When The Doors Close

[starbuck]

I still think smaller classrooms = better learning.

That was Basham's last straw- his study. ALL the county classrooms are 2/3 the size needed for todays classes.

[imported_Sportsman]

This is a can of worms that needs to be opened, but everyone should enter this with an open mind. There are lots of valid arguments both ways for and against.

If we do consolidate into 3 county high schools, these will still be small schools.

As Indian Dad said, I don't want to pay for very expensive renovations now, and have to pay to build new schools again in 10-15 years......but.....I don't want to lose my school either. We have to look at the opportunity costs involved. Is what we spend our money on going to provide our children and taxpayers the best value for their money over the long haul, 30-50 years?

As for athletic opportunities, I think there would be far greater opportunities for student-athletes with consolidated schools than there are now. For one thing, just go out now and watch your high school football team play Friday night and count how many on the coaching staff are actually trained teachers that are doing the coaching. There are so many teams now for such a small population that you can't find qualified coaches. Several county schools are still advertising for coaches for this school year. Bottom line....schools can't find qualified people to coach our young people for the activities that we have. I do think consolidation would help this situation.

It's hard to let go of our history and tradition of our schools and sports programs, but who's to say we have to if we consolidate.

We are all very proud of our schools and accomplishments, especially of the state championships.....but I'll tell you this.....under the current VHSL set-up, state championships are going to be fewer and farther between for our county schools. If every two years, you have traditionally strong programs dropping down to single A, then they are going to squeeze us little guys out of state championships. A perfect example are Virginia High and Dan River dropping down next year. These guys are competing and winning state championships in softball and baseball, two areas that we have traditionally been able to compete in. We're not going to beat either of these schools in state competition unless we have a once-in-a-lifetime group in either of those two sports. Yes the system needs to be changed, but think again if you think things are going to change with the VHSL.

Maybe we should study Lee and see what went on down that way. We can consolidate into a couple of "hardship "schools and still compete at the single A level. [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]