Voice for Community Schools 

St. Paul, VA

"Large and mediocre is NEVER better than small and excellent"
- Judy Pate Abbott, SPHS Class of '63

Top High School - 2009!

St. Paul High School recognized by US News and World Report

St. Paul High School, along with Appalachia and Pound High Schools, have been recognized with Bronze Awards from U.S. News and World Report Best High Schools 2009 Search.  To view the article please click on the following link: http://www.usnews.com/sections/education/high-schools/.  The link for Virginia's top high schools can be found here.

The following brief came from the Governor's office:
Nation's Best: Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine congratulated Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County for being named the nation's best high school by US News & World Report.  A total of 43 VA schools made the annual list of America's top 100 high schools.  Four high schools received Gold Medals, 12 Silver Medals and 27 Bronze Medals

75% Tax Increase in Wise County?

Click here to see an ad that appeared in area newspapers the last week of January, 2009.

 

JOIN US IN OUR FIGHT TO SAVE OUR LOCAL SCHOOLS!

 

Voice for Community Schools is a satellite organization of the St. Paul High School Alumni Association. Our organization pledges to address the ever-growing threat of consolidation of Wise County schools.  Such a move poses a direct threat to St. Paul High School, other community schools in our area, and initiates a domino effect that threatens our elementary and middle schools, our businesses, our homes, our towns, our communities, and ultimately our lives.

  VCS Steering Committee:

 

 Important letters from our Alumni Association Chair:

The following is a letter presented by our Chair to the St. Paul Town Council at their meeting on Monday night, January 19, 2009.

Mr. Mayor, Town Council: My name is Suzy Harrison and I am here tonight representing the St. Paul High Alumni Association. I have been dismayed for the past several meetings that the issue of the school consolidation has not been either on the agenda or a discussion item. I think the closure of our high school is one of the most important issues facing our town. I think it is important that I give you an overview of this issue tonight. Of course the Wise County School Board voted 5-3 to begin the process of consolidation of our high schools. They began the official process with a public hearing at J. J. Kelly High School. The majority of the school board did not speak......Monty Salyer was the only member to answer any questions posed by the public. Of course his answers were mostly..?I don?t know? since there is no site, design or construction cost...even today. Then to appease the dissenters of consolidation, Dr. Perry had public forums at each of the schools. He spent over 4 hours at St. Paul answering questions of the 200 people in attendance. St. Paul had the most people to attend. The other schools only had between 25-50 people at most. Dr. Perry began the first forums by saying that he was not there to discuss the issue of renovation over consolidation.......that decision was made by the majority of the school board. The forum were designed to get input from the communities the things they wanted in ?their? new school, the design and curriculum. He, also, stressed at the first few meetings that the school board would be ?fair? to all schools, they would be located equi-distance between the communities and new sports facilities would be constructed at each site with new colors and mascots. The schools would be constructed on 40 acres to accommodate the new facilities. After several meetings, his words changed. Now the schools would be located in the most affordable locations on 20 acres and use existing sports facilities to save the maximum money. In other words, the combined St. Paul/Coeburn school would use Coeburn?s sports facilities, Appalachia/Powell Valley would use Bullit Park and Pound/Wise would use the Wise facilities. This changed with the political voices in Coeburn, Wise and Big Stone. No more talk of equi-distance or fair. He, also, has said many times that the dwindling numbers in some of the schools would force some hard decisions......of course he means the closure St. Paul High School. The school board is looking at least 3 locations for the St. Paul/Coeburn school. One of the locations is the stripped land on 58 in Bull Run. The other 2 rumored sites are within the Coeburn town limits. Of course if Norton comes into the mix, everything will change. But at this point, we should all support and insist upon the Bull Run location. It is equi-distant and fair. It would, also, be easy, but expensive, to install water and sewer to that site. There would be plenty of room at that site for sports facilities and even a ROTC field. Much of the excavation work has been done. If Norton comes into the mix, a school would probably be built somewhere between Norton and Coeburn......most likely closer to Norton. St. Paul will not become Thomas Walker in that scenario. St. Paul High School will be closed. In any scenario, St. Paul High School will be closed. There is a chance that St. Paul High School could become a part of a middle school since the 8th graders will be absorbed into the elementary school. The new high schools will be 9 thru 12 only. The only 2 schools in Wise County with 8th graders are St. Paul and Appalachia. Again, our dwindling numbers may rule out our high school being used.

I know this all seems very bleak and it is. There was a Wise County School Board meeting today at noon to further look at the sites and to pick a management/construction firm. Hopefully, they will narrow the St. Paul/Coeburn sites to the one at Bull Run and one in Coeburn. Supposedly, once narrowed down, there will, again, be public forums for input from the communities as to site selections. Keep in mind that the past public forums did nothing to help St. Paul. If anyone on this council has any influence with the Wise County School Board, now is the time to act.

Once the site and management /construction firm are chosen, the cost for the 3 schools can be calculated. Then the plans will go to the Wise County Board of Supervisors for approval of the funds. We have been told that the majority of the supervisors will vote for any plan presented by the school board. Absurd as this sounds in today?s economic crisis, we do not have reason to be optimistic that this plan will not go forward. Of course, the public will come out in force if there is a large tax increase to pay for these schools. At this time there is no plan B for the school board if the funds are not available. Again, if anyone on this council has any influence with the Wise County Board of Supervisors, now is the time to act. Our most important issue now is the site selection. What can we all do now? We must attend the Wise County Board of Supervisor meetings to show our support of our community and voice our opinions. I hope all of you will come together to fight for our school and community. Your voice will make the difference.

Thank you for your time.

Suzy Harrison,
Chair SPHS Alumni Association, Inc.

September 17th, 2008

I am assuming that all have read Jenay Tate's Editorial in Tuesday's Coalfield Progress. One sentence really stands out....."Proponents of having a high school in every single town in Wise County can not see beyond their commitment to and belief in their own high schools, cost and equity to all be damned." This is not a surprise since we all have known the position of the Coalfield Progress toward consolidation. Jenay's home or business is not in jeopardy; therefore, she can not possibly understand the threat to our community if our school closes

On Monday, October 13th, the Wise County School Board will make their decision and a motion should be made for consolidation or the hybrid plan. This will be the meeting that could change lives and communities for generations.  I am requesting that we hold a communitywide meeting on Thursday, October 9th and I hope I have your support and help.  Please let me know if each of you is supportive and will actively help organize this meeting.  I will then let you know the time and place.

Suzy Harrison

September 9th, 2008

Thank you all for coming to the school board meeting last night. The "sea of purple" was impressive and several positive comments were made by the school board about our dedication and passion. Everyone needs to call or see Debbie Baca, Ann Gregory, Bob Harrison, Johnny Jones, Frank Kilgore and Kyle Fletcher and tell them what great speeches they gave. The fight is going to the next round and we all need to be ready to go to the next level. It has been suggested that we have a community meeting at SPHS before the next school board meeting on October 13th (?).....hope that's the right date. I will talk with Debbie Baca and the VCS for the exact date and time and let each of you know the details.

Suzy Harrison,
Chair SPHS Alumni Association, Inc.

August 12, 2008

Last night's school board meeting was St. Paul, St. Paul, St. Paul and more St. Paul.  It was great and I think our presence and speeches made an impact.  Thanks to everyone that spoke so passionately and professionally.  Bob Harrison, Debbie Baca, Ann Worley, Ann Gregory, Peggy Austin, Kyle Fletcher, Blake Whitenack, Harry Kelly and Sharon Steele were wonderful.  Thank you Raymond Trent, Kenneth Holbrook and Grant Marshall for making your presence and stance against consolidation known.  We were a unified town last night and it was great to be there!  There should be a decision at the September school board meeting so we all need to make the trip to Wise again next month.  And we all need to contact our school board members, board of supervisors members, family and friends to be a voice to reverse any negative decisions that will destroy our school and community......write letters, send emails, make telephone calls beginning today.  Let them know that we stand behind our school and community and will not let them close our doors!

There was a lone woman from Pound who spoke for consolidation.  Her speech could have been given by Vanessa Perry.......same words, different hairstyle.  We have since learned that she is a family friend.  We are thinking she may have been a "plant" by the consolidators on the school board.

Suzy Harrison,
Chair SPHS Alumni Association, Inc. 

 

In order to keep this page somewhat organized, the minutes, notes, and other information from VCS meetings have been moved here.

We get letters:  Here is a sample of the letters we receive which includes both pro community schools and pro consolidation.

PLEASE NOTE:  Due to the amount of letters we receive, we are asking that you post your letters, both pro and con, to the SPDEACS.org website.  Click on the LOGIN link at the top of the page.  Next, click on the MESSAGE BOARDS link that will appear in the middle top of the page.  From there you should go to the MESSAGE BOARDS section, where you can post a new comment or reply to a previous comment.

In the news:  This page contains links to news related to our cause.

The US Department of Education has come out squarely against consolidating smaller schools into larger schools -

Why do some local leaders continue to pursue this direction?

What YOU can do to help -

·       Attend the Voice for Community Schools Town Hall meetings.

·       Attend Wise County School Board meetings.

·       Contact one of your SPHS Alumni Board members to learn what you can do.

·       Write letters to the School Board,  Board of Supervisors,  your local and state representatives,  and others who can help.

·       Voice your concern by logging on and posting a letter to the MESSAGE BOARDS at the top center of the HOME page on spdeacs.org. 

Posts on the MESSAGE BOARDS are available to SPDEACS.ORG members only  - posts on the VCS site are available to the public.  We will copy various letters from the MESSAGE BOARDS to this page from time to time. Please let us know in writing if we can use your name should we decide to post your letter to the VCS website.

 

Follow the links below to educate yourself on this vitally important issue, and help us in the fight to save our local schools! 

Jack and the Giant School - The New Rules Project

In May 1999, ...Vice President Al Gore criticized the practice of "herding all students into overcrowded, factory-style high schools"

Exploring Alternatives to Consolidation - ERIC Digest (US Dept of Education)

"...there is no comprehensive information to prove that consolidation has met the problems for which it has been advocated--those of finance, staff, facilities, and curriculum. Reorganization has, in fact, not succeeded in several districts..."

Affective and Social Benefits of Small-Scale Schooling - ERIC Digest (US Dept of Education)

"...decades of research show that student achievement in small schools is at least equal--and often superior--to achievement in large schools ... although it is often assumed that large schools are cheaper to operate and provide richer curricula than small schools, studies show that neither of these things is necessarily true ... a large body of research in the affective and social realms overwhelmingly affirms the superiority of small schools..."

Lessons on Assessing the Costs of Small High Schools - Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

"Certain analyses also have suggested that small schools are more effective and thus amount to lower costs per graduate and/or reduced short term and long term social costs."

West Virginia has closed over 300 schools in the past 10 years.  This is a broad base for a study.  The results have been disastrous:

Slow Motion: Traveling by School Bus in Consolidated Districts in West Virginia - ERIC Digest (US Dept of Education)

"Consolidation in West Virginia has resulted in significantly longer commutes for many high school students. Not surprisingly, students who have these long commutes tend to participate in far fewer extra-curricular activities, if any, than students who live closer to school. ...Long distances to reach schools may present other problems as well. We suspect that parental involvement, for example, declines as the distance and time to school increases. We also wonder whether dropout rates tend to be higher when kids are forced to endure extremely long commutes to school." 

Broken Promises: After rural school closings: more administrators, scant savings and advanced courses cut - The Charleston Gazette

"School administrators across West Virginia have reneged on promises to provide students with advanced classes and save taxpayers millions of dollars through school closings and personnel cuts..."

Broken promises: Consolidation sputters - The Charleston Gazette

"Benefits of school consolidation touted by former state officials were almost limitless as they tried to convince reluctant parents that closing nearby schools and busing children to far-off consolidated schools were in the children's best interest.

Bigger schools would offer more Advanced Placement classes to prepare students for college. The curriculum would be far broader, with more foreign languages and electives like drama and computer programming to enrich students' academic life.

And because of 'economies of scale,' all this could be offered at a huge savings of tax dollars, with fewer administrators and teachers and lower maintenance and operating costs.

That was the schtick, anyway.

But when reporters Eric Eyre and Scott Finn investigated, they found that almost every one of those promises has been broken."

Small School Study - The New Rules Project

"Small schools in Vermont cost more to operate than larger schools but they are worth the investment because of the value they add to student learning and community cohesion."

Lessons from Good, Cost-Effective Small Schools - goodsmallschools.org

"Thirty years of education research, summarized by Dollars and Sense: The Cost-Effectiveness of Small Schools shows that small schools graduate a higher percentage of students, have lower rates of violence and disciplinary problems, and send more students on to postsecondary education than larger schools."

Rural School Consolidation Report - ERIC Digest (US Dept of Education)

"Students from low income areas have better achievement in small schools"

An Evaluation of the Impact of Rural School Consolidation - ERIC Digest (US Dept of Education)

"When small schools have closed and dollars migrated to other priorities or locations in our culture, there has normally been a corresponding loss in dollars to local businesses and other social institutions. It is now the time for America's rural schools and communities to reconsider a much related old saying about hanging together or closing separately."

School Inflation: Did the 20th-Century Growth in School Size Improve Education - Hoover Institution

"The author found that smaller schools had a significant positive effect on students' wages as adults. The findings suggest that increasing a state's average school size by 100 students was associated with a decline of one-third of a standard deviation in the rate of return to education for students educated there. This would amount to a 3.7 percent decline in earnings for a high-school graduate."

Rural School Community Trust

"Those in favor of consolidation claim improved academic offerings and cost-effectiveness based on economies of scale arguments, but they have proven to be unsubstantiated. The negative effects of larger schools, however, have been proven...

 


There will be much more information to share as we develop this website and we continue to WORK TOGETHER to preserve our small schools.  Please check this website often for updates.