Survey results and letter to the BOS

September 20, 2010
Dear Montgomery County Board of Supervisors:
Your recent decision concerning repairing Blacksburg High School and the manner in which you
made the decision troubles many people. This issue is not over, as you may have hoped. At
the end of last week, a group of concerned residents launched an electronic survey of parents
of children in the Blacksburg schools. While this survey was not scientific, we wish to share
some of the survey results with you. Within the first 18 hours more than 700 responses were
received and a total of 1,133 people completed the survey. One response per computer was
allowed so ballot box stuffing could be avoided. The survey was open about 3 days.
A review of the survey results provides the following highlights:
 54.0% said they would not feel safe if their children attended repaired BHS
 24.9% of those that felt unsafe would send their child to a high school other than BHS
 73.2% believe that spending $15 million in repairs on BHS is not worth it
 74.2% said that taxes should be increased to build a new Blacksburg High School
 523 responded with individual comments, which we attach to this letter
 30.5% of the respondents do not have a student in the Blacksburg strand.
Conclusions and observations drawn from these statistics, our knowledge of the county, and the
comments received include:
 The survey represents about 30% of the Blacksburg students, many residents that do not
have students and even some residents of different areas of the county.
 A significant number of students will be lost from the MCPS system if BHS is repaired.
 A general outrage exists with the manner the Board of Supervisors acted on such an
important topic without giving the public notice or an opportunity for input.
 The clear majority opinion is to raise taxes and build a new BHS.
 More data is needed before any appropriate decision can be made. The decision was
reckless because it was made without knowing the full extent of the repairs required and
therefore the full cost and implications of the repairs cannot be understood.
 Many people raised the concern that repairing BHS will negatively impact the economic
development of our region.
We provide these data points for your consideration. Judging by the response rate, there
remains an intense interest in this topic and the issues should be addressed with the utmost
care and attention. We encourage you to your own public survey to revisit your decision and
more accurately consider the costs, timelines and safety factors resulting from your decisions.
Feel free to contact me at fenrich@idintl.com if you have questions concerning this survey and
the results.
Sincerely,
Richard K. Fenrich
cc: Superintendent Brenda Blackburn, Montgomery County School Board, The Roanoke Times