Collegiate Times

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The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors closed a chapter of Blacksburg High School’s ongoing saga Monday night when it voted to repair the damaged school.

The board of supervisors voted 5-2 against a plan to build a new BHS, a project that could have potentially cost the county $124.5 million, in favor of repairing the current building at an estimated cost of $14.5 million.

Although the issue has been under discussion by both the board of supervisors and the Montgomery County School Board since the BHS gymnasium collapsed on Feb. 13, Monday night’s vote came unexpectedly.

The vote was not on the agenda for Monday night’s meeting.

Supervisor Mary Biggs, who represents western and northwestern portions of the town of Blacksburg, said supervisor Gary Creed brought up the vote during the section of the agenda designated for member business at the end of Monday’s meeting.

“I’m concerned because the vote was taken without knowing the true total cost,” Biggs said. “We had not explored all the information on building new facilities.”

Biggs cast one of the two “no” votes. The other was cast by board of supervisors chairwoman Annette Perkins.

“I think it’s a fairness issue,” Biggs said. “I think it should be something that was open to the public and media.”

Blacksburg Town Council member and Virginia Tech math professor Susan Anderson said although the town council does not have an official position or role in the question of repairing the building, she felt the vote should have been listed on the board’s agenda.

“Many people who would have wanted to be present didn’t know to come,” Anderson said. “It seems that our residents want to share their views.”

Though the vote came unexpectedly, many supervisors had already expressed wishes to repair BHS instead of constructing a new school.

“The timing was surprising, the outcome was not,” said Wat Hopkins, a school board member and Tech communication professor. “The vote last night was inevitable. It was going to happen.”

Creed, who represents the southeastern portion of Montgomery County, said he made his decision to push the vote after touring the building last week.

“They told us everything that needed to be done,” Creed said. “They told us all of it was fixable and doable.”

Though Hopkins acknowledged Creed’s point of view, he said he was not sure why the vote was made at the end of Monday’s night meeting without being scheduled on the agenda, calling the move “trickery.”

Biggs said she was “looking forward to talking with the engineers again” during a second joint meeting between the school board and the board of supervisors that is scheduled for Sept. 23. She did not know if that meeting would still be held.

Since February, engineers have been inspecting the building for structural deficiencies. Steel beams that support the building’s roof have been tested for quality. In an Aug. 30 joint meeting between the board of supervisors and the school board, school board member Walt Shannon said 54 percent of the steel beams failed the tests.

Members of both boards have been split on what the better solution for the schools would be.

School board chairman Wendell Jones said during the Aug. 30 joint meeting he did not support repairing the current building.

“I will not vote to put anybody back in that facility if the gym is not complete,” Jones said during the meeting. “Someone would really have to convince me that that basement (gym) is safe. I don’t believe it is.”

However, building a new school would have meant a tax increase across the county of 10 to 12 cents per $100 on property taxes.

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A version of this article appeared in the Sep 15 issue of the Collegiate Times.