Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
Like so many parents in Blacksburg, I have been following the debate of what to do with Blacksburg High School students in the upcoming year. I am the parent of an upcoming 7th grader and 4th grader, but do not have a child enrolled in BHS. First of all, I would like to express my displeasure with the progress of the safety report to date and the lack of planning that, in my view, should have been done in March and April of this year. I have little doubt in my mind that the safety report could have been done well before now and, more importantly, that the board and superintendent could have been planning with public involvement in the Spring regardless of the report completion.
That aside, I am appalled that you consider the movement and disruption of two groups of children a correct decision as opposed to disrupting a single group- the high school is affected in this situation, not the middle school, so the high school student body should be the only group disrupted. I worked on Pentagon relocation after 9/11 and know that the primary rule to follow in relocation due to disaster is to effect as few groups or individuals as possible. I see no reason you could put forward as a group as to why this rule should not be applied here. The principal of BHS is even on record stating that the lab facilities at BMS are not adequate for the high school students.
I agree with Joe Ivers' quote in today's Roanoke Times:
"Nowhere in here do I see anything but them being put in situations where they're going to be vulnerable," board member Joe Ivers said. "It just seems to beat the middle school students."
Middle school is an incredibly hard transition time and they are the wrong group to disrupt in this manner, much less bus them into either 1) a dilapidated old structure that is barely able to hold up to Upward basketball games or 2) a complete over crowding in the new Christiansburg MS.
I will also say that there is little likelihood that the report will come back to you with a suggestion that BHS can be used. I know few professionals that would sign off on that. The only real option you have is to move immediately to constructing the new high school in the new site as planned, just simply moved up in priority. As for the high schoolers for this year, I see little palatable option than moving them to trailers or splitting them up to various high schools in the county.
If the school board does move forward with the idea of busing middle schoolers, I will remove my daughter from the school system and I will explore my legal options for having the county compensate me for said move. As superintendent Blackburn was quoted "Time is our enemy at this point". To this I would add, time has been our enemy since day 1 following the collapse of the gym and you should have acted then for planning for the coming school year. For anyone to use time as a pressure point on parents at this moment for your own lack of action is unconscionable.
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