Students at Roanoke Academy for Mathematics and Science may still be able to move into their new building by the end of the school year.

The new elementary school in Northwest Roanoke has been under construction since December 2002 and was originally supposed to be completed in January. The school system last month hired J.M. Turner & Co. to assist general contractor Torriero Construction in getting the school finished so it can obtain a certificate of occupancy.

Crystal Cregger, the schools' executive director for support services, said at a joint meeting of the Roanoke School Board and Roanoke City Council on Monday morning that J.M. Turner and Torriero are working well together. But even if the school were to obtain its certificate of occupancy today, she said, students would not be able to move in.

Standards of Learning tests begin Monday and will not be completed until May 19, and school administrators want the students to be focused on their tests rather than their new state-of-the-art school.

Even though the last day of school is only three weeks after the SOL tests wrap up, school administrators still plan to move students into the new building this year - mostly for the sake of fifth-graders, who as third-graders were present for the school's ground-breaking ceremony.

When the students are able to move into their new school, they will be surrounded by technology. Every classroom in the 83,000-square-foot school is equipped with a 27-inch TV to broadcast educational programs. Students will use mobile computer labs with wireless Internet access and will have computer workstations in every classroom. The math, science and computer labs are all equipped with interactive whiteboards that allow video and computer images to be projected.

Blue Ridge Technical

Academy

Also at Monday morning's meeting - Marvin Thompson's first as Roanoke's new school superintendent - the school board and city council discussed Blue Ridge Technical Academy, a regional charter school that could close at the end of the school year.

Councilman Brian Wishneff expressed his distaste that Blue Ridge parents and students were suddenly notified in March that their school could close.

"I think it was a mistake to jerk the program out so quickly without any sort of transition," he said, adding that he thinks the school should be kept open for another year.

Wishneff repeatedly asked if Blue Ridge students had done better at the academy.

"Academically I don't see where they've done any better," but behaviorally they may have, interim superintendent Doris Ennis said.

The school board voted at a meeting April 12 to form a committee to look at ways to keep the school open in some way - either in the Roanoke Higher Education Center in downtown Roanoke or another location - for another year. Ennis said that committee has been formed and will hold its first meeting today. The committee will make a recommendation to the board May 19.

In case Blue Ridge is not kept open as a separate school, administrators have developed a transition plan to move its programs into Patrick Henry and William Fleming high schools.

In other news

The board and the council also discussed combining some administrative functions of the city and the school system.

Starting in July, the purchasing, accounts payable and technology departments of the city and the schools will use the same purchasing software and share a consolidated vendor database.

The school system plans to establish a districtwide copier contract that the city will be able to use. The city will also be able to use the schools' office supply contract.

The schools and the city plan to discuss partnering in other ways, including employee uniforms, cellphones, vehicles, towing services, janitorial supplies and printing paper.

"The bottom line is this is taxpayer's money," said Vice Mayor Bev Fitzpatrick. He said he felt that some of that money would be wasted if the city and the schools didn't combine some of their overlapping functions.

At the meeting, Mayor Nelson Harris recognized school board vice chairman Robert Sparrow and thanked Sparrow for his service on the board. Sparrow, whose three-year term ends June 30, did not seek reappointment.

Harris also recognized Thompson, welcoming him with a Roanoke coffee mug and lapel pins.