Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

Price's Fork Elementary School kindergartners line up for lunch period Tuesday. The school, which opened in 1954, is overcrowded and about 80 of its 198 students take classes in four portable classroom units. The school's rooms are chilly, floors are creaky and heaters rumble, teachers and students say.

A handmade sign hangs inside Price's Fork Elementary School. Principal Dollie Cottrill says, "We're definitely looking forward to being part of a new building and a new phase for the community."

PRICES FORK -- It's been 16 years since Price's Fork Elementary Principal Dollie Cottrill first heard about plans to build a new elementary school.

On Tuesday, on what she called a "huge day," she got news that a new school is closer than ever.

"We're next. It's going to happen," Cottrill said after learning from Superintendent Tiffany Anderson about a tentative deal for a land swap between Virginia Tech, the Virginia Tech Foundation and Montgomery County.

Through the deal, the foundation would swap 14 acres of the 323-acre Heth farm it owns for 20 acres the university owns east of the current Price's Fork Elementary and opposite M&M Tire. Then, the county would purchase the 20 acres from the foundation for $1 million and proceed to build a school.

"It's something that's been a long time coming," Cottrill said. "We're definitely looking forward to being part of a new building and a new phase for the community."

Price's Fork Elementary, which opened in 1954, is overcrowded and about 80 of its 198 students take classes in four portable classroom units. The school's rooms are chilly, floors are creaky and heaters rumble, teachers and students say.

If the deal is approved, that would be replaced with a 35-classroom building that could hold up to 600 students.

School officials said they'd like to be able to start construction by early spring.

"We're just truly excited that hopefully in the next three to four months we can break ground," said Wendell Jones, chairman of the Montgomery County School Board.

The new school would mirror one already under construction in Elliston to replace both the existing Elliston-Lafayette and Shawsville elementary schools. The county chose to use the same design for both the Prices Fork and Elliston schools to save money.

The academic portion of the building includes "classroom neighborhoods," or wings that separate students by lower and upper grades, as well as music areas and storage rooms. As designed, the wings will have covered porches under which students could sit.

The new school also would allow every teacher in the school to have his or her own room, and school nurses and counselors no longer would share space, Cottrill said.

Jones said he sees the land in question as an ideal location because it's still close to the village and is close to utilities, such as water lines.

"To me, when you think about the village plans that the county has, the elementaries are a key component," Jones said.

He said the elementary school is "the core" of the village because community events take place there as well as the education of residents' children.

Ideally, the property also would have separate baseball and playing fields, said school facilities director Dan Berenato. The 20-acre tract lays differently from that of the Elliston school, but the field areas are in the plan. They could be used for parks and recreation games as well.

Acquiring the new land also means moving forward on ridding the school system of the former Blacksburg Middle School property.

Since the middle school closed, the school board has been expected to turn the property over to the county. In January 2005, the board resolved it would surplus the 20 acres if the county found land for a new stadium, land for a new Price's Fork Elementary and earmarked all proceeds for future capital projects.

"This is the last piece of puzzle," Jones said.

He said he'd like to start moving on that as early at spring as well.

Just when board members would be free of the building -- the letters of which they had scraped from the side so people didn't see it as school property -- depends on how quickly the land deal is approved. All parties are expected to discuss them in March.