by ELLIOTT WALKER
The Lexington City School Board
postponed making a decision about Waddell Elementary School’s new site again
Monday night following a standing-room only school board meeting.
At its February meeting, the school board had discussed two possible new sites for the city’s only elementary school. The board voted it would decide the following week, after walking both of the sites, which one would be used.
But Superintendent Daniel Lyons said that decision was postponed after concerns were raised by community members concerning the two sites.
Monday, March 12, served as a community-wide meeting in which citizens could voice their concerns about the future of Waddell.
“Believe me, we didn’t start this controversy just to get you out,” Marilyn Alexander, nine year member of the school board, said of the packed meeting. Lyons said about 100 chairs were put out for the meeting - and several people were forced to stand or find other chairs.
Of the two possible sites for the new Waddell, site one would place the new building approximately 50 feet behind the existing building. The campus would be contained on one side of Jordan Street and would allow room for either a lacrosse or baseball field.
Site two would place the new Waddell across Jordon Street in Woods Creek Park. In this plan, the campus would be split by the street, with some playing fields and recess areas opposite the school.
Issues brought up at the meeting by citizens included historic preservation, the state of Woods Creek Park, and traffic. Over 30 parents, teachers, neighbors and community members spoke to the school board about the problems they see with the proposals.
Leslie Giles, a member of the Historic Lexington Foundation, argued that Waddell is a historic building for Lexington and tearing it down would be wrong.
“Waddell Elementary is recognized by the city as a building of local significance,” he said. Giles said that Waddell is not on the historical register, but that may be because the school has never been nominated for such a designation.
Giles and others, including Joe Goldsten, a community member who lives near Waddell, argued that renovating the school should be an option. Several of those who spoke to the school board mentioned gutting the school and redoing the inside, but keeping the historic outside intact.
“There is no building that cannot be renovated,” said Goldsten.
Several structural problems handicap the current Waddell campus, including sagging floors, leaky ceiling and poor ventilation in some classrooms.
Erin Allison, art teacher at Waddell, told a group taking a tour of the school that she doesn’t have enough storage space for all the art supplies and has to take all the ceramics to Lylburn Downing Middle School because Waddell doesn’t have a kiln.
“Driving up Diamond Hill [with the ceramics] isn’t fun!” she said.
Alexander cited other problems with the school, including closet floors that have collapsed because of the moisture problem and severely limited handicap access.
“You patch here and there,” she said, saying the school can’t really handle any more temporary fixes to the problems. “Frankly I think we can do better than this.”
Historical Lexington Foundation President Pam Simpson and community member Ron Laub worried about the school being left abandoned.
“I’m very concerned that we’re going to create another empty relic in this city,” said Laub. “We’ll have another empty building that’s not functional.”
Simpson added that if the current Waddell will no longer function as a school, it ought to have “some other life.”
The school board made it clear that gutting and renovating the current Waddell is not an option.
“We can from this day forward officially say that renovation is no longer on the table,” said board member Aaron Bruce. Saving it would probably not save any money, he said.
“I don’t see how you could not take the school down,” said board member Leslie Straughan.
Community members were also concerned about Woods Creek Park and the environmental impact of a new school on the area.
A representative from the Rockbridge Area Conservation Committee talked about losing the green expanse of the park to a new school, saying “open spaces are essential to the quality of life in Lexington.”
Distress at losing Woods Creek Park drove many citizens to speak at the meeting, but the school board assured the crowd that no green space would be lost.
“We’re turning Woods Creek Park into something that’s more functional,” said Bruce.
“We’re not losing green space unless you vote to,” added Lyons.
The issue of flood plains and the impact on the creek were also discussed. Marjorie Rose, who lives on McLaughlin Street, has seen first hand the impact of heavy rains on the park. She said she was concerned that the proposed playing fields will be ruined by rains or that a new school would suffer damage.
School board members said the flood plain has already been studied, but they agreed to examine this issue more closely before making a decision.
The board voted to table the discussion until the April 9 meeting of the school board. The original plan was to send a decision to the City Council by Thursday, said Lyons, but after Monday’s meeting the board decided it needs more time.
“We were just presented with lots of valuable information,” said Alexander. “We need a little bit more time to be respectful of that material.”
Neighbor Al Carr speaks for Friends of Waddell and Woods Creek 
Produced by Washington and Lee journalism students.
Lead supervisor: Prof. Claudette Artwick
Reporting supervisors:
Technical supervisor: Michael Todd