ashe

Its not just the kids near TN its also the kids near VA and the Alleghany line so keep on TROLLING. Maybe we should go back to the old way or do like Boone and leave kids at the elementary school through the 8th grade.

Getting the middle school as close to the high school as possible is the best bet. Two middle schools in a county with the student population of Ashe is just plain stupid. No-one can argue that the land mass in Ashe County (423 square miles, I think) and the road conditions make bus rides a challenge, but building a school to accommodate those few kids over near the TN line doesn't make sense at all. If you look at school systems that have a clue and plan for the future, you'll see that the middle school is right across the street from the high school. This allows a sharing of outdoor facilities and some personnel. Obviously, Ashe County didn't have this much vision when the consolidated high school was built and now it's almost an impossible task. Regardless of where they put this new middle school, I would want Joe Bob on the history teacher search team.

The only thing about two middle schools is the new one will be state of the art while the kids going to current middle school get hand me downs. Just like Westwood got all the bells and whistles and the school board couldn't or wouldn't bring other two up to date. Remember middle school does have about 50 acres. Of course it is mountain terrain .

OldCityManager (view profile)	Posted 1:48 pm, 04/03/2014
Joe, the old middle school site has expensive abatement issues and the BOE and the County are one well place phone call from having a **** expensive problem that they can't quickly fix. The old middle school needs to be emptied of children and most of the buildings demolished

If you know this for a fact and have proof then you should make the call and force their hand. I still say that we need two middle schools due to the county being so big and that many kids ride the bus for two hours or more to get to and from school.

Joe, according to the Ashe County GIS, the land the BOE would need to use the old WJ site is owned by a Floridian Investments based out of Illinois, or at least that's where they are incorporated.

There are a number of suitable parcels between the Towns and Smethport where the topography is not terrible.

The main thing remains to make this a decision that takes economic and community development into account and to publically shame anyone who attempts to do this on the cheap, on the stupid, or stands in the way of doing what is best for the future of the county.

The old WJ elementary site would not be bad, but the State of NC will not allow a Middle School on a site that is physically that small.

IIRC the formula you are required to have 5 acres minimum, plus 1 acre per 100 kids. It may have changed some, and yes it purposely drives schools outside urbanized areas. And no I don't agree with it - but the State BOE is dumb as a stump.

Joe, the old middle school site has expensive abatement issues and the BOE and the County are one well place phone call from having a **** expensive problem that they can't quickly fix.

The old middle school needs to be emptied of children and most of the buildings demolished.

Clod - you are correct.

However I remember consolidation even though I did not live here at the time. It's very political and emotional. That's why we have a useless pool facility in Warrensville instead a real pool the entire county can use in town. The problem goes to the attempt to compensate people in the NW who pay taxes but get less value for their tax dollar due to spatial isolation and bad roads.

If you want to help people in the NW you improve 194, 88, and the Buffalo/Bald Mountain pair so that they can get to town or bet to Boone faster.

However, as mountain folk, there is the tendency not to complain and ***** and moan in Raleigh or to use sob-stories to push an agenda. As you know, many mountain folk stoically wait to be treated fairly when there is no fairness in politics just the squeaky wheel.

I know one family in NW Ashe that I could use to shame USDA and the State into funneling some money into the area, but it's just not done up here. So people suffer in relative silence.

It tears me up.

Here's an idea take the old WJ elementary school and make it a middle school and keep the old school as well. Kids who live on the south side of the county would go to the new school and kids on the northern side will go to the old middle school. Remember there are so many kids at the middle school that they start eating lunch at 10:30 in the mourning.

Also long-term population decline will probably stabilize and perhaps reverse once 221 is improved as people from Boone will flee high land prices in Watauga and move here. The ones that move will not be the old rich farts, but the ones with kids who need school services.

Well I could see placing the school to the more populated areas then out in the sticks. Makes more sense to bus a few into the population center, then to bus many to nowhere land...

I'm pretty pushy and nosy at times and I have taken the time to actually look above their drop ceilings, between the gym and the pool, etc., etc.

Trust me, you don't want your child or grand child in that building.

Yes Clod, the old Middle School is filled various "hazards" that can not be abated, and it's state of repair is terrible.

With the population gradually declining and Ashe becoming a retirement center for used up Floridians, is there really a need for a new middle school to start with?

It would be criminal to build a new school in Warrensville with water and sewer, and improvements to NC 88, Buffalo and Bald Mountain Roads.

Sorry, meant to type Without, not with.

Hardrocks, the geographic center of the county is near Smethport. The population center today is near Wal-Mart - that means the location that is center to where the population lives. Over the next few decades that center will migrate down US 221 toward Westwood Elementary.

It's foolish to build a new school in Warrensville, if there is no corresponding improvement in access to the school. The two lane pig-paths that lead to Warrensville are a joke and a danger. The school system is contemplating a increasing the number of students on site by 33% without guarantee they can even get a septic tank permit for that increase.

It would be criminal to build a new school in Warrensville with water and sewer, and improvements to NC 88, Buffalo and Bald Mountain Roads.

It's approximately 5 miles from Warrensville to the WJ WWTP, it's only 1 mile from Smethport. Assuming an 8" ductile iron force main and a $500,000 lift station, the sewer cost to Smethport is about $1.25 million dollars. The cost to Warrensville is about $4.25 million. The cost of an 8 inch water line is to Warrensville is about $2.5 million and $500K to Smethport. Warrensville will need a standpipe or small tank - add another $500K.

Utilities to Warrensville = $7.5 million. Utilities to Smethport $1.75 million.

If utilities are taken to Warrensville, Lansing and Chemi-Con could tie on to the system in the future. If you stay in Warrensville, 88 needs a third lane from Smethport to Warresnville. At both sites, you need to improve Bald Mountain and Buffalo.

It's cheaper from a utility and road standpoint to site the school near the population center of the county. However, if the politics are such that the population center and the future population center is going to be ignored, then the additional money has to be spent to make the Warrensville site completely functional and making Warrensville completely functional could held NW Ashe a little, however nothing is going to change the trend that land value and quality of life in NW Ashe is dropping relative to other areas because of their extreme spatial isolation and particularly their distance from potential employment in Boone or Wilkes County.

It appears as if there is at least one other that does not understand what population center means also.

The center of the county is at the car wash in Warrensville so the current location is where it should stay. It should not be moved just so it suits the people up in Jefferson ,or WJ .Their is kids back towards Tn. that has to get to school also.

How does an administrator for a school not understand what population center means?

Would be a closer drive were you not at the end of your career.