforms.
Work is expected to begin today, with the refinement of plans to accommodate the expansion, said Anthony L. Arnold, the school district's director of facilities planning and construction.
Workers already have begun removing asbestos from the charred building, he said. Steel will be ordered in two months and general construction will follow in two months, he said.
``The project should be completed by January 1997,'' Arnold said. ``It's pretty ambitious.''
Faced with an ongoing budget crisis, the board was forced to finance the expansion with money from the site acquisition fund, which is normally used to buy land for future school buildings. The City Council had to authorize the transfer of money for the expansion.
The fund contained $3 million, but tapping into it was not without risk.
The district is now in condemnation proceedings with a Virginia Beach resident to obtain her property for the planned relocation of Linkhorn Park Elementary School to a site across from Virginia Beach General Hospital.
The proceedings may end up costing the district more money than planned, but how much is not known and that uncertainty prompted School Board member Robert W. Hall to cast the only dissenting vote on either body.
``I have concerns about this money,'' Hall said. ``I don't want to see the School Board overspend in this area. If the board votes to take $1.5 million from this fund and then later has to talk about site acquisition. Well, I'd be loath to talk about projects then.''
City Manager James K. Spore told the City Council that he is confident the fund will cover the condemnation costs and any extra money needed to pay for the relocation of Seatack Elementary School.
In approving the plan, the City Council said it would not promise - as the School Board had asked - to replenish the site acquisition fund in next year's capital budget.
Spore and several council members said they did not want to make promises without knowing how the money would be spent. The city and district already have acquired sites for the next seven schools to be built.
Council member Louisa M. Strayhorn, a former School Board member and member of the joint city-school district committee that selects school sites, said she agrees that the acquisition fund should be tapped for the school expansion, and doesn't see an immediate need to replenish the fund.
``This is an appropriate place for this to come from,'' she said. ``There is plenty of time for decisions to be made in the future.''
The expansion decision had to be made Tuesday, school officials said, because the school district had been under pressure from the insurance company. The longer the district waited, the more Aetna had to pay in rent and other costs associated with the school's move to a temporary home at Celebration Station.
Before the fire, Princess Anne was the city's oldest high school still in use. Built in 1954, it serves 2,700 students, including the Open Campus program and the Princess Anne Center for Pregnant Teens. The school has been renovated twice, and both times demands for a larger cafeteria were overlooked, school supporters said.
Most Princess Anne classes are being held inside Celebration Station, a former shopping mall on Virginia Beach Boulevard, two miles east of the campus.
Students are slowly being moved back to the school as clean-up work is completed. A 19-classroom addition that was under construction before the fire broke out is nearing completion and should be ready in mid-December.
Princess Anne cheerleaders, who said the tragedy has helped bring them together, were jubilant after the council vote.
``I'm very proud of the City Council and the School Board,'' senior Lauren Mills said. ``I think they made an excellent decision and I'm glad that they are standing behind us.''
``It's good that we made something good out of something bad,'' sophomore Lynnie Summerlin added.
KEYWORDS: CONSTRUCTION PRINCESS ANNE HIGH SCHOOL by CNB