Washington County Supervisors Move Forward With Plans For Building Program

By: Debra Mccown | TriCities.com
Published: July 08, 2009

ABINGDON, Va. – The Washington County Board of Supervisors agreed Tuesday night to continue with plans for the second phase of a county school system building program.

The supervisors met with school officials to discuss options for financing the projects, which include additions to eight county schools.

School leaders hope to leverage $2 million or more in existing capital improvement money to finance $10 million for additions to one elementary school, two middle schools, all four county high schools and the William N. Neff Center for Science and Technology, a technical school that serves high school juniors and seniors.

In the first phase, four elementary schools and one middle school have been renovated.

“There are times in your life when you look at problems and you actually feel that you’re blessed,” said school Superintendent Alan Lee. “Washington County is blessed in having so many kids and so many good programs and so many good teachers to bring kids into these programs and create the need to expand.”

Two large needs identified are classrooms and rooms for band and chorus programs. The Neff Center would absorb high-school students who currently attend technical school classes in a Depression-era building with adult skill center students. Programs for adult learners would move to Virginia Highlands Community College, a plan the supervisors also agreed with in concept Tuesday.

The Neff Center project, the most expensive on the list, is the most controversial; Supervisor Jack McCrady called the project “too expensive” although he supported the program as a whole. He said the county needs to plan for potentially worse financial times.

County Administrator Mark Reeter said a reason to move forward this year is a favorable environment for construction costs and a need to “strike while the iron is hot.”

“It’s time to do it because … it won’t work a year from now,” said School Board member Herschel Stevens. “We need this program to maintain the quality of education that we have put together in the last 20 years.”

Stevens called opposition to the technical school project “class warfare,” declaring that parents of tech-school students also are taxpayers.

Taylor said there’s no question the projects are needed.

“We’ve got schools that are over capacity and we’ve got financing that looks good except for one year that we would have to maybe raise taxes depending on how we finance the thing,” Taylor said.

Based on financing options presented Tuesday, the need for extra funding would likely be delayed to 2014 or 2015.

These are the projects being considered:
* Meadowview Elementary School – six classrooms, two kindergarten/pre-k classrooms, bathrooms and storage, $1.5 million;
* Glade Spring Middle School – six classrooms, library, chorus room, band room, bathrooms and storage, $1.6 million;
* Wallace Middle School – six classrooms, computer lab, bathrooms and storage, $1.2 million;
* Holston High School – chorus room, band room, office space and storage, $600,000;
* Patrick Henry High – chorus room, band room, practice rooms, office space and storage, $600,000;
* John S. Battle High – chorus room, band room, practice rooms, office space and storage, $500,000;
* Abingdon High School – chorus room, band room, practice rooms, office space and storage, $500,000;
* William N. Neff Center – seven classrooms and four career and technical shops, $3.1 million.