School board
selects greenway plan Option could cost $236,000
By Scott Nicholson
The Watauga County Board of Education has voted to support
a second option for a Greenway Trail to move the project farther
away from the new high school.
Schools superintendent Marty Hemric gave a report Monday night
on a proposed Greenway Trail connector on the new high school
property, with two routes currently under consideration. Hemric
said one option, supported by the Boone Greenway committee and
likely funded by an obesity-prevention grant of $100,000, is the
most economical but passed near the school. The second option
is more expensive, with an estimated cost of $236,000, and would
require more tree removal, and likely would not be finished in
time to be eligible for the grant.
Hemric said, “While we are all enthused with healthy active
children and fitness for all, we have to balance that...with the
security of the site and the safety of our students and staff.”
School board chairman Lowell Younce said the school officials
had agreed with the town of Boone to provide access to the Greenway
Trail on the lower end of the property and said though it was
a community-based and public-funded school, he was concerned about
safety. Younce said safety was a concern among all school administrators,
and under current policy, all visitors on school property are
required to register with the office and access would create loistical
problems.
School board member Steve Combs said if a public trail is going
through the campus, he couldn’t look parents in the eye and
say it was safe. He said sexual predators could use the trail,
and he said he didn’t think the people of the entire county
had expressed their opinion. He said he didn’t think it was
fair to let a greenway committee and the county commissioners
make a decision that would affect school safety.
“We’re making the best skipping trail a high school
student could ever have,” Combs said.
School board member Lee Warren supported Combs’s position
and said the board had made concessions. Warren said he hasn’t
had one person tell him the trail should go near the high school.
School board member Marsha Walpole said the county shouldn’t
look at what way would be the cheapest, but rather what way would
be the best.
School board member Deborah Miller said she was grateful for the
grant opportunity but wasn’t willing to trade that money
to put any student or staff member at risk. Miller said the high
school had been a joint effort of the town of Boone, the county,
and the public, and said the school system was already adding
a number of school-safety resources.
“We still have a lot of questions,” she said, citing
registered sex offenders, those carrying concealed weapons, use
of tobacco, proper signage, and the possibility of closing the
trail during the school day.
“I see the need for connectivity, but our responsibility
is first to our students,” Miller said.
Younce said some residents of the neighborhood were concerned
about a steep grade and said he hoped the trail wouldn’t
impede the handicapped. He said the school board would move forward
no matter what happened with the trail.
Hemric said since 2001 there had been an overhaul in school safety,
with more monitoring and a limiting of access. Hemric said many
people had spent years developing the high school and said a hasty
decision would limit options in the future.
The school board voted to recommend the second option, and to
reserve the option to discontinue the trail if there were no other
problems. The county commissioners will make the final decision
on the trail. The county owns the property but the school board
has a long-term lease.
Hemric said the school system had missed 13 days of school because
of inclement weather, with one day made up before Christmas break.
As the calendar now stands, the last day of classes will be June
4. Hemric said the option of Saturday school was still available
if needed.
He said the administration had been watching the progress of the
federal economic-stimulus package, which could add more funds
for public education. The school board recognized the Blowing
Rock Cyberkids team for winning first place in a recent robotics
competition.
The school board approved $191,00 in budget amendments to recognize
two grants, include a drop-out prevention and an obesity-prevention
program. The school board also applied to use $125,000 for new
pipes and drains in the cafeteria at Bethel Elementary School,
with $31,000 coming from local funds in the school capital-outlay
budget.
The architectural firm SFL+a presented an update on the new Watauga
High School to the school board Monday night.
Architect Max Walser said, “It’s been a long haul and
a ways to go,” noting all firms were facing a tough time
during the recession but the county would end up with a good school.
“Folks are going to come to Watauga High School to see this
school when it’s done,’ he said.
Tom Hughes of SFL+a gave an update on the LEED certification process,
with the school designed to meet the “Silver” level.
The certification is based on energy-efficient and sustainable
practices used in both the construction and operation of the building.
Hughes said the site selection, landscaping, alternative transportation,
stormwater design, light pollution reduction and other elements
were part of the checklist. Hughes said the concept wasn’t
just in the design, but in the commitment that would be passed
to future school boards.
Heating, lighting, water use and on-site renewable energy are
also factors in the certification, as well as recycled content
used in the building materials. Hughes said air quality was important
in building a healthy school. Hughes said there was only one Silver-certified
school in the state.
About 45 percent of the construction work is complete, and the
project is now 47 days ahead of schedule, with no accidents reported
at the work site. The school is scheduled to be complete in the
autumn of 2010.
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