Wise HS Plans tonight

**imported_Counts** · February 27th, 2007, 02:40 PM

Just wondering if anyone will be at the meeting tonight?

From the quote in the paper from Ann Gregory I look for all the plans to be scaled back to meet basic needs only before anything is started. So does this mean at least 1 more study?

**sup-rbeast** · February 27th, 2007, 02:44 PM

They can always do away with the library..lol

**R0cketer** · February 27th, 2007, 02:54 PM

That was an interesting quote.

Have heard several people talk about it, most seem to take it as a 'dangerous comment'. Make it sound like she's willing to sacrifice education to keep schools open.

To be fair, maybe she means some of the changes, but many of the changes aren't really "fluff", not sure how much is removeable.

(To enlighten, her comment from the paper is as follows...

It would be wonderful to have these things, but our most pressing wish is to keep our community schools,"? Gregory said. "If we have to do with a little less, I don't think that anyone would be terribly unhappy,"? she added. "St. Paul is primarily interested in maintaining the integrity of its local building, along with Wise's, Coeburn's, Powell Valley's, Appalachia's and Pound's."?)

**R0cketer** · February 27th, 2007, 02:55 PM

The additional studies, at least to me, should tick off people. Reading it right, having the 6 schools studied cost somewhere in the neighborhood of 300,000 (if not more). You can study something to death, but all you are doing is having buildings get older, costs going up, and losing more money each time you do another study.

**Merlin** · February 27th, 2007, 05:21 PM

I think it was foolish to contract these studies without requiring alternative plans to be part of the job(s). By alternatives, I mean they should have been required to present two or three possible scenarios that could be compared and evaluated on their individual merits instead of just single "take it or leave it" options -- and that is exactly what the citizens of Wise County are getting for that $300,000+ cost. If these individual plans don't fly, and I truly doubt that they will "as is", more "studies" will have to performed at the same or even higher costs with no actual guarantee that a real solution will be within our grasp. This process should have been an exploratory into all available possibilities in order to improve the high schools of this county so all students have equal access and equal opportunity. Then, we could evaluate and perhaps even manipulate the plans presented to arrive at the best solutions for the individual communities, as well as, the county as a whole. Thus far, it just sounds to me like a big wish list that no one around here can realistically afford and I'm afraid that will be confirmed at tonight's meeting. IMHO I think we just threw away $300K for nothing more than a wake up call to everyone to really get serious about this issue and start working towards an overall solution that is: 1). Doable within the financial abilities of this County and its citizens and 2). Provides the best learning environments for all Wise County students attending high school within our borders. I'll get off my soap box now. Thanks for enduring my rant.