Colonial Beach middle schoolers may have to move - Fredericksburg.com
BY JONAS BEALS
After all the fallen trees, floods and road washouts, it looks like Colonial Beach Middle School students will end up getting hit hardest by the recent storms.
Colonial Beach School Board members met Thursday night to discuss options for housing those 150 students now that their school building is damaged.
Torrential downpours lashed the century-old schoolhouse. The bathrooms suffered the most damage and have been sealed off. Although Superintendent Donna Power said that "the building is not unsafe," middle schoolers have had to walk to the adjacent elementary school to use the restrooms.
Although the building is still being used, Power declined requests from The Free Lance-Star to view the damage.
School Board members discussed three long-term solutions. They included:
Leasing a prefab building to act as a middle school and putting it behind the current Colonial Beach High School.
Building a new middle school.
Building a single, new K-12 school to house all Colonial Beach students.
The prefab building option could take a few months to complete. It could take up to three years to build a new school.
Board members did not discuss the potential costs of each.
In the meantime, students probably will have to be moved from the middle-school building so repairs can commence.
"The problem right now," Superintendent Donna Power said, "is where we want to go in the next two weeks."
She laid out a plan that shuffles students into trailers behind the current middle school, with the eighth grade split between the library and music trailers. She said it could take two weeks to complete.
School Board members seemed reluctant to endorse the plan.
"I have concerns about moving kids around," School Board Chairman Tim Trivett said.
Board member Michael Looney said that he would prefer to keep the middle schoolers where they are until a prefab building can be installed behind the high school.
He said school officials already have the permission, authority and permits to put a building there. It was unclear where the money would come from to lease or purchase it.
Meanwhile, lead paint is complicating repair plans at the middle school.
School officials say there is no asbestos in the bathrooms, but lead paint is peeling off the walls.
The expense and inconvenience of lead abatement, coupled with roof repairs to the old school, could help determine the course of action.
Power said she is soliciting estimates from local construction companies, and is discussing possible financial options with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
She also said she will explain the situation to parents in a letter she plans to write this weekend.
Jonas Beals: 540/368-5036
Email: jbeals@freelancestar.com
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