Print |
E-mail to a friend
OPINIONS
Editorial: Kids' needs must come first in middle school site selection
As construction continues on three new middle schools in Cabell County, the unfinished business of what to do about Beverly Hills and Enslow middle schools is moving closer to a resolution.
Beverly Hills Middle School could use some work to bring it up to modern standards, but overall, the building is adequate. Not excellent, but adequate. Enslow Middle School, on the other hand, is an outdated building. Bringing it up to modern standards could cost more than building a new school from the ground up.
Tuesday evening, Cabell County Schools Superintendent William Smith told the Board of Education that a site review committee has narrowed down its list of preferred sites for a consolidated middle school to three options. The three sites are Veterans Memorial Field House and adjacent property, land at the Cabell County Career Technology Center, which is owned by the school board, and land adjacent to the Tech Center, which is owned by Marshall University.
On Aug. 19, the committee will present its evaluations of each site to the school board. They will explain why these sites were chosen and why others were ruled out. The board has opened lines of communication with Marshall and with the Greater Huntington Park and Recreation District, which owns the Field House, about the properties.
There are advantages to all three sites, and there are disadvantages. The sites at or near the Tech Center are closest to where a majority of the students of the consolidated school live, but that puts a significant amount of bus traffic on Norway Avenue. Likewise, the Field House site would require longer bus rides for students who now attend Beverly Hills, which has twice the enrollment of Enslow.
The Field House site contains the added political problem of demolishing a structure dedicated to veterans and that has historical significance to many in the community.
Because the board is not likely to ask for another tax levy to build the new middle school, it would rely on money from the state School Building Authority. SBA regulations virtually prohibit remodeling Enslow or replacing it with a building of similar size because of Enslow's small enrollment.
Many people want the new school to be built within the city limits of Huntington. Beverly Hills and Enslow are in the city, and most of their students live in the city.
These will be tough choices. None of the three sites may be the home-run answer the school board is looking for. The answer could be a new school, or it could be retaining the two schools if that is what parents and the communities prefer.
The important thing is that students at Enslow and Beverly Hills have the same opportunities and resources that students in the three new schools will have. A school's primary mission is to serve students. Not a neighborhood, not local interest groups, not city government, but students. The board's decision on whether and where to consolidate Beverly Hills and Enslow must be based on that one fact.
