Critique Blacksburg High School

Critique for Blacksburg Public County School Disaster

The disaster that took place in Blacksburg, VA affected the economy for this town in many ways. It not only affected Blacksburg High School, but also the surrounding schools that had to compensate for the students coming in to their schools while Blacksburg High School was closed for the remainder of the academic school year. A consulting firm, McGuire Woods Consulting, suggested the idea that the county of Montgomery should collide with a public and private partnership. This idea could help the county come up with alternatives to the problem they are facing. Montgomery County is also faced with the restoration and rebuilding of other schools in the district. The Public-Private Education and Infrastructure Act of 2002, PPEA, is an alternative to government traditional design-bid-build process for such projects as the rebuilding of the Blacksburg High School. The building of a new high school would take around three years to build, and the PPEA could possibly knock of 18 months of the construction process. This in return, could also cut back on some of the expenses such as construction worker hours. The down fall to building a new high school is that it will raise taxes for locals and cause the consumption of local goods to lower because they simply do not have the resources to purchase local goods as opposed to the cheaper alternatives at the neighborhood grocery store. Since Montgomery County’s income comes from the sale of local products at local convenience stores, the Law of Supply and Demand will affect the county’s income because its profits will be moved from resident business owners to a more universal company. The officials have considered repairing the old high school totaling a bill of about $19 million, while a new Blacksburg High School would cost $56 million. Many residents of the Blacksburg High community are afraid of sending their children back to a repaired school in fear of another tragic disaster. Why spend $19 million of tax payers’ money for the chance that something else could happen and put their children in danger?

As regards to the Virginia Tech professor, this shows the concern of sending residents children to a renovated school with possible of issues. The dilemma that Blacksburg High School is facing now is also affecting a major revenue source for their county, Virginia Tech. If top of the line professors do not want to teach at Virginia Tech due to problems outside the Tech community, then students may not want to come to a University that is not as prestigious due to the loss of highly respected professors. This could lead to more troubles for the Blacksburg community in the future.