Published: September 15, 2006 10:09 pm         

Advisory board says close at least one grade school

LEWISBURG — A review committee assisting with the development of revising and amending the Comprehensive Educational Facilities Plan for Greenbrier County Schools has recommended at least one elementary school be closed and four others consolidated, according to an executive summary released by the board of education this week.

The committee will present its findings at the board’s Sept. 26 meeting, after which the board will either vote for or against the recommendations. If the board votes for the measures, public hearings will take place.

Although the report does not rank any of the schools in terms of which should be replaced or shut down first, Superintendent John Curry said the closing of Williamsburg Elementary School is the county’s top priority. Curry said students from that area would be bused to either Frankford, Lewisburg or Smoot.

“The amendment to the 2000 CEFP better defines and better directs what needs to be done with facilities in Greenbrier County,” Curry said Friday. “It does not answer all the questions, but it addresses how we can provide better facilities for all of our children within our financial constraints. We have to develop a plan for this school system that will take us down the road for the next 50 years.”

The executive summary also recommended closing Rainelle, Smoot, Crichton and Rupert elementary schools and building new ones, combining students from Rainelle and Crichton, and Rupert and Smoot.

The committee was made up of 40 members from various segments of the community. The committee met six times between May and August and devoted two days to visiting and inspecting each school in Greenbrier County.

The poor conditions of schools in the western end of the county became a rallying cry for those who helped defeat a bond issue for a new Lewisburg elementary school last fall. Curry said building a new Lewisburg elementary school would not take priority over the other five schools.

Curry said he expected a healthy debate to occur once parents realize that their schools are being targeted for closure and consolidation, but he feels this is best for the future of education in the county and the best way to spend tax dollars.

According to the executive summary, not only is student population expected to decline in the county, but the aging schools cannot keep up with the needs of the educators in the 21st century.

“From a fiscal point of view, in order to have resources to put toward student learning, it’s a more efficient plan financially, but the bottom line is these finances are put toward student learning,” he said.

In total, the committee recommended more than $44 million in improvements to the 14 schools in the county. Almost half of that includes building the two new elementary schools in the western end.

Of the 40 who voted on the recommendations to the CEFP, more than one-third voted against closing the Williamsburg school and the consolidations of the four other elementary schools.

— E-mail: cgiggenbach@register-herald.com