Putnam parents blast school consolidation proposal

Gazette Online

Putnam parents blast school consolidation proposal
June 6, 1999

By Tara TuckwillerSUNDAY GAZETTE-MAIL
Dishing up pizzas at Angaleno's Restaurant, Sherry Torman sees dozens of customers every day who remember the last time they talked about shutting down Buffalo High School.
They remember how the late Mr. Hulbert gave the land to the county 50 years ago, with the promise that there would always be a school there. They remember the speeches and pleas they made in 1992, when the school board almost closed the aging little school.
About 2,000 of them have signed Torman's petitions. She's starting the battle against consolidation early this time.
"There's going to be a fight on their hands," she vowed.
The anti-consolidation push has united groups of parents from Buffalo to Poca, although other parents in the area argue in favor of consolidation.
It's only a few weeks old, coming after a recent public meeting of Putnam County's school planning committee known as Vision 20/20.
Vision 20/20 started three years ago. The school board asked a group of parents, teachers and community members to find out what people in Putnam County want in the way of school buildings.
As recently as October, Vision 20/20 said don't consolidate - just fix up what we've got. But now, Vision 20/20 is asking people if maybe they wouldn't like to consolidate Buffalo and Poca high schools into one new high school at Eleanor or Red House.
"They're saying consolidation means technology, better facilities. I think it's a lie," said Terry Foster, who is leading an anti-consolidation campaign in the Poca area.
Poca just lost its biggest employer when a Rite Aid warehouse announced it was pulling out with its 600 jobs.
The high school's enrollment has dropped in recent years to fewer than 600, although elementary and middle-school enrollments have gone up.
Buffalo, by contrast, is home to Putnam County's new Toyota engine plant. County planners expect the area's population to explode by 70 percent in the next 20 years.
Becky Raynes, an Eleanor native and Vision 20/20 member, said she doubts that.
"I don't see that happening," said Raynes, who has put three of her children through 300-student Buffalo High. "There's just not any property. It's all tied up in industrial property. There's some land out Eighteen Mile Creek and places like that, but it's not flat like in [Teays Valley]."
Raynes used to be anti-consolidation, too - until her children started college.
"It didn't really hold them back in college, that they'd gone to Buffalo," she said. "But there were classes they wanted to take in high school, and they just weren't offered. If the school was just a little bit bigger ..."
Raynes favors building a new high school between Poca and Buffalo. According to Vision 20/20 statistics, so do half the people they've surveyed.
The other half wants to keep all four of the county's high schools. Raynes said she imagines Vision 20/20 will probably wind up recommending that.
"I have a feeling that's the way it's going to be," she said. "If so, I won't move. My other three will graduate from Buffalo, too."
No matter what Vision 20/20 recommends, it will be a while before the Putnam school board does anything, according to board member Joe Starcher.
"The board won't make a decision to run a huge bond just because Vision 20/20 says so," Starcher said.
Whether Putnam County consolidates or fixes up all of its schools, Vision 20/20 has estimated the cost at $80 million.
Without consolidation, the state School Building Authority probably won't provide much of that money. So county voters would have to approve a multimillion-dollar bond issue.
Even so, Starcher said he won't vote to close schools just to get state money. He said Putnam County could redraw its school districts instead to give Buffalo and Poca more students.
"I'm not in favor of [consolidation]. I want four high schools," he said.
"There's no way in the world I'd vote on anything until I see what redistricting would do."
Meanwhile, Torman and Foster say they'll keep carting petitions over to the school board office.
They argue that a single high school on the north side of the Kanawha River would force some children to ride the bus for too long, and that big schools mean increased crime and less chance that a child will be able to participate in confidence-boosting extracurricular activities.
Vision 20/20 will hold another public hearing on the issue at 7 p.m. July 6 at Winfield High School.