The Roanoke County School Board amended the agenda of its most recent meeting to include a public hearing in regards to closing the Roland E. Cook alternative school in Vinton and moving those students to Cave Spring High School.
The decision to include the public hearing came on the heels of a meeting earlier this month when parents at Cave Spring and other area citizens expressed their dissatisfaction and concerns relative to the board members’ unanimous decision at the July 23 board meeting, to relocate the alternative program to Cave Spring without the topic having been on the agenda beforehand. The plan was to have Cook students kept in separate classrooms at Cave Spring, away from the general student body.
Roanoke County School Board member Odell “Fuzzy” Minnix, who represents the Cave Spring District, responded last week that the decision was made to curtail costs. After additional thought Minnix (a former coach at Cave Spring) backtracked and said he could not support the movement of the program, indicating he would try to have the vote rescinded.
Superintendent Dr. Lorraine Lange said that moving the program would curtail costs and save about $122,000 this year, mostly in personnel costs and utility expenses. The Roland E. Cook facility in Vinton is one of the oldest school facilities in use in the county.
Because Bedford County indicated that they plan to pull out of the joint regional alternative education program at R.E. Cook, some organizational change was needed for the program to remain feasible.
Several speakers addressed the School Board at the public hearing. Roger Elkin had three “broad and significant concerns,” which included, “Roanoke County not having made an effort to communicate with the public, not having been forthright about what is to occur at the alternative school, as there had been no information on R.E. Cook’s website or Roanoke County’s website. There [also] appears to be conflicting information as to whether the students in the R. E. Cook Alternative program are violent. I firmly believe this board has failed to operate in an open and honest manner.”
Deirdre Rea, a psychiatric professional, said the reason that the R.E. Cook alternative program works is because the students “are removed from the environment that caused them to have the behaviors they had,” and that if success of those students is what is really wanted, those students need to be kept away from other schools.
Another citizen commented, “It’s the kids getting a raw deal. How much pride can these students have when they are at Cave Spring, but separate because they are not good enough?”
Roanoke County School Board member Jerry Canada (Hollins District) said that he “would like to redouble” efforts to get the word out to the public – “to think before we act and get the word out before we make decisions.”
The Roanoke County School Board announced that several outside entities had expressed interest in this alternative education program and that Roanoke County Public School employees have been in discussions about the possibility of running the program at another location. The Board agreed to put out requests for proposals from private companies to determine if an alternative placement of the program is feasible. Ultimately, that is a decision the board will make. The date of the next meeting is September 24.
“I’m very encouraged by the course of action explained earlier that “would provide quality education for all students,” said Minnix.
Roanoke County School Board Chairman Drew Barrineau said that if changing the agenda on July 23 was underhanded and was meant to avoid public scrutiny were the case, “the school board would have directed the Superintendent to make this change administratively. Rather the agenda was amended and a vote was taken and made public. Due to the magnitude of the possible revenue shortfall, the school board decided to act quickly to realize the operational savings. Our minutes are widely disseminated and readily available online via Board Docs or by asking the School Board Clerk.”
Nine students are enrolled in the R.E. Cook Alternative Education Program for the current year. The number of students in alternative education is a floating number. Most participate in the alternative school for six to 12 months before returning to their home school.
Cook is a “second chance” program for students who have made poor choices, mostly related to alcohol or minor drugs. The program provides instruction to students in a highly secured and supervised environment. The students enrolled in the alternative education program will remain at R.E. Cook until a final decision is made.
Susan Ayers [email protected]
