Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
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Martinsville, Virginia 24115
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Thursday, January 28, 2010
Wednesday’s recommendation to consolidate Axton and Irisburg elementary schools and close the latter likely will not be accepted by some people in the community, according to the Henry County School Board member from that area.
“This is not going to fly well,” Iriswood District school board member Curtis Millner Sr. said shortly after schools Superintendent Anthony Jackson detailed the recommendation during a budget work session.
Jackson said consolidating the two schools will result in a net annual savings of $761,043 for the school system.
Millner said his reaction to the proposal “will depend solely on the sentiments of the community” he serves.
He did, however, recall the significance and the impact of the school when it was built.
“I went to Irisburg when it opened in ’49,” said Millner, who was in the second grade when he started attending the school.
Irisburg marked the beginning “of building consolidated brick buildings for black students in Henry County,” he said. The school “is like a monument to me.”
A majority of the schools closed through consolidation in past years served black communities, “with few exceptions,” Millner said.
He cited Spencer-Penn, which closed in the most recent consolidation in 2004, as one such exception.
Millner then ticked off the names of other schools built for black communities that have been closed: Leatherwood, Mary Hunter and Samuel Hairston.
The superintendent’s recommendation Wednesday marked the second time Irisburg has been suggested for closure, Millner said. It was on a list to close in the 2001 consolidation, he said.
That plan was later scrapped, in part due to public outcry, a $2.6 million renovation project in 1997 and to allow time for the community to grow, according to previous reports.
That growth still could occur, Millner said.
“We are making plans and downsizing” without considering “what if we landed” a large company that would employ 2,000 to 3,000 people, he said. If that were to happen, population — and therefore school enrollment — would increase, and more schools would be needed, he said.
Millner said that if Irisburg closes, the school should be maintained “to see if the economy picks up.”
He also noted that other schools, such as Rich Acres, have not been on a proposed closing list.
Rich Acres and Drewry Mason elementary schools “are very close together,” Millner said. Drewry Mason “could easily have absorbed” students now attending Rich Acres if a renovation project completed there in 2008 had included improvements to shops and locker rooms, he said.
Amber Fulcher, a member of the school’s PTO executive board, said she learned about the proposal Wednesday in a letter sent from the school division.
“I wouldn’t want it to happen,” she said of the proposed consolidation.
She plans to attend an informational meeting at the school today.
Irisburg Principal Jo Ellen Hylton referred comments about the proposed consolidation to Melany Stowe, division spokesperson.
Hylton said the faculty and staff at Irisburg are “dedicated to giving our students the best quality education we can.”
A public hearing on the proposal to close Irisburg will be held at 7 p.m. Feb. 22 at Laurel Park Middle School. |
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