Future of Blairs center in hands of supervisors

The Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors will likely decide at its regular meeting Monday night whether to tear down Blairs Community Center or keep it standing.

However, the Pittsylvania County Alternative School is moving out of the building because county school officials cannot wait for a decision, James McDaniel, superintendent of Pittsylvania County Schools, said Wednesday.

County supervisors have wavered on what they will do with the former Blairs Middle School building.

“We went ahead and became pro-active to seek out another site for our alternative school,” McDaniel said.

Waiting until mid-summer would have put the school in a bind regarding the upcoming school year, he said.

The alternative school will move to the Hughes Center for Exceptional Children and officials are working out a contract that would begin this month, the superintendent said.

The alternative school had been located in the Blairs Community Center since 2003. The alternative school provides computer-based individualized education for up to 36 county and city students unsuccessful in mainstream schools due to behavioral or academic problems.

The alternative school was leasing space at the community center from Pittsylvania County Youth Sports, which leases the facility from the county for $1 per year. Hope Haven Day School also leases space from Pittsylvania County Youth Sports.

Coy Harville, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, called school officials’ move “a good, positive decision.”

No matter what supervisors decide Monday night, Blairs Community Center will probably be razed next year, Harville said.

The county’s newly formed Recreation Advisory Board will soon conduct a study of the county’s recreation facilities, including the community center.

Over the course of recent meetings, supervisors have fluctuated from replacing the center’s roof to tearing it down and advertising it over the Internet for salvage-scrap bids. Calands-Gretna Supervisor Fred Ingram has proposed replacing it with a multi-million dollar sports complex and building a smaller $150,000 facility in Gretna.

Staunton River Supervisor Marshall Ecker said he would like to replace the center’s roof and put the issue to rest.

“The building is in sound shape,” Ecker said Wednesday. “It just needs a new roof on it.

“Why tear something down that’s still useful and productive for the community?”

Pittsylvania County Youth Sports uses the Blairs Community Center, serving about 5,000 student athletes in soccer, football, basketball and softball.

“We’d like to keep it going the way it is now,” said Steve Stone, president of the organization.

Contact John R. Crane at jcrane@registerbee.com or (434) 791-7987.