After months of heated debates, Fayette County voters will take to the polls Saturday and decide whether to support a $49 million bond call that would, in addition to several improvement projects, result in the consolidation of four of the county’s six high schools.

County Clerk Kelvin Holliday said 1,513 people cast their votes during the Oct. 5-21 early voting period at the county courthouse. Additionally, Holliday said, some absentee ballots were submitted.

“I consider this a very good turnout for a special election,” he said, adding the turnout was roughly half the number of early voters in the 2008 general election.

The bond, when combined with nearly $22 million from the state School Building Authority, would consolidate Oak Hill, Fayetteville, Mount Hope and Midland Trail high schools and fund improvement projects throughout the county.

Both opponents and proponents of the bond have been vocal leading up to the election.

Schools Superintendent Chris Perkins says the new high school, which would be located on a portion of the Whitlock Farm on W.Va. 16 between Wolf Creek and Crooked Run roads, would help the county in its efforts in preparing students for the 21st century global market by providing more advanced classes as well as support classes.

Additionally, the bond would allow for the closure of the county’s oldest schools, some of which, county officials say, are run-down and do not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Opponents, however, worry about losing their community schools, overcrowding in a larger school, long bus rides and less individual attention.

The following is a synopsis of the additional improvement projects that would be supported by the bond:

-- The current Fayetteville High School would be renovated and replace the existing Fayetteville and Gatewood elementary schools. Students who would attend grades seven and eight at Fayetteville High School would also be included.

-- Mount Hope Elementary students would leave their 80-year-old building and move into the current Mount Hope High School, which would also be renovated.

-- Students from Collins Middle School, and fifth-through-eighth-grade students from Mount Hope High School would consolidate, moving into the renovated Oak Hill High School.

-- A renovated Midland Trail High School would house the combined student bodies from Ansted and Nuttall middle schools.

-- Valley Elementary School would receive a new kitchen and dining area, neither of which it currently has, and Valley High School would be renovated, receiving science labs, an auxiliary gymnasium, football field and track facility.

n Meadow Bridge Elementary would receive a new kitchen and dining area, and Meadow Bridge High School would receive a new entrance, administration area, commons/dining area and new gymnasium equipment.

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The polls open at 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, with residents casting their ballots at their usual precincts.

The former Oak Hill, Scarbro and Oak Hill East End elementary buildings will also be open for voters.

Anyone with questions can call the county clerk’s office at 304-574-4226.

-- E-mail: mjames@register-herald.com