Citizens discuss consolidation

By Amelia A. Pridemore

Debbie Elmore said “mortar and brick” issues have dominated the Fayette County school bond debate.

Monday night, she placed a large brick inside a plastic bag beside Fayette County Board of Education Vice President Leon Newman. She did not speak in favor of or against the bond. She emphasized the people working to provide Fayette County’s children with a quality education are what count — not that brick or any other brick.

“I don’t see that brick cooking. ... I don’t see that brick driving a bus,” she said. “...I don’t see that brick teaching anything.”

Citizens voiced their opinions at a final Fayette County school board meeting before this Saturday’s Fayette County bond vote. Voters will decide whether or not to approve the $49 million bond call which would consolidate Oak Hill, Fayetteville, Mount Hope and Midland Trail high schools in a new facility. It also calls for improvement projects throughout the county.

Those addressing the board strongly emphasized the best interests of the county’s children should be foremost. However, they were deeply divided as to whether the bond would give students a better education or make their lives and their families’ lives miserable enough to hurt their academic performances.

Anita McClung challenged board members to ride a fully loaded school bus with the children and see how long their existing bus rides are already — particularly from communities like Robson, Pax and Sewell Mountain. She said students would also get less one-on-one interaction with teachers in a larger school.

Gary Lilly, Fayette County’s Republican Party chairman, said he is not totally against consolidation, but he is against this particular plan. He encouraged people to go to the assessor’s office to see what they would really pay in increased property taxes and noted Social Security beneficiaries will not receive a cost-of-living increase in 2010.

Kelly Weis acknowledged existing buildings are deteriorating, but she said some of them were built in the late 1970s. She said poor maintenance led to the buildings’ conditions, and she blamed the school board.

“Now, you’re asking us to support the bond — a bailout for your mistakes,” she said. “...It’s your fault that they’re in the shape they’re in.”

Bond passage would lead to Fayetteville High School’s current building being renovated and enlarged. That facility would then replace the existing Fayetteville and Gatewood elementary schools and include seventh- and eighth-grade students.

Weis said her own child would be affected by the proposed reconfigurations, and she did not want her young child in the same building with eighth-graders.

Former Fayette superintendent Matt Edwards said he toured some school facilities and called the lack of maintenance “criminal.” His observations included outdoor benches that were either useless or unsafe, potholes and bad paint.

Edwards also pointed to the proposed new school’s location — a portion of the Whitlock Farm, situated on W.Va. 16 and between Wolf Creek and Crooked Run roads. He said the limited access the property has would cause a transportation mess, and it has no sewage system.

“You’ll have the biggest septic tank in the state of West Virginia,” he said. “...I don’t think the proper planning has taken place. ... I’m not against consolidation, but I’m against this consolidation. It’s ill-conceived. ... Get another one, and I’ll help you pass it. I’ll be a cheerleader.”

Dr. Sylvia Allen, who retired from Fayette County Schools after 30 years, voiced her support for the bond. So did Joel Davis, a 30-year teacher in the county. He read a prose piece he had written about the Fayette County education situation and the bond controversy in the style of Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” — saying this was the “best of times” and “worst of times.”

Davis said he did not even have his own classroom when he began teaching, and he recalled floors that would “heave up” in one building. His current classroom has duct tape on the carpet.

Gordon Billheimer, a past Fayette County board member, encouraged civility during the bond debate’s last days.

“You have to be kind and listen to the other side,” he said. “We have a democracy. You might disagree, and that’s your right, but listen to the other side courteously. We have to be ladies and gentlemen first.”

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