FAYETTEVILLE — The importance of maintaining schools in Fayette County was a major topic during the Fayette County Board of Education’s meeting Monday.

Board President David Arritt stressed that money from levies needs to be used for maintaining and keeping buildings up to date.

Arritt said, according to the excess levy figures, the board should receive close to $9 million in net pay. He said if they collect that amount they should have over $1 million left after expenditures.         

Superintendent Dwight Dials agreed that funds need to be put back into several of Fayette County’s schools.

“When people talk about our schools, they talk about our new schools,” Dials said. “Well, our new schools are 33 years  old — Fayetteville, Midland Trail and Valley.

“They have needs. I don’t think anybody is talking about abandoning those schools in the near future.”

Board member Leon Ivey said fixing the newer schools up was a major concern in the near future.

Dials said he will propose levy rates to the state, they will then approve, disapprove or revise them, and then he hopes the rates will be announced on the third Tuesday of April.

“One thing you’ll find, for example, if you build a new school and you start closing and consolidating, you’ll find your demand for dollars may not be as great as they are now,” he said about levy rates.

He said they are going to ensure no money is wasted in order to make sure the children of Fayette County are in the absolute safest environments and the most efficient. 

Air quality is a major concern. Dials said when the schools were built they were built under standards no longer relevant to today.

 “We built these schools at a time when the ASHRAE and the BOCA code were at 5 CFMs of fresh air, then went to 8 then 15,” Dials said. “We’ve got things to do to have sufficient comfort, air quality and energy efficiency.”

------

Almost a month has passed since Dials has been at the helm, and he gave praise to the people of Fayette County for their tireless support Monday night.

Dials expressed that working together is the main thing to getting the county back on the right track.

“Good things are happening in this county,” Dials said. “The one thing I like is that people want it to be better — that doesn’t mean it’s real bad.”

Within a month, he said, he’s met with numerous people from staff members to parents  and that not one doesn’t want it to get better.

“I haven’t met anybody that doesn’t want it better and doesn’t want to get local control back,” Dials said. “We want this to be right and if we work together we can get closer to what’s right and what’s best and respect the will of the people while we’re at it.”

------

Anita Ennis raised a concern that parking fees in Fayette County may be exploitive to students who drive to school.

High school students throughout Fayette County are required to pay a fee to park on school grounds.

Ennis said fees are $40 and she believes schools are taking advantage and pressing the children for money.

“I think this is a form of age discrimination and extortion,” she said. “They’re threatened their car will be towed, they’re oppressed if they can’t pay the money and abusive authority because they’re telling them what to do for something that doesn’t belong to them.”

She said she called high schools in the county and received a range of answers for what the money is used for. She said some said it’s used for graveling and paving the lots and others that it’s used for snow removal and others for general funding.

Valley High School, she said, told her they made $1,600 on parking fees last year and they paid $350 per snow removal.

School buses are provided free for children, but Ennis said if students who participated in football, tennis, band or any other school activity that requires excess equipment were to ride the bus the drivers would “complain.”

Dwight Dials said parking fees are not atypical or unusual. He said Woodrow Wilson High School and Cabell Midland High School in Cabell County have parking fees.

“It doesn’t happen everywhere,” he said. “It’s discretionary.”

He’s never had a complaint about them, but he’s reviewing the matter, he said.

He added, “I’ve never heard it used for snow removal.”

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