Don’t know what to get the Monongalia County Board of Education for Christmas this year?
Additional classrooms at Ridgedale Elementary School would do just fine, thank you.
While you’re at it, how about some more restrooms, an expanded cafeteria and reconfigured bus loop — can’t go wrong there.
Actually, the above (and more) is part of a very detailed wish list the board has already submitted to the state School Building Authority in Charleston.
The SBA is the agency that plays Santa to the infrastructure needs of West Virginia’s 55 public districts.
Mon’s board of education, meanwhile, is already doing its share on Ridgedale’s shopping list.
Ground was broken this fall for a $4.2 million renovation project the board is bankrolling that includes the construction of eight new classrooms at the K-5 school on Goshen Road.
Everything will be housed in a two-story addition that will encompass nearly 14,000 square feet when done.
Now, the BOE is awaiting approval for a proposed second phase of the project it can’t swing without the authority’s help.
Last month, Mon Schools Superintendent Eddie Campbell Jr. and board president Ron Lytle pitched the project to the authority.
That phase of the work, which would cost an additional $6.4 million, calls for the installation of a more secure front entry to the building, in keeping with the national Safe Schools Act.
The aforementioned bus loop would be part of the work, along with expanded parking.
Existing space in the building will also be reconfigured to create a ninth classroom — in a structure where such rooms are at a premium.
“The classroom space alone is just going to mean everything,” assistant principal Amber Zackery said.
“Our music teacher goes around with a cart because she doesn’t have a space. Our Chinese teacher goes around with a cart because she doesn’t have a space.”
Space was the place when the K-5 school on Goshen Road was built in 1954.
That was when the thoroughfare, which bends off U.S. 119, was lined by rolling hills and farmland.
Farming, in a Census Bureau manner of speaking, is still going on there.
Like most of Monongalia County today, Goshen Road and its environs is especially fertile for subdivisions.
For example, the Harvest Ridge Development, which is in Ridgedale’s attendance area, has twice as many homes today as it did nine years ago.
And the nearby Morgan Point subdivision is also proving to be a popular address.
Ridgedale’s existing classrooms have been packed to capacity, or near-capacity, for many a morning bell, due to the residential influx along Goshen Road and the area.
For instance, the school housed 396 students in 2011.
It surged to its current high of 468 this year.
And district officials are projecting 502 students by the time the bell rings in 2020 for summer vocation.
All that new vitality, Campbell said, is great — just not in the same, old building.
“Ridgedale’s simply running out of room,” he said.
Sheri Petitte, the school’s principal, agreed.
“People aren’t leaving,” she said.
“They’re coming in. That’s great for us, but we have to be able to serve our students.”
The SBA will announce its decision in coming days.
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