The Shadow
“If anything is worth doing, we need to do it right.”
With that statement Tuesday night from City Councilman Allan Tucker, the tone was set for the first of several scheduled joint meetings between Covington City Council and the Covington City School Board.
The objective of this meeting and future meetings is to come up with a plan to best renovate Covington High School, how to make enhancements that will bring the school up to the 21st century standards, and determine the best options to obtain the funding necessary to meet these goals.
Tucker presented a report to the council and school board members in attendance on behalf of the educational facilities task force. Other members of this group include School Board Chairwoman Tammy Scruggs-Duncan, Covington High School Principal Dr. Shannon Fuhrman, Superintendent Tom Long, and Covington City Manager J.B. Broughman.
The task force was formed to take a comprehensive look at Covington High School and compare that information with the resources that can be compiled so as to maintain this building that is the geographical and historical heart of the community as an optimal environment for learning.
Tucker stressed that the group came up with three points of emphasis as it pertains to this project and those were current/imme-diate needs, educational enhancement, and community usage.
“We’re a small community and we have to do what we can for our students, because that is the chief reason that we’re looking at this, is our education. I hate to put it in these terms, but our children are our greatest commodity,” Tucker said on the importance of getting this project started.
Tucker also discussed the importance of doing this in one shot, instead of taking a piece meal approach. He indicated a time in the 1980s when the piece meal approach was taken and certain things were completed while needs of higher importance were not completed.
Tucker stated to everyone in attendance that all of the information is needed so the right amount of money can be obtained to complete the project. He suggested that the architects from OWPR look over everything again as they are familiar with the grounds and structure of the building.
“We’ve been very diligent in looking into what the basic needs are. We’re exploring it the best we can and we’re just looking at a way in moving forward in an expedient manner to find a true scope of the entire project and then find funding sources to get it done,” Scruggs-Duncan said of the work the school board members have put in.
Tucker concluded the presentation of the task force by saying, “Instead of studying and talking about it, we actually do it.”
At the conclusion of Tucker’s presentation on behalf of the task force, Mayor Tom Sibold said, “From city council’s standpoint, we want to see the scope of work. We want to know what your priorities are, what areas you are planning on working on, what you are planning on doing, and what other areas of funding are available.”
Sibold assured the school board that he and his fellow council members would look into all avenues of funding. He also said that the council was at a waiting point. He indicated that the school board would need to say where they are with funding sources and what amount of funding is needed. He expressed concern that city council might not be able to find enough funding for the whole project, but instead would only be able to fund certain aspects. He wrapped up his response by encouraging everyone to focus on the big picture, and work their way down.
When Sibold allowed both members of the council and school board to express their comments, school board member Ron Morrissette told everyone that if it were a choice, roofing, plumbing, and electrical would be the things to take care of as they are basic, but important needs.
School board member Eddy Clemons expressed his satisfaction that the joint meeting took place. He stated that this meeting was discussed for two years. While he was satisfied with the communication taking place, he had two concerns, the first was that all maintenance personnel involved with this project needed to have more input. The second concern was that the school system would be stuck with making big payments in the future once funding is secured for this project. Clemons offered a solution of seeking outside funding where the school board would not be responsible for making any payments.
School board member Dizzy Garten suggested that a study be done that would look at three scenarios showing how the project would play out. His format was a “Plan A-B-C,” where plan A would be what would the end result be in a perfect world, plan B would be the end result if everything were scaled down a little bit, and plan C would be how the project would turn out just doing the bare minimum.
Garten also suggested a plan of thinking outside the box. That plan would be contacting individuals currently living outside of the state of Virginia and the city of Covington that have had positive experiences during their time in the commonwealth. He cited two Major League Baseball players, Jason Kipnis and Colin Cowgill, who played for the Covington Lumberjacks during the journey to the big leagues and Major League manager Bruce Bochy, who lived in Virginia for a time growing up after a relocation due to his father’s time in the military. Garten stated that their projected wealth over the next five years to be over $100 million combined and that would be an exciting option to pursue should that be a route that is considered.
After the lengthy discussion related to the renovation phase of this project, Sibold declared that the meeting was not the time or place to discuss a budget. His reasoning was because a lack of solid figures and he did not want to toss numbers around with nothing definite.
Broughman reaffirmed the mayor’s position by saying, “We have dynamics we are aware of that has an effect on what we want to do.”
Broughman indicated that he and Long would hold discussions in the future once the city’s budget issues were addressed.
Clemons concluded the meeting by saying that he would hate to see an important aspect of the renovation project like the air conditioning and heating get lost in the bigger scope of the whole project. He also said that good air conditioning and heating provide a comfortable learning environment, conducive to success for educators and students alike.
