Roanoke County's sparsely populated Bent Mountain Elementary School has won a one-year reprieve from possible closure.

Schools Superintendent Lorraine Lange suggested during a Tuesday school board meeting that the school remain open with a smaller staff for one more year. School board members informally endorsed her suggestion, even though they aren't scheduled to vote on the issue until later this month.

School officials and area residents had discussed the possibility of closing the school, which serves about 60 students this year, as a way to save money in a tight budget year. But Lange's recommendation allowed the school at least one more year of existence.

"It gives time for all of us to see if the economic conditions improve," she said.

"The folks from Bent Mountain can take a breath now," school board member Fuzzy Minnix said. "If next year is worse than this year, it's going to be very, very hard."

The board also gave informal approval to a suggestion to stop giving take-home laptops to high school students. Starting next year, laptops would stay at school, a move that will save roughly $1.2 million, because officials don't expect they'll have to replace them as often if they stay at school overnight.

School board members also discussed other money-saving ideas, such as moving the Roland E. Cook Alternative School into a new building that would save the district about $15,000 in utilities.

The county school system is facing a $7.1 million budget shortfall next year. The gap could have been greater had the district not received roughly $3.5 million from the federal stimulus program for its operating fund.

-- David Harrison