Gladys residents sound off to Perriello on school closure

GLADYS — Rep. Tom Perriello told Gladys community members on Monday that he feels a special connection to Gladys Elementary School, but won’t second-guess a local school board decision to recommend its closure.

Perriello, D-5th District, attended a town hall meeting of roughly 200 people held at Gladys at the invitation of the event’s organizers. He repeated to the audience members that he was there to listen, rather than speak, but took the microphone several times in response to direct questions.

Perriello said that he believes in the value of small, rural schools.

“I have kind of fallen in love with Gladys over the last couple years,” Perriello said. “This is the kind of elementary school I grew up in.”

After the meeting, he said he did not know offhand of any other schools in his district that are currently in Gladys’ situation.

Last spring, when the idea of closing Gladys due to budget cuts was put on the table, Perriello met with former schools superintendent George Nolley to talk about federal stimulus funds that would be coming to Campbell County.

Perriello has since touted the role of federal stimulus money in initially helping to save the school from closure.

He said he believed the stimulus money would be used to keep the school open for at least two years, but the situation changed this year when Richmond lawmakers made changes to how stimulus money would be apportioned.

Perriello said that he believes it is not his job to tell a community what its priorities should be.

Instead, he raised the idea that he might be able to help with some of the fallout issues that might arise for the community if the school does close, such as the safety of school children traveling to Brookneal on U.S. 501.

Perriello said he is on a transportation committee and has been studying that road, among others.

During the meeting, community members rose to ask questions and voice concerns. George Jones, the only school board member in attendance, answered many of the questions.

Many who spoke voiced their belief that the Gladys area was not receiving fair treatment from the county as a whole.

Lynn Boteler, a former chief with the Gladys Volunteer Fire Department, said that the ability of fire vehicles to fill up their water at the Gladys school is important to put out fires in the area. Boteler said that his requests for a water line from the county have been denied and he doesn’t know what will happen if the department loses access to the Gladys school water source.

Event organizers, including Gladys parent Donna Lipphard and Reggie Herndon of the Campbell County NAACP, called on Gladys community members to be present at a board of supervisor’s budget hearing on May 3.

“This school represents the very essence of who we are,” said Michael Reid, a Gladys Elementary School parent. “We need to take control of our destiny because the folks who are making these decisions don’t live in our community.”