Is it too early to start talking football?

[redtiger 1,740]

with Northwood shrinking it makes sense to have 2 schools, 1 on each end of the county.Just combine NW with Chilhowie. Its tough but not really unfair to the NW kids. What other option is there?

[FALCON 21]

Just a short follow up on Plywood's take on Smyth County Schools. I believe  Northwood may be in trouble enrollment wise in the next few years. They keep declining every year, with no end in site. Marion has moved students from Sugar Grove to Marion to stabilize their lose of students. Chilhowie has seen stable enrollment, thanks to very good housing sites in and around Chilhowie. A lot of folks from Marion and Saltville are building homes in the Chilhowie area. Chilhowie has about 3-4 excellent new sub-divisions and people like Chilhowie because of it's location near I-81.The future for Chilhowie looks good, but Marion and Northwood will continue to decline ( no housing lots ). The new school Marion build is as close to Chilhowie as one could get ( figure that ). It appears Northwood is headed for some type of consolidation in the near future.

 

My take on this year Hogo FB

1. Marion

2. GW

3 Chilhowie

4. PH

5. NW

6. RR

7. Holston

Can you be specific as to why your list is as it is?  thanks

[SWVAFB 218]

I am going with Marion to win the Hogo. Marion has several excellent skill players back in Lefler, Wagner and Blevins. Marion won the

7 on 7 a few weeks back over Chilhowie. They will have to revamp their oline and defense, but with their enrollment twice the size

Of the some other Hogo schools, that want be as much as a problem, as say, Holston. Don't count out GW. GW is well noted for their talent

And skill players, not to mention the State Champ team a few year back. With the change in coaching staff this year, how the team responds will be interesting.

Chilhowie won the Hogo last year, edging Marion in OT, and destroying GW. Chilhowie was up and down last year.

They finished 7-4 , and could very well improve that record. Chilhowie will need to improve on defense, but should have a huge oline. They lost a lot in the back field, but with that college size oline, they will be OK.

PH will be improved. I hear they have some good skill and have looked pretty good in pre- season 7 on 7. NW lost several skill players

That will be hard to replace. Call and Olinger will lead them, along will several good linemen. RR lost a lot of seniors last year's, but with a new coach and their tradition, don't count them out of any upset. That leaves Holston. The Cavs just lost to many good players who will be hard to replace, but Coach Matlock is noted for getting the most out of his player's, and that will be the case this year players.

[Chappy 72]

with Northwood shrinking it makes sense to have 2 schools, 1 on each end of the county.Just combine NW with Chilhowie. Its tough but not really unfair to the NW kids. What other option is there?

Northwood is the "odd man out" in the county, they are on the other side of the mountain from the 2 other schools.  The Schools of Northwood and Chilhowie are only 10 miles apart, but the students however is a different story.  If that is how it does work out Chilhowie combining with Northwood, this is how I see things working for the students. 1. the kids that live on the Washington County side of Saltville will end up going to Patrick Henry ( because that happens some now). 2. The kids that live up in Rich Valley will end up going across RT. 16 (the mountain) to Marion, or go up the road to Bland. These kids can be in Marion or Bland faster than they can be in Chilhowie. 3. You have kids that live in Tannersville and Little Valley (located in Tazewell Co.) that will go to Tazewell.  In my estimation that could affect 1/3-1/2 of the current student population at Northwood.  Northwood (Saltville/Rich Valley) draws from the entire North half of Smyth Co. or across the mountain, including 3 other counties, Bland, Tazewell, and Washington.  A good portion of Saltville town limits is in Washington Co., where next door neighbors can and do go to different schools (PH/North) not to mention the area thats called "down the valley" the kids that live there and go to PH have to drive through Saltville to get to PH.  All of these mentioned kids have a choice of going to either school.  The Tazewell co. kids are much in the same as of their choice of schools because this area is on the Saltville side of Clinch Mtn.  All of this is of course just my thought process. Not to mention that there is no real talk about the future of Northwood.

[Plywood_King 518]

Northwood is the "odd man out" in the county, they are on the other side of the mountain from the 2 other schools.  The Schools of Northwood and Chilhowie are only 10 miles apart, but the students however is a different story.  If that is how it does work out Chilhowie combining with Northwood, this is how I see things working for the students. 1. the kids that live on the Washington County side of Saltville will end up going to Patrick Henry ( because that happens some now). 2. The kids that live up in Rich Valley will end up going across RT. 16 (the mountain) to Marion, or go up the road to Bland. These kids can be in Marion or Bland faster than they can be in Chilhowie. 3. You have kids that live in Tannersville and Little Valley (located in Tazewell Co.) that will go to Tazewell.  In my estimation that could affect 1/3-1/2 of the current student population at Northwood.  Northwood (Saltville/Rich Valley) draws from the entire North half of Smyth Co. or across the mountain, including 3 other counties, Bland, Tazewell, and Washington.  A good portion of Saltville town limits is in Washington Co., where next door neighbors can and do go to different schools (PH/North) not to mention the area thats called "down the valley" the kids that live there and go to PH have to drive through Saltville to get to PH.  All of these mentioned kids have a choice of going to either school.  The Tazewell co. kids are much in the same as of their choice of schools because this area is on the Saltville side of Clinch Mtn.  All of this is of course just my thought process. Not to mention that there is no real talk about the future of Northwood.

The trouble with that is Highway 16. As it is, it's a shorter drive from the far East side of Rich Valley (from Chatham Hill towards Nebo) to Marion than it is to Saltville, but the idea of busing students across Walker Mountain is terrifying to anyone who would be making that decision, and rightfully so. I know that neither Marion nor Chilhowie is allowed to take Highway 16 to Tazewell County to play Tazewell, Richlands, or Graham, which is what caused Marion's travel concerns in the SWD. However, they can drive to Saltville and take Highway 16 across Brushy and Clinch, they just aren't allowed to cross the Walker Mountain section of the B.F. Buchanan Highway.

 

Bearing that in mind, I don't think the current building that holds CHS and CMS would be able to support the students from Chilhowie, Northwood, and Chilhowie Middle, which would require a new school to be built. If you were to build a school on 107 near Midway, that would eliminate nearly all the travel concerns, and wouldn't be a longer drive for kids in the East end of the Valley than it was to Northwood. Pull the edge of the boundary between Chilhowie and Marion further West towards Seven Mile Ford and Riverside (they have Marion mailing addresses anyway) and you could have two Smyth County schools with nearly identical enrollment numbers, and very few travel concerns. 

[Chappy 72]

I agree with building a school around Midway would be the best choice.  That has been talked about for years (since about the 5th year of Northwood), All of course is hear say and talk but for some odd reason land can't be bought or this site is too close to this school or that school.  One of the best excuses, "that land is too close to the landfill".  Who knows if it will ever happen?  And how it will go if it does happen.

[redtiger 1,740]

Why not make the Northwood High building the Middle school and the Chilhowie High building the High school for Western Smyth County?

[Chappy 72]

Why not make the Northwood High building the Middle school and the Chilhowie High building the High school for Western Smyth County?

That is what they did with Saltville and Rich Valley, Rich Valley became the middle school and Saltville the High school.  With that said, when this took place Rich Valley's school was deemed to small to house all of the students.  With Chilhowie high and Rich Valley's schools being the exact same blueprint, the same could be said; with an even larger student population. Although Chilhowie's middle school has been added onto the high school.