Published: February 19, 2008 05:43 pm            

Valley schools seeking support

The president of the Valley High Local School Improvement Council (LSIC) planned to renew requests for some direly-needed help for schools in the Valley District at Tuesday’s Fayette County Board of Education meeting.

Phillip O’Dell says the BOE and the school system’s central office have neglected to follow through on promises they made when Gauley Bridge High School and Montgomery Middle School were closed nearly three years ago.

“When they closed GBHS, they promised they would (complete numerous projects),” said O’Dell. “They promised better education and better facilities.

“Each year, they keep promising.”

O’Dell points to a major improvement plan for the county which includes 10 repair projects in the Fayette Plateau area and only two — HVAC upgrade and roof replacement at Gauley Bridge Elementary — in the Valley. In that same plan, seven projects for Valley high or elementary, including classroom additions and HVAC improvements at both schools and other renovations such as replacement of the VES roof, were excluded.

O’Dell acknowledges the other projects are no doubt necessary, and he admitted that the Valley High roof was replaced two summers ago. Overall, though, he charges that not nearly enough is being done in the western end of the county. For example, the high school sorely needs science rooms/labs, as well as a multi-purpose room/auxiliary gym to make staging extracurricular activities easier.

According to O’Dell, many of the issues were mentioned as needing immediate attention in a recent report by the Office of Education Performance Audits.

“Fayette County’s under the gun,” he said. “They (board members and central office staff) have a hard job to do.

“But there’s got to be a better way. They’ve done a disservice to all the citizens in the Valley.”

At the Feb. 8 meeting during which the school board voted to close Nuttall Middle School, Valley District representative Leon Newman mentioned several ongoing problems at Valley Elementary, and he called his district the “most neglected” in the county.

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skeenan@register-herald.com

        

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