CHRISTIANSBURG -- Members of the Price's Fork Elementary School community came out Tuesday to urge the Montgomery County School Board not to push plans to replace their school down the list of capital projects.

Teachers, parents and a rising fourth-grader described an overcrowded school where part of the library is used for storage, the windows are so drafty that students huddle by radiators to stay warm in the winter and rodents scurry about.

"In our school, mice get under the door and run around in the school building," said Claire Collver, the fourth-grader. "One teacher is very afraid of mice. Another teacher found a mouse in her purse, eating her gum."

School board Chairwoman Penny Franklin earlier this month suggested that the board discuss the order in which it plans to do school improvement projects in the county.

Building a new Price's Fork Elementary and Elliston-Lafayette Elementary top the list. But school projects in Riner and Christiansburg are also considered "critical" by the board.

The board has yet to schedule the discussion Franklin suggested. Franklin said the needs for improvements at multiple schools are so great that starting work soon is important and the longer the board waits the more expensive the projects are likely to be.

Plans for Riner include replacing Auburn Middle School and renovating the high and elementary schools, which would require very little, if any, new land. Parents from that community have been coming to board meetings and calling for swifter action to be taken.

The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors has approved $98.9 million for school projects over the next several years, but that will be spent in phases. The first round of funding is not expected to be enough to address schools in Riner, Prices Fork and eastern Montgomery County, where Elliston-Lafayette is located.

The county recently announced an agreement to buy land in Elliston-Lafayette, but a Prices Fork location has proved more elusive.

But the Prices Fork community, which was promised a new school, should not be punished for the inability of public officials to close a deal, argued parents and teachers.

"We are using every inch of our old and failing facility, and still we are waiting patiently for our turn for a new building," said Carol Bland, one of three teachers who spoke Tuesday night.

Riner parents argue that their middle school, a converted elementary school, is woefully inadequate and have called for the situation to be addressed as soon as possible.

At Tuesday's meeting two Riner parents called on the board to at least approve money for planning improvements to their schools so work can begin more quickly, even if the overall project does still take place after action in Prices Fork.

"We're in a position where we're ready to go and in the community there's a lot of support for renovations or a new school out there and we've got the land," Kelly Brennan said. "So I encourage you to proceed with the studies, so when the time comes for schools to be released we're ready to go."

In other Tuesday action the school board:

n Approved going forward with a design for a new Elliston-Lafayette Elementary School that could hold 600 students, which could allow the new school to also absorb children from Shawsville Elementary. The decision whether to consolidate the two schools has not been made and will likely be the subject of future meetings in the community.

n Learned that bids to install air conditioning in the classrooms of seven schools came in much higher than expected. The board approved going out to bid again, but the air conditioning is no longer expected to be in place by fall. The new target is April. The schools involved are Auburn High School, Shawsville Middle School and Belview, Christiansburg, Gilbert Linkous, Margaret Beeks and Price's Fork elementary schools.

n Scheduled a closed-door meeting for Tuesday to evaluate the performance of Superintendent Tiffany Anderson. Her contract ends June 30, 2008. The contact requires the board to tell Anderson by the end of this month whether it intends to offer her an extension.

There is not a deadline for the terms of an extension to be completed. While any contract between the board and Anderson will be a public document, school board attorney Brad King said the board's decision on an extension need not be disclosed, because it is a personnel matter.

If the board were to announce its intent publicly before reaching an agreement with Anderson, the board's bargaining position could suffer, King said.