Consolidation, closings and renovations discussed

By DAN KEGLEY/Staff

Smyth County School Board members took a big step toward facilities improvements Monday, acknowledging a consensus that replacing Marion Intermediate School and renovating Marion Primary are priorities and authorizing Superintendent Dr. Mike Robinson to open related dialogue with the community.
Deteriorating MIS was the elephant in the room for the school board long before MGT of America identified its replacement as a leading recommendation in its study last winter of the county’s school facilities.
“Everyone could agree Marion Intermediate School needs a new building,” said board member Jerry Catron, who encouraged the board to use MIS as a starting point for what will be an expensive and long-term endeavor if even only a few of the study recommendations are followed.
“All of the choices take big moneys,” Catron said. “Why don’t we start with MIS and get it on the burner?”
Catron colleague Jim Coulthard recommended the facilities improvements follow two- and three-year plans.
Communication with the community about plans for MIS will be crucial, board members agree. By “community,” they made clear, they mean the residents of all of Smyth County, and not just those served by Marion schools and their feeder schools in Atkins and Sugar Grove.
School facility improvements will need “buy-in all the way around,” said board chairman Laura Hall.
In April, the board learned the then-current price tag estimate if all of MGT’s plan were adopted. Dr. Ed Humble, MGT’s director of educational facilities planning, told the board. “You need to know you have $100 million in school facilities needs.”
The facilities study itself was taken to the citizens in charrettes throughout the county designed to gather input that was incorporated into the study’s final recommendations.
Humble explained the study consultants also measured in deep relief the state of school buildings’ walls, windows, floors, ceilings, plumbing and climate control. They examined how well a room used for science instruction, for example, functions in that role. The reviewed technology readiness, a building’s ability to accept the infrastructure needed to operate computers, their networks and related equipment, which is an issue in most older buildings. And they evaluated the state of school grounds, including vehicular traffic areas.
Assessments for each measure of condition resulted in a score for each and an overall school score, all reflecting the urgency of need for improvements.
The options collectively include construction of new schools, particularly a second elementary school in Marion, renovations of others, and combinations and closures. Each option consists of some variation on that theme, creating a seemingly endless number of possibilities for project prioritizing and grouping.
Some of the options’ components included closure of Sugar Grove Combined School because of its small enrollment, while other plans might take advantage of the building’s surplus space. Enrollments and space, and Chilhowie High School’s overall condition, led to an option to close CHS and send those students to Northwood, or perhaps build a politically more palatable new high school between Chilhowie and Saltville.
But every plan involves closing Marion Intermediate School, widely acknowledged as the most physically needy building in the school system.
Through all the complexity facing the board in choosing and implementing facility improvements, board member Charlie Doane cautioned the board members to avoid getting caught up in the larger construction projects that may lie ahead.
“We can’t lose focus on the other things we have to do,” Doane said. “If we’re saving and in line for loans and money is available for smaller projects, let’s don’t overlook that.”
Earlier Doane sought to remind the board of the real reason any school project is undertaken. “Building, merging, consolidating…the student is the most important thing. It’s not what we want. It’s what’s best for them.”