Sunday, September 25, 2011
Will Montgomery County build substandard schools?
New River Forum
Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Brenda Blackburn made a lengthy presentation on the status of the construction projects for Auburn High School, Blacksburg High School and Auburn Middle School at the school board meeting on Tuesday.
She included a comparison chart listing the county's square-footage standards for public high schools with a capacity of 600-1,200 students and how the proposed plans for the new high schools compare to those standards. Both schools come up short in many areas. Additionally, the current plans for Blacksburg call for a capacity of 1,400 students.
The school division has not established standards for schools larger than 1,200 students, but the Virginia Department of Education has, and the Blacksburg plans fall short of those standards in several areas as well. Blackburn stated at the school board meeting that she viewed these standards as guidelines, not requirements, and she also noted that the plans come close in many areas.
These events raise several important questions. First and foremost, should Montgomery County schools be held to their own standards? Interestingly, the school board had a lengthy discussion earlier in the meeting about the employee sick-leave bank. Policy and practice are not currently in agreement, and the consensus of the board was that they should be.
Shouldn't that apply to established standards as well? Aren't standards just as important as policies? The Virginia Standards of Learning are a driving force in our education system.
Those dreaded SOL tests that usually begin around third or fourth grade trigger feelings of anxiety and trepidation in the heart of every student because so much importance is placed on meeting the standards. If the county told the state that its students "came close" on their SOLs, would the state accept that?
The school board has scheduled a special session for Tuesday to view a presentation from the architects and engineers on the designs for each of the proposed schools. The recommendations the board makes at that session will not only determine the direction for each of the proposed schools, but could also set important precedents for future school construction projects based on how the board views its own standards.
