School board eyes four facility plans

While Alleghany County Schools are facing problems with overcrowding, school officials are moving forward with plans to remedy the situation. However, until the meeting was held on Wednesday (March 9), those plans were not revealed to the public. School architects the Pinnacle Architectural firm of Matthews were scheduled to hold a meeting with the Alleghany County Board of Education on that subject.

“We’re going to present our facility study to the Board of Education,” said Superintendent Duane Davis on Tuesday. “Right now, we have four options.”

The first option to be presented will be purchasing the former Sara Lee Knit Products plant to house a primary center, which would hold grades pre-kindergarten through second grade. The children would not need to cross the street to attend classes or use facilities at the existing Sparta Elementary School, Davis said. “The primary center would include a multi-purpose and the other facilities necessary for the school.” Davis said that option would “relieve the space problems at Sparta School and allow either a third through eighth grade configuration at the existing Sparta School.” As a second alternative, Davis said that using the Sara Lee building could also allow space in the existing Sparta School for a third through sixth grade configuration with a countywide Alleghany Upper-Grade Center for grades seven and eight.

A second option to be presented includes building a stand-alone middle school on a new site, which would house grades six through eight.

A third option would involve expanding three of the existing county schools, excluding Alleghany High School.

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