Parents urge supervisors to fund BG school project
Posted on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 2:20 pm
By Rebecca J. Barnabi/Reporter
MILFORD – Parents upset that the Caroline County Board of Supervisors has yet to approve additional funds for the Bowling Green School project took their concerns to the board.
A number of parents used the public comment portion of the board’s regular meeting on Tuesday of last week to urge the supervisors to allocate additional funds for the project, which entails an addition and renovations to Bowling Green Primary School.
The School Board had an $8.5 million construction budget for the project, but bids came in higher than expected. The project is expected to cost $9-12.5 million, in part because the School Board decided to move forward with a slightly larger addition because of increased enrollment. The supervisors had agreed to borrow $9 million for the project, which will allow the consolidation of Bowling Green Elementary School.
The School Board trimmed almost $1 million from the project, then met with the supervisors to request additional funding, but a majority of the supervisors favored holding the project to the original $9 million.
The School Board subsequently rescinded the cuts they made and agreed to ask the supervisors for the full amount, $12.5 million. At the same time, at a second joint meeting with the supervisors they presented detailed information about the project to enable the supervisors to impose cuts if they so wish. The supervisors are gathering additional information, and the two panels will reconvene Jan. 5.
Melissa Lewis, who created a Facebook page for the group of concerned parents, spoke first before the supervisors and stressed that parents were not interested in singling out anyone for blame.
“We are here to stand up for what we believe is best for the future of our county,” said Lewis. “We are here to hold the elected officials accountable and ask them to stop talking in circles.”
Naeda Gustard, who created the Facebook page with Lewis, urged the supervisors to allocate additional funds for the school building project.
“We urge you to please try and focus on what is best for our community and the children who reside within,” said Gustard. “Let’s be proactive rather than reactive…and build us a fully funded 900-student school that we as a community can take pride in.”
Les Stanley, a member of the county’s Planning Commission and a retired educator, also spoke in favor of additional funding for a 900-student school. The life expectancy of a school building is 50 years, he noted, and both Bowling Green Elementary School and Bowling Green Primary School were built in the 1970s.
“Let’s do this right the first time and build this school to last another 50 years,” said Rachel Bochert, who also favored the larger capacity project. Lewis and Clark Elementary School originally was built as a prototype for the new Bowling Green School, she added.
Bochert also wants the project to include a gymnasium, in part because of security for students. One cost-cutting option would be for students to walk to the nearby Community Services Center building and use the gym there, eliminating the need for a new gym.
“I love where I live,” said Bochert. “However, the schools’ infrastructure brings disgrace to this county’s reputation. Our children are our future, and in Caroline that doesn’t seem to matter anymore.”
Patrick Shifflette cautioned the board about approving a smaller project that would require the continued use of trailers. Mobile classrooms are not designed to hold up against the kind of conditions Caroline has experienced in recent months, he observed: a hurricane and an earthquake.
“A school is designed to withstand all of these events without failure,” said Shifflette. “Putting our children in harm’s way is neither an acceptable practice or practical. They are our future and should be protected from harm.” Purchasing trailers would be “a losing investment,” he said, and expressed support in a 900-student school.
Linnea Woolridge, a Bowling Green mother of two, said that trailers at Bowling Green Primary have “spongy floors, threatening to cave in,” children have to wear coats during the winter because of inadequate heating, and the gym facilities are “shockingly dangerous.”
“Promises have been made and broken, and years have passed,” said Woolridge. “What we should all want, including you, gentlemen of the board, is a good and safe facility for our children. We don’t require the best of everything, no show-stopping amenities, not state-of-the-art, just good and safe. My children deserve that. The children here tonight deserve that.”
Destiny Bochert, a student at Bowling Green Elementary School, also urged the board to fully support funding for the renovations.
Kevin Bockin of Bowling Green reminded the board of the importance of safety and security for students. He recalled the Columbine High School shootings of 1999 and the Virginia Tech shootings of 2007. Nineteen sexual offenders live near Bowling Green Elementary School, he said. The board’s decision will impact people for 25 to 50 years, he suggested.
Dee Beverly, who works at Bowling Green Elementary School, invited supervisors to spend a rainy day in her trailer classroom. “Every rainy day you see, I spend wet in school,” said Beverly. “Our school needs that full $12.5 million.”
“We are going to do as much as we can do,” board chairman Floyd Thomas told the parents when they were done speaking.
A concern of the supervisors is what would become of Bowling Green Elementary School once it is vacant, according to Thomas. He also proposed that the School Board sell the old Ladysmith Elementary School, now being used for the county school system’s Diversified Learning Center, and put the proceeds – possibly as much as $1 million – toward the Bowling Green School project.
“We can’t just stop progress,” said Thomas. “We have to keep growing.”
