Collegiate Times

Following an unexpected break from class when part of the school’s roof collapsed, many students and teachers from Blacksburg High School are anxious to return.

Class, however, will not be quite the same.

Interim Superintendent Walt Shannon said Wednesday BHS students would attend classes at Blacksburg Middle School on an “afternoon schedule,” most likely meaning that students will not begin class until the middle school students finish, which would go well into the evening.

Details have yet to emerge on the logistics of the move and when it will occur. The exact schedule has also not yet been released.

BHS is still officially closed to the public, although Shannon said there has been “limited access” granted for teachers to retrieve their materials from classrooms in the undamaged portion of the building. It is unknown when a final decision regarding the safety of the building will be handed down.

“We just have to be patient,” Shannon said.

The roof of the BHS gym collapsed on Saturday, Feb. 13. Students have not returned to classes since then, adding four more days onto the 12 they have already missed this semester because of winter weather.

Shannon said he ultimately chose BMS because of its proximity to the Blacksburg community.

“It was the fastest way to get students back to school,” Shannon said. “It will work.”

Students have voiced concerns over the proposed afternoon schedule. BHS senior Michael Huff said he is concerned about new scheduling conflicts between class and his current employment.

“They’ve screwed over a lot of students who have jobs,” Huff said. “I work in the afternoon and I’m not going to be able to work during the week anymore.”

“It’s really going to affect my older friends who have jobs,” said freshman Emily Hjulstrom.

Hjulstrom added that attending classes on an afternoon schedule would seriously affect her family’s routine. Her brother is in the eighth grade at BMS.

“It’s really going to lengthen the day and change our meal times,” Hjulstrom said. “We wouldn’t have much time together.”

The other major option that had been on the table was to send students to neighboring Christiansburg High School.

The facilities there are more conducive to high school instruction, Shannon said, but ultimately it was decided that it would be too far to take students to Christiansburg.

The move finds support in BMS principal John Wheeler.

“We are welcoming them (the high school students),” he said.

Wheeler said he did not expect that the influx of high school to BMS would create “a huge impact.”

“We don’t look at this as a hindrance or as problematic,” he said. “This is a great opportunity for us to be able to help in our community.”

Michael Kaylor is a cinema and photography teacher at the high school. Although the collapse has been “very hard to deal with,” he remains optimistic for the rest of the school year.

He did, however, express his disappointment at losing his photography studio space for the rest of the semester. Also affected is BHS’s theater department, which will no longer have use of its auditorium to produce its spring play.

Kalyor, who taught at BHS for 22 years, said there were no easy solutions to the situation.

“It’s the best thing we could’ve done,” he said.

School officials are attempting to remain optimistic throughout the transition process and make it “as enjoyable as we can,” Wheeler said. “We look at it as a positive opportunity.”

More details on accommodations for BHS students for the remainder of the semester will be available soon, according to Shannon.  

“Just be patient,” he said.