Support appears to be strong among members of Buena Vista City Council for the idea of transforming the former Mountain Gateway Community College Rockbridge Center on Vista Links Drive into a middle school for the city’s sixth- and seventh-graders.
City Council members have praised this option as a much more affordable and realistic alternative to the proposed consolidated elementary and middle school that would be built next to the existing Parry McCluer High School and has a price tag of an estimated $69 million.
At City Council’s July 17 meeting, City Council member Michelle Poluikis recalled how she asked City Manager Jay Tyree last month if she could bring a couple of teachers into the former MGCC building to take a look at it. About a dozen teachers turned out for the tour, along with several city government leaders, including Tyree. All who took part in the July 1 tour were enthusiastic at the prospect of turning the building into a middle school.
“It was wonderful,” said Poluikis. “And the facility was much more than I had expected. So it really looked fantastic. But I did want the teachers to be there because I wanted [them] to say, ‘You know, well, maybe this space could work for us. Maybe it can’t.’ And they were all like just wowed by it. And in fact, a couple of teachers from the middle school … even said, ‘Could we move in August 4?’ They just want to do it. And it is, it’s absolutely beautiful. And it’s pretty much turn-key.”
Poluikis alluded to a recent school facilities committee meeting in which the price of the proposed new merged school next to the high school was disclosed. Such a facility, she said, “would be quite beautiful and would be wonderful, you know, if money could fall out of the sky. How much does it cost? Like 69 million. For the Cadillac. Yeah, yeah. It definitely is, it is, yes, yeah, very nice, but unfortunately, out of our ballpark.”
City Council member Ron Cash, who serves with Poluikis on the school facilities committee, said he “relished” the prospect of exploring the alternative proposal of utilizing the MGCC facility for a middle school.
After reading in the newspaper about Poluikis and Tyree leading the tour, Cash commented, “I was so proud that my team member and our city manager were able to think out[side] of the box for a bit. … Get out of the box that we had all been trapped in for months and thinking that we had to build this 65-69 million dollar world’s fair expo, and find something that we could afford. And so I commend you both … for taking the lead on that. … Thanks to the both of you for what you did with that. I am so excited about that. I think that is just a godsend. That’s not money falling out of the sky, but, boy, that sure is a nice gift.”
Cash asked how many students are at the middle school, which is currently comprised of sixth- and seventh-graders. Mayor Tyson Cooper responded that enrollment currently stands at 102, which is what the school has averaged the past several years. The former MGCC building, which has 15,000 square feet of floor space, has seven classrooms, five offices, spacious closets, a dining room and a huge kitchen.
At Council’s budget and finance committee meeting last Thursday, July 24, optimism over the idea of using the MGCC building as a middle school remained high. “We’ve been brainstorming the past several months,” remarked Tyree, over what to do about replacing the aging and deteriorating Parry McCluer Middle School.
The site visit at the MGCC building created excitement for this as an option, he observed. “We want to continue this momentum … optimize this opportunity.”
Tyree took the new superintendent of schools, Dr. Heather Ault, on a tour of the former MGCC building earlier this month. He said she was “noncommittal” on the prospect of using this building as a middle school, which he pointed out is understandable, given that she is new to her job and must take direction from the School Board.
Ault said Tuesday that the issue was not brought up at last week’s School Board meeting. She said she expected the issue would be discussed at the next school facilities committee meeting, which has not yet been scheduled.
The School Board’s next regular meeting is Aug. 21.
