school athletics or physical education, he noted. “But the

school athletics or physical education, he noted.

“But the library, the cafeteria and the gym could accommodate a middle school enrollment of 350 to 375,” Mr. Johnson said. “The science laboratories are reasonable for a middle school science program, just not for physics and chemistry. I mention those because they’re critical subjects for students who are going on to college.”

The School Board proposed a new $6 million high school. After consulting with its accountants, the Board of Supervisors said the county could afford $4.5 million. (The additional $500,000 on the price tag comes from the estimated cost of furnishings and equipment.) The School Board went back to its architects for a redesign. An auditorium was eliminated for a savings of $1 million. Shop classes were also cut, although those rooms are now waiting to be built at the top of the county’s capital inprovements plan. “We’re doing it piecemeal,” Clarke’s administrator noted.

The new high school will have room for “at least 100 more students than we have now,” said Mr. Johnson. The capital outlay program was undertaken primarily to eliminate inadequacies in the county’s public school system as it exists today for the enrollment that exists today, the superintendent affirmed. “But it would be irresponsible and negligent not to allow for some increase . . . People will find Clarke County - and Rappahannock County - one of these days. Growth is coming to this area. You can’t stop it,” Mr. Johnson maintained. “It’s coming.”

And he had a final word on capital outlay. “We’re still waiting for our literary loan,” reported the superintendent, in reference to the interval between when the state approves a school project and when that project works its way to the top of the list for the actual award of the low interest money. “And we’ve already begun construction. If your supervisors don’t want it, we’ll use Rappahannock’s money!”