I hope that in this New Year, full of new county officials that someone will fight for the long needed consolidation of the area high schools. It is time for our county to put education before sports and think of the future of our children. It is not fair for students to attend schools that have no music department, cracking foundations, odd odors that waft from the basements, and the like. It is not okay that our kids do not have the opportunity to choose more than one foreign language to study, that there are few clubs that support higher learning and few classes that support advanced learning.

I believe the Vocational School has lasting for over 30 years is a sign that our students can and will get along in a consolidated learning environment. Think of the wonderful elements that consolidation offers:

1: Better Facilities
2: Better Teachers
3: More Classes
4: Yes, Better Sports Programs
5: Better Music Programs (Choir and Band)
6: Better Art Programs (Drawing, Painting, Speech and Drama)
7: Better Facilities for Science and Mathematics, which our area schools so desperately, desperately need. Not having a working Chemistry room is not only ridiculous, but shows a lack of interest in helping our kids who need to learn these vital lessons.
8: Better Preparation for College
9: Better After School Programs
10:Better High Tech and Advanced Learning Instruments

These are all very vague, but still 10 reasons why Consolidation is much needed. Instead of waisting thousands of dollars to repair old, worn out facilities. Why not put that money into building one, new, consolidated school? If we knew the exact amount of money spent in a 15 year period repairing the 3 high schools we would be shocked I'm sure. Haysi High School just got new sidewalks, hmm? Now why couldn't that have spent that money on the sidewalks for a new school? Perhaps the fear of putting a few principals and teachers out of a job is what is holding back Consolidation, but I look at it as the best would be hired allowing for our kids to be educated by the BEST our county has.

This is just my, what is...JMO, but I sure wish it would set in the minds of those who can vote on making it happen.

I am 100pr cent in favor of conolidation.would be a new school and better enviorment.we would have a better sports team and everything.I know one school board member who is in favor of it. we only have to keep working and maybe we can get the elected officials to go along and do something good for the county.land would be no problem and it could be centrally located in the county. we bus to the vocational school anyway from the three high schools.

Just to point out one thing about your post,
"5: Better Music Programs (Choir and Band)"
More like, to HAVE music and band programs! =P


Overall I thought you pointed out some good pros to this issue. I am, however, impartial to this matter. As a current student of HHS, I feel that it would revoke my sense of identity to a school, I prefer to be attending a school where i'm a name, not a number and a grade. However, the higher quality of education and new facilities are greatly needed. I'm sure our school board has spent an erroneous amount trying to keep the aging schools in the county functional aswell.

Actually I did address the fact that a school having no music dept., isn't fair, I said quote "It is not fair for students to attend schools that have no music department." I knew that Haysi High was lacking in this as last year I made quite a long rant about it. I was in band and choir when I attended Haysi and I know how important it is and was to my overall high school career. It's not good and I despise it.

I believe a new found overall identity would come in a consolidated school. Students wouldn't be just a number. It takes thousands upon thousands of children going to one institution to become just a number. I believe that the staff of a new consolidated school would work just as hard as they do now to ensure that their students weren't just a number or face. That's the beauty of living in Dickenson County, no matter where you are you know someone that knows you, that knows your family etc. The small town roots would not die, but I believe be strengthened into one vital entity. An entity that would carry weight throughout the region. The local schools have many students who in a larger, more well rounded environment could shine, because they would be supported by others who were outstanding, which would draw attention to the area that they showed strength in. When we have 1, single student, perhaps 2 fighting to stand-out academically in a region where there is little to no extracurricular opportunities to further a students endeavors, they end up overlooked. The first of any news for a long time that I heard about a single student actually gaining state-wide, major attention for an academic endeavor was from not any of the high schools, but the VOCATIONAL SCHOOL!!!! This was very recent. This proves that in a consolidated environment students can thrive and reach greater heights.

I will always be a supporter of consolidation. I loved growing up at Haysi High School, I wouldn't trade my memories there for any amount of money, however as an adult I see how much lacking in many areas my high school career was. I see that had I been in a better school I may have had opportunities and been furthered and better prepared for my adult/college life.

You are so right! It would take thousands of students to lose your identity. There are not that many students in Dickenson County.

If parents are serious about consolidating the schools I would STRONGLY suggest you form a committee to be at every public meeting possible. Parents need to voice their wants for their children. As parents we are the driving force in any community.

There are a lot of young parents who want to consolidate. Those parents have one of two choices; 1.form a committee and represent your wants or 2.complain about the situation. In my opinion there has been enough complaining. The talk of consolidating has been going on since I was in high school (10+ years). It is time to push this forward.

Who says you'd be just a number and a grade?

Here's an excerpt from a message I posted about this on the DCDB a few months ago:

...you're wrong in the apparent certainty of your statement that consolidation would result in less individual attention for students. Consolidation does not inherently mean that all class sizes will increase. Steps can and should be taken to ensure student-teacher ratios remain low. I don't know anyone who supports consolidation who would suggest firing 2/3 teachers in each department and lumping all the students together. That's a myth perpetuated by opponents of consolidation.

Current student-teacher ratios in our county are as follows: EHS(10), HHS(12), CHS(13). Enrollment (about 750 total) and faculty employment (about 65 total) data show the s.t. ratio for a consolidated high school would be around 11.5 or 12. That's on par with or better than similar sized high schools in other parts of southwest Virginia and much better than the ratio of 18-19 for most schools in the Tri-Cities area. For example, total enrollment at Giles County High is about 700 with a s.t. ratio of 14, Blacksburg High has around 1,200 students with an s.t. ratio of 12, and Christiansburg High School has about 1,050 students with an s.t. ratio of 13.

Having attended a high school that was created due to consolidation (in TN), I can attest to the positives that such a move will provide. Here's my story...

The pre-consolidation school I attended housed grades 7th through 12th. It was small, and hadn't seen many updates since it was built in the 1950's, at least none that a 7th grader could see. Even in 1980, the year the consolidation took effect, when you stepped inside you could have sworn that you had traveled back to the decade in which it was built. Our 8th grade English class was held in a room set up for Chemistry class, complete with the tall work tables with gas hookups for the Bunsen burners. We had wood floors throughout the building, and window air conditioners in very few rooms. In the winter, the heat (what there was of it) was provided courtesy of a coal-burning furnace. Partitions were put up in the study hall to create two more classrooms, one in which I had homeroom/8th grade Science class. Our cafeteria was in a separate building, accessible via a covered walkway from the main school. As expected, other than baseball our sports offerings weren't much to brag about.

In 1980 a new school was built, and the old school I attended became a middle school. Another middle school in the area also fed into the new school, as did part of the population of another high school due to rezoning. The first year the school was open, I was a freshman. I recall the first day of school well. Due to remaining construction needing to be performed, the bus couldn't drop us off at the front entrance so we had to walk a short distance to the building. The entire parking lot and all roads leading to the school were still covered with gravel. Stepping inside the school the first time, we marveled at the high ceilings. It was as if we were entering a new shopping mall; I jokingly asked where the movie theaters were located. The school population totaled over 1300 students, and we had around 330 students in our class. I admit that I did not like the new school one bit. It was too big, there were too many people, and I wanted to go back to the comforts of my 1950s-era high school. Along with the new school in the new decade came a few restrictions that we weren't used to, the main one being the fact that we weren't allowed to go outside during lunch period; this was a freedom that we greatly enjoyed at the old school (after a couple of years this policy was reversed). Talk about change -- at the old school, in the spring during 8th grade TN History class our teacher would frequently take us outdoors and we'd have class along the bank of a small stream.

On the plus side we did have a swimming pool and a dedicated theater for plays and concerts, a conversation pit where we could sit with our friends before school started and during lunch period, and as expected, our sports programs became very competitive, from track and field, to volleyball, baseball, and football. We had carpet. We had air conditioning and heat all over the building. We even had a golf team. We had a new, modern, football stadium that rivaled that of other schools. Same for the baseball stadium. We had new tennis courts. We did have a band and choral department at the old school, but these too were greatly improved at the new school. I was in the chorus for 4 years, and in the second year we went to Atlanta for a competition and came home with high marks. Oh, and we also attended a Braves baseball game, and prior to the game we went on the field with chorus members from other high schools and sang the National Anthem. In the 4th year of high school, our choral dept. took a trip to Orlando and visited, and sang at, Disney World in Florida. We were even given exclusive access to the park several hours before it opened to the general public.

I know how big everyone is on football. Well, the first year the team didn't do too bad. But during the second season, we were unbeaten in our conference, lost only one game overall, and went to the first round of the state playoffs.

Academically, we had a greater variety of subjects to choose from, and students regularly attended state scholar bowls and won.

As some have noted, there is the fear that students will just become a number. Guys, don't believe it. The student/teacher ration was roughly the same as it was at the old school. You will only become a number if you allow yourself to become one. Did I feel that way the first year? Sure I did. I felt like a stranger in a strange place, surrounded by other strangers. I guess you could say that I rebelled, because I did not want to change. You do not know how badly I wanted to go back to the old school; given the chance, I would have easily done so and never looked back. The only friends I had were the ones I had at the old school. Some people adjusted quicker than others, but there was an "us vs. them" mentality that I felt, and which others felt, and we had to get over that if we were all going to be friends and if this new consolidation was going to be a success. And it was. I still have great memories of the old middle/high school, but even it has been modernized, with, yes, new carpet covering those creaky, noisy, yet neat old wooden floors. I still love that old place, but looking at the opportunities I had at the new school, I wouldn't trade them for anything.

SMALL learning environments are better for children. Most of the larger districts in progressive areas are turning away from larger, consolidated school systems in favor of smaller, more localized schools.