When The Doors Close

[imported_tillie]

I can't believe not one person picked up on what x lone crusader said .
How many of you folks out there are living in P.V,
Wise or Coeburn would travel to Pound ,Appy OR St. Paul Just to go to school every day? That's what I thought.It
doesn't sound so appealing if You live already 30 min. away from your school.Look at the geological area here.It would take you a little longer. But,I'm optimistic. I do think it's coming just don't know when. Basham could have been
onto something if it had been done the right way .Let the community decide all the details of the school since it's for our children.That's still the possibility.Make it fun for the kids to decide the schools colors and all the other
details and it might would work.My kids will have graduated from Pound by the time this would happen,but i still think it would pass on a vote if it's built in a neutral place.
Pride will be the biggest downfall of this idea.

[imported_elp6n]

[ QUOTE ]
if You live already 30 min. away from your school

[/ QUOTE ]
That's why there are buses.

Another example: Many in Pound can be as far away as 30 minutes from the high school, but it takes maybe 15 or 20 minutes for those same people to get to Wise. Consolidation doesn't mean an automatic increase of travel time to schools. Some people are going to wind up closer to their schools, some further, and no change for some.

Is it really reasonable to deny our children quality schools (structure, classrooms, funding, added extracurriculars, better sports facilites, more classes such as added AP classes, other benefits) because you may need to travel 15, 20 minutes further? Are we really that lazy?

The group from Appy have been saying this for at least 10 years, we are glad someone else has taken the time to consider what closing and relocating would or could mean. [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] Now on to the funding and cost , PV primary still hasn't gotten the final approval for that gym that was promised to them. Talked to one of their folks last week, principal I think. Went to school with her. Seems they about to get it lined out. But you also have Appy elem with no gym. No youth basketball played at that school.

[imported_tillie]

my kids drive to school,but some doesn't have that option
for whatever reason.also where are you from? would you get up an extra 20 or 30 min on a snowy morn risk everything that is dear to you just to get to school be cause it wasn't called off for the day?

[imported_elp6n]

[ QUOTE ]
would you get up an extra 20 or 30 min on a snowy morn risk everything that is dear to you just to get to school be cause it wasn't called off for the day?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes. If I had kids, absolutely. If I'm so lazy that I can't get up early to care for children, then I shouldn't reproduce in the first place.

And I actually did do that in my college years to get myself to school. I was a commuter for four years and I drove in unbelievable conditions. The college closed twice in four years that I can recall.

Fortunately, the public school system is a little softer when it comes to snow delays and closings.

And again - there are buses. Buses for everyone.
Throw in using good judgement, and things should work out fine (if it's too bad to be out it's too bad to be out and those days are few and far between).
BTW - I don't think high schoolers should be driving themselves to school in poor weather on any regular basis. Most think they're invincible at that age, and if they have four-wheel drive they really think they're invincible.

[imported_tillie]

I don't think you understand...when you live 30 - 35 minutes from the four-lane and then you add the 20 to 25 minute bus ride to the 'New' school then we are talking about picking these children up possibly as early as 6:00 am. Then at the earliest - they will be 5:00 getting home. I leave to go to work at 5:00 and I see studetns waiting for buses every morning since coonsolidation in KY. But then it once again comes down to the location of the new school - doesn't it? I do think that consolidation is coming. We all pay our bills every month and nothing is getting any cheaper. But it will be the smaller schools and towns who suffer. Now are people open to reloacting the new schools to Appy - ST Paul - Pound to help bring economic growth to the towns and the county? I see it as the bigger school gets the advantage when it comes to consolidation. My children were even told that they would like Wise's coaches if they played sports because they were better. This was one of the first comments made to PHS students after Basham's announcement. Why was it automatically assumed that the bigger school would automatically be over the sports programs? Granted - our school does need some help with coaching(as does any school) but there is no way that the smaller school is going to get a fair shake.

[imported_Sportsman]

Genuine concerns, but I think somebody has misinformed you. I would think that "IF" consolidation comes about, then distances will be considered as much as possible(finding suitable land to build a school and all it's facilities won't be easy to come by).

There was never any mention that the so-called "Wise coaches" would be the head coaches of the proposed combined school. If someone told your children that they would like the Wise coaches because they were better, then they were misinformed.

People from around the county that I've talked to wouldn't be as apposed to consolidation if it was done in the right way. That would take a lot of careful planning though.

With that being said, I'm glad things are the way they are right now.....but something needs to happen soon, one way or the other.

[aphrodite4ever]

[ QUOTE ]
Now are people open to reloacting the new schools to Appy - ST Paul - Pound to help bring economic growth to the towns and the county?

[/ QUOTE ] Now I notice that no one has responded to this. As long as it is thought that one of the new school would be in Wise, everyone from the bigger schools was fine with it, but if it was supposed to be built in Pound, I would say that over half the parents of Wise would be beating down the doors to the school board office with complaints. [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wall.gif[/img]

[imported_tillie]

I agree with you about location being the key. It is going to have to be in a central, neutral location for the schools involved without either seeming to get more benefit than the other. That was not a slur to the "Wise Coaches" I was merely stating the attitude and the assumptions that the smaller schools were under when Basham made his recommendation. Consolidation can happen - just do it in the right way with input from the communities. I want the best education for my children possible but I also want to be able to choose where they go to school from the time they enter high school. No one wants to be told midway through their high school career that the school is closing - immediately. There is still a lot of damage control that needs to be done and PR from the school board and the central office before a serious discussion about consolidation can take place.

[aphrodite4ever]

[ QUOTE ]
No one wants to be told midway through their high school career that the school is closing - immediately.

[/ QUOTE ] I agree. I was in the class of 2005, and half way through my senior year we were told that our school would be closed and we wouldnt be graduating from there. There aren't enough words to describe the way me and my friends felt about this. Most of all I would say that we felt betrayed in a way. Almost like all that we had worked for through school was just washed down the drain. But fortunately we got to graduate from our school. [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/getsmile.tmp007816300.gif[/img]