CHRISTIANSBURG -- Blacksburg's middle school students will attend the old Christiansburg Middle School next school year while the town's high schoolers will attend Blacksburg Middle School.

After a three-hour discussion, the Montgomery County School Board chose the plan 4-2, with board member Phyllis Albritton abstaining. The plan had failed to receive a second motion earlier in the night.

"I think sometimes we suffer paralysis from analysis and we need to move on," board Chairman Wendell Jones said during the talks, while some board members wanted to postpone the vote for a few days.

"The board seems unwilling to do further exploration into other options I think would work better," said board member Wat Hopkins, who made the motion. "This, at least, keeps the community together. I think it is a great disservice to Blackburg Middle School, and it's based only on numbers."

The plan meets 12 of 20 criteria that schools Superintendent Brenda Blackburn and her staff used to evaluate the housing options and could cost between $1.5 million and $1.9 million, depending on whether the portable classrooms necessary for the plan are purchased or leased.

It is uncertain just how the plan will be funded. However, the board approved $2.5 million in leftover bonds requested from the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors to pay for it. The board expects an insurance payout based on the amount needed to replace the high school's gym, but it has not yet been received.

The option does displace more than 100 students and additional staff who already attend classes in the old middle school building. Sending those students and staff to Shawsville Elementary School has been mentioned as an option, but on Tuesday night Blackburn said a more central location may be possible.

The move is an alternative to sending students to Blacksburg High School. That school will be closed through the 2010-11 academic year, and possibly beyond, while safety upgrades are made.

It all stems from the Feb. 13 collapse of the Blacksburg High School gym roof. No one was hurt in the collapse, but multiple inspections of the school's classroom building have found it to be unsafe. The cause of the collapse also has not been determined.

Blackburn said she kept the unified middle school option because of the number of portable classrooms needed for the other options. Both Christiansburg Middle School and Blacksburg Middle School would need 12 portable classrooms for the plan that was approved.

The board also voted 5-2 to begin the 2010-11 academic year on Aug. 30. School would end on June 10. Blackburn said she needed every day possible to implement the housing conversion. She had suggested starting on Sept. 7.

On Friday, an engineering firm asked for further testing inside the high school's classroom building because some of the concrete supports they tested did not meet building codes in place when the school opened in 1974.

Last week, the seven-member panel settled on three priorities among the plans, and Blackburn asked them to reconsider a fourth option, which had been presented during earlier discussions:

Sending Blacksburg's middle school students grades six through eight to the old Christiansburg Middle School while Blacksburg's ninth- through 12th-grade students attend Blacksburg Middle School. That would cost $1.5 million and take 12 portables.

Creating a campus with portable classrooms at Blacksburg Middle School to house grades seven through 12, which would keep all Blacksburg students in the community. That would cost $1.5 million and require about 47 portables that would take up two sports fields. It also would require about three portables at each elementary school.

Sending Blacksburg High School's students to the old Christiansburg Middle School and keeping BMS students at their current school. That would cost $1.9 million and take 29 portables on the Christiansburg school's sports fields.

Send BMS students in grades seven and eight to the current Christiansburg Middle School while BMS houses grades eight through 12 in Blacksburg. That would cost $1 million and take 12 portables at CMS.

Board member Joe Ivers admitted that the plan he submitted last week to create a mobile campus at BMS "fell apart" because of safety concerns. It failed 4-3 earlier in the night.