Marmagas: Montgomery County schools
Dig deep for Montgomery County’s children
By Susan West Marmagas
Marmagas lives in Blacksburg with her husband and two young children.
I was born and raised in Montgomery County and started kindergarten at Harding Avenue Elementary. Public school education through high school graduation prepared me well for my college and professional training in the health field. While I left home to pursue my further education and career goals, I always kept this tight-knit community close to my mind and heart.
April 19, 2012 - 12:14 AM
Very touching. However, I must say that after living in Montgomery County for almost four years (I attend Virginia Tech) and having deep roots in the county (my mom graduated from CHS, as did a majority of my family) I can say that I do not believe that Montgomery County Public Schools to be that amazing. I believe that every public school system serves the children, but they do it inefficiently. Also, you may have had a good experience in Blacksburg, but that’s because a majority of the county money goes to Blacksburg thanks to the insistance that it have the best of everything. I very much was angered that the board made Blacksburg HS more important than building new schools in Riner. Just my $0.02. A rambling blog from someone who grew up here does nothing but anger me because it appears to me that it is most important that HER daughter be educated, not the children of the county.
Great, another uninformed “Blacksburg gets everything” whiner. I guess you missed the fact that Blacksburg was pretty much lacking in a habitable building when it came to building a new high school (and the building it was in was hardly “the best of everything”). In fact, the county at times went out of its way to go in the other direction to make sure the rest of the county got it better at the expense of the Blacksburg schools. Look into the cost-per-student expense for Eastern Montgomery High School (way under capacity) vs. the cost for BHS then get back to us. If anything, the students in Blacksburg schools have a better experience because the parents put a lot of time, effort, and extra money (to make up for the lack of spending on the part of the county) into the schools.
And the last time I checked — for everyone’s education — just because the middle school and high school have the name “Blacksburg” in them does not mean they are exclusively for the town. The attendance zone for ALL the “Blacksburg” schools covers a large portion of the northern half of Montgomery County, well beyond the town limits of Blacksburg, taking in Prices Fork, the Ellett Valley, Longshop and McCoy, Merrimac, Brush Mountain, and out Mt. Tabor Rd. Every school, including the elementary schools in Blacksburg, have students who live in the county alongside kids who live in town. It gets quite annoying to have other county residents throwing rocks at the “Blacksburg” schools and complaining about how “they get everything” without considering that a) town residents pay county taxes on their property, too (and town taxes also) and b) county residents are in the schools there just like there are county residents in the Christiansburg schools (but no one complains about that being a problem) and county residents in EastMont schools and in the Auburn schools. Its one district with one big funding problem.
And Joe, I guess you missed the part where Christiansburg and Auburn had the same structural deficiencies that made Blacksburg “uninhabitable”, yet somehow they remain habitable. Also must have missed the part about how Blacksburg has brand new elementary schools with empty classrooms because they built new schools beyond the student demand in Blacksburg while other elementary schools in the County are overcrowded and kids are still in 60 year old buildings. Also must have missed the part where Blacksburg parents are objecting to the current high school plan as “not big enough”. They want the new school to be able to house 1600 students instead of what is planned, despite the fact that the projected student population won’t even reach the currently planned capacity in the next 20 years. No, Blacksburg doesn’t ever demand things to the exclusion ofthe other schools in MC.
Excuse me, Chuck, but you must live in the same fantasy land as Alex. Countless times the problems and differences between Blacksburg High School and the other buildings have been explained but you don’t seem to want to understand them, you want to keep on with the “Blacksburg gets everything” mantra that makes the rest of the county feel better (again, it isn’t just BLACKSBURG that is involved there). “new elementary schools with empty classrooms” I assume is referring to Prices Fork elementary, which is solely in the county and has nothing to do with the Town of Blacksburg — or is there some special sign, like on the Sneeches that makes people from that part of the county different from those who live on the other side of 114? You also said “new schools” so what other new elementary schools are there in Blacksburg, especially with empty classroooms? If you want to hate on people with people with buildings with empty classrooms, cast your eyes down in the valley, where Eastern Montgomery High School is only half full, will only ever be half full, and has the highest per-pupil cost in the county. By the way, if you look at the school board, “Blacksburg” doesn’t have any extra votes when it comes to members.
Actually Joe, it is you who apparently lives in fantasy land if you don’t think Blacksburg constantly evinces an elitist attitude. Yes, I have heard the publicized differences. I also know the totality of the engineers’ report. Additionally, I was atthe meetings about this issue when they were deciding what to do. I heard the Blacksburg parents attitudes about what they wanted and heard their virulent objection to sending Blacksburg students into the county and more recently, heard their strenuous objections to having County kids brought into Blacksburg. I also have seen the private security guards hired to work at the current Blacksburg Middle School. Private security in addition to the police SRO, because the parents were concerned for the safety of their kids if they had to attend school in Christiansburg. Is there private security at any other County school? As long as it is privately funded there would be nothing technically improper about it, but it is beyond insulting to suggest that there is some elevated danger at this school above others just because it is in Christiansburg. You can say the Blacksburg/rest of the County dichotomy is a fantasy dreamt up by the rest of the County but by acting as if the rest of the County is no better than the wild west, Blacksburg certainly does more than their share to promote this ‘fantasy’.
To Joe: “If anything, the students in Blacksburg schools have a better experience because the parents put a lot of time, effort, and extra money (to make up for the lack of spending on the part of the county) into the schools.”
So, Blacksburg is better then, because you say it is. Got it. I’m sure my family (full of Christiansburg alums) would love to hear more about how Blacksburg is so much better than Christiansburg. It’s no secret that Blacksburg residents look down their nose at the rest of the county. To piggyback on Chuck’s comment, last I checked almost everyone that goes to Price’s Fork lives in Blacksburg or has a Blacksburg address. I also remember how much grief was going around because oh darn Blacksburg kids had to come to Christiansburg for middle school. Boohoo. I come from a county with 23 different high schools and 186,000 students, and no one high school or town would rule over the school system like Blacksburg does here.
Apparently your government teachers failed you, Alex. Pull up a map (here’s a link for you: http://g.co/maps/gn6eq — note the different shades that indicate the Blacksburg town limits). Prices Fork is clearly outside the town limits, which means those who live there live in the county, postal address being meaningless. But if you’re buddies with Chuck, facts don’t matter when it comes to the hatred of anything Blacksburg, since “Blacksburg gets everything.” After all, in that worldview, the “haveitall of Blacksburg” starts around Jennell Road and extends all the way to the top of Brush Mountain, going west to the river and east out the Ellett Valley and angling toward Mt. Tabor Rd. to the Roanoke County line.