School board member Ron Margiotta made another unsuccessful pitch today for the current board to halt spending more dollars on the Forest Ridge High project.
Margiotta said they should stop spending any additional dollars on Forest Ridge while staff reviews other sites. He pointed out that the new board members also have concerns about the Forest Ridge site.
But the issue brought up by board members again is the lack of time.
Staff has told board members that even a two-week delay on the project would delay Forest Ridge's 2012 opening by a year. They've said switching to a new site would delay the opening by two years to 2014.
Margiotta said it's "just waiting dollars" right now to keep spending money while the review is ongoing.
But board member Lori Millberg said agreeing to a two-week delay would take away the option for new board members to open Forest Ridge in 2012.
Margotta continued to express skepticism about a two-week delay having that much impact. But Don Haydon, chief facilities and operations officer, said they have "no more slack."
School board member Horace Tart, more stridently than normal, argued against using the alternative site proposed by Rolesville Mayor Frank Eagles. He said that site is too small because it only has 52 acres.
Tart also said that site won't work because there's only one road going in and coming out.
"A 52-acre site doesn’t work for a high school," Tart said in an uncharacteristically loud voice.
But Margiotta said that Eagles has also pointed out that available acreage is attached to the property that can also be acquired.
After all this discussion, no vote occurred.
The issue came up because board committee chairs were giving reports about their meetings.
Comments
Halt Forest Ridge, NOW!!!
Tue, 10/20/2009 - 15:05 — woodstockWho believes a two week delay will delay opening a new school by two years. Anyone? Didn't think so.
Also, claiming 53 acres is not enough room for a school is complete nonsense. For a 2000-student school that is only 37 students per acre. Who buys this; common sense says someone is blowing smoke?
Fifty acres for a 2000 seat school is actually an old and very generous standard from the 70s, the trend now is to build schools on smaller -- much smaller -- sites.
Here is some interesting information suggesting Wake County is behind the times:
http://www.saferoutespartnership.org/state/5638/5652
Uh...
Tue, 10/20/2009 - 15:50 — Bob_SconceSo, a majority of a high school's footprint is taken up with things other than the school building itself -- football field, other athletic fields, tennis courts, student parking, faculty parking, bus parking. And, don't forget extra space for portable classrooms. You also have to consider that you may not be able to do anything with a portion of the space you're buying, just because the world doesn't come in nicely shaped lots.
Also, I think 2,000 students is small for a new high school in Wake County -- Wakefield HS is pushing 3,000.
Now, it's possible to build a great high school without all the athletic fields -- heck, look at Raleigh Charter. But, I haven't seen anything that says the trend in *public* high schools is to get rid of them.