Jane Calhoun's exceptional children's class at Sparta Elementary School is tucked away in a nook in a larger classroom, which it shares with another class.

Sparta Elementary School space needs highlighted in guided tour

Seeing is believing. That cliché held true on Monday morning when the Board of Education and Alleghany County Commissioners met at Sparta School to discuss the need for space with Principal Susan Murphy and Assistant Principal John Farrelly.

"The original plan of this building was for teachers to teach in full-size classrooms. Now, they are teaching in classroom that are a third of those sizes," Farrelly said.

In the last few years, the number of students has increased, and with projections of continued growth, this has caused the continued concern for the future of Sparta School.

Spacing has affected scheduling. An example of this is physical education. There is one gym and one multi-purpose room.

"In order for Sparta School students to have PE every day, which both Mr. Farrelly and I think is essential, we have done some things that usually have not been done before. We have one entire grade that has PE in the gym," explained Murphy. "That is a lot of students and it is not a good idea to do that. We do put extra staff members there so there are three certified teachers and an assistant that is in the gym at that time; but we know it is a safety issue. In order for all of our students to have PE, we have had to make some tough choices and try to make a tough choice a better situation."

Title One Teacher Cindy Atwood worked for Sparta School in January, 1997, when the building was being constructed. "We thought we were being far-sighted, (in the aspect of the size of the current building) but it did not wind up being that way. Here we are today, only seven-and-a-half years after we moved in this facility in January, 1997. Here we are addressing shortage of space."

One of the space priorities of Sparta School is storage. Areas that were previously used as storage are currently being used as classrooms. A second is space for two Exceptional Children teachers. Thirdly, there is a need for a larger area for English as a Second Language students, which make up about 17 percent of the school's population.

"We can't go back, we only need to look forward. Our focus here at Sparta School is always to do what is best for the students. As you are looking at possible solutions to our shortage and facility needs, please be as far-sighted as possible," Atwood requested of the board. "Look down the road 10, 15, 20 years. We should not be having to come back and address facility needs in a few years. A lot of things have impacted this. We really need to be as visionary as possible."

School Board Meeting

Sparta School's top priority for alleviating its space difficulties is making sure there are enough classrooms, Farrelly told Alleghany's school board members on May 5.

Last month, Farrelly outlined problems caused by a lack of space, which are due to increasing enrollment and added programs.

School board members asked him to come up with a list of priorities. He reported last week that a focus group studied the space, brainstormed ideas and came up with a list of recommendations.

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