WISE, Va. – The Wise County Board of Supervisors received a deadline Tuesday to decide on a proposed school construction and renovation project: November.
That’s when Wise County Schools Superintendent Jeff Perry said the school board must make important decisions about next school year, which will be affected by the supervisors’ decision.
But, Perry said, he’d like to have an answer in September.
The proposal – aimed at resolving a bitter, long-standing debate over consolidating schools – would cost about $70 million.
The proposal is to spend $28 million apiece to build new schools in Wise and Powell Valley; $10 million to fully renovate Coeburn High School; and put $1.5 million apiece into renovations at Appalachia and Pound while incorporating the elementary and high schools in St. Paul into one K-12 school, with no capital improvement cost.
Students in Pound, Appalachia and St. Paul would be given the choice of staying in their home communities or attending the new schools.
If the county supervisors don’t approve to proceed with the compromise plan, Perry told them Tuesday, the alternative is clear: The school board will proceed with its plan to consolidate its six high schools into three, in the existing buildings at Powell Valley, J.J. Kelly and Coeburn, next school year.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have failed the people that work for us; I don’t think there’s any question about that,” Perry said, after describing classrooms where teachers are wiping sweat from their faces before students who are melting in their seats in non-air conditioned buildings.
In a county that seeks to attract high-tech jobs, he said, the high schools’ electrical wiring is so far below standards that “you can’t have a fan plugged in and an overhead projector plugged in at the same time” without blowing a fuse.
Board members asked about specifics, but particularly about the potential for more renovations at the smaller schools and the project’s price tag, which is far above the $42 spending limit they set.
Rivers said the board has the matter on its Sept. 9 regular meeting agenda, but offered no comment on the proposal after the meeting.
If construction starts in November, Perry said, the new schools are expected to open in January 2013.
dmccown@bristolnews.com | (276) 791-0701
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