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Scott County football


BlueDevil4Life2008
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I have been hearing a lot of talk from different people about the declining enrollment in the county.  Are the football programs an indication of that?  I have heard and read differing opinions of the facts but when Rye Cove finishes with 11 players because of concussion injuries and Gate City finishes with correct me if I’m wrong 19 players in a win against lowly Lebanon and these two schools together have as many players as Twin Springs has in their program and Twin Springs has less students than both schools then something is wrong.  
Is it true that Twin Springs just has barely 187 kids now?  Rye Cove has 206 and Gate City has 652?  
Altogether that’s around 1045 students.  It makes sense why you wouldn’t consolidate any of the schools. The county is so spread apart and then it also puts them on the higher end of Class 3 in classification.  Like Abingdon the closest playoff schools would be in Roanoke.  So even with students on the fringes of the county going elsewhere to other high schools closer to them Scott County could never be a consolidated school   
Sports are not a reason to consolidate schools but if Scott County lost 350 students to surrounding schools (Union, Lee, Castlewood, Eastside, John Battle, Dobyns Bennett and West Ridge) then and only then would they still be in the Class 2 classification    and that doesn’t look very likely anytime soon   
Is football just not a popular sport anymore?  I’ve heard it could be 6 or 7 years before football is actually a popular thing anymore in the county   
Actually I was told by some friends and their kids that the most popular sports at Gate City these days were Soccer, Baseball, Basketball, Golf and Football in that order.  I find that hard to believe in some respects but now I’m not so sure   
Can someone feel me in on the climate of combining the schools in the county?  Would it ever happen and if so what would it take?  Lots of questions and no answers if you ask me.  
Feel me in if you have some info.  
 


 

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In the United States at present, there is a massive internal migration of the population from rural areas to big cities and their suburbs. It's been that way for while, and it's especially heavier in SWVA where there it little industry and jobs like manufacturing in the rural areas. Think about how many schools have consolidated or closed in SWVA over the past 15-20 years and how many new schools have been created in areas like NOVA (DC Metro) and the Tidewater. The US population is Increasing, but the majority of that increase resides in urban areas. 

Two ways to look at this. The first is that the pop in SWVA is declining and that hurts HS football, but at the same time, SWVA is a GOLD MINE for retirement real estate or to have a place off the grid ina beautiful area that's low cost in case SHTF and the way the world's going. 

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I don’t know anything about the current state of the present schools but if they are in good shape , maybe go to the two school system while using the best buildings for middle school / or high school . Lee county has faced the same problems as far as travel time for school that’s why they left Thomas Walker, that may work for Scott county also . Close one school and let the kids/ parents pick their school . It does seem like Gate City has enough kids (652)so something else might be the reason . Basketball??? Or just don’t like football

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15 hours ago, BlueDevil4Life2008 said:


Sports are not a reason to consolidate schools 


 

Sure they are.  Sports costs a bunch of money.  It's a fair amount of the budget (at least enough to matter).  Sports shouldn't be the Only reasons, but certainly One of the reasons schools should be consolidated.

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Scott County is huge! 539sq. miles. It has a population of just over 23,000 and most live within ten miles of Gate City. Weber City and Gate City are bedroom communities for Kingsport. 90% percent of these people in those two cities work and spend their money in Kingsport. Kingsport has became a truly metropolitan location with people from all 50 States and several foreign countries moving here, there are two new huge subdivision projects in the works that will attract even more people from other places, with all that being said, Scott County consolidation of all three schools is nearly impossible. GC& RC could work, or GC & TS could work or RC & TS could work but not all three. Tough decisions are ahead for Scott County in the near future as they face the fleeing of people, but it want be nearly as bad for Scott County as it is for the rest of Southwest Virginia because of Kingsport. Tennessee is the "it" state right now in the past 60 days it has lured Ford to West Tennessee and 11,000 jobs, Oracle to Nashville with 8,500 jobs and Smith and Wesson to Maryville with 750 jobs! There are rumored other huge deals being worked on!  

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10 hours ago, Smashmouth said:

Cove and ts are 20-30 min apart, build one in between.  2A numbers? Gate city has numbers already

 Not popular but maybe more beneficial in the long run.  Just a thought that has been tossed around before I'm sure. 

 

Fort Blackmore Bandits 

I was thinking something along the lines of the Clinch River Crawdads.

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1 hour ago, Bluefield researcher said:

I was thinking something along the lines of the Clinch River Crawdads.

The school would probably have to built in the Midway community. The Midway Marauders?  

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Dang, you guys sometimes make it sound like they are 2.5 hours apart.  Nickelsville is 16 miles from GC.  Duffield is 13 miles from GC.  Ok, add the bad roads in and you still get from Rye Cove to GC and from Twin Springs to GC in 30 minutes with a school bus.  Consolidate the schools, add on the current Gate City High School to accommodate the additional 400 or so kids and a modernized Vocational Center and it's done.  Yes, you are a Class 3 school, but you play Abingdon and 3 of the Tennessee schools to give you a total of 4 Class 3 level schools for Virginia Ratings, then play the M7 schedule and add Graham for power ratings.  Boom, done deal, easy.  A schedule with 3 Tennessee class 3 equivalents,  your 6 M7 games of which one is Class 3 Abingdon, and then adding Graham.  In that total 10 games, you have a shi* ton of power points with 4 Class 3 schools, and Union, Ridgeview, Graham, and Central.  That's plenty enough and you only have to take longer trips come playoff time.  It's not that difficult to me as to consolidation.  But, that's just the sports part.  I have no clue about the rest and don't claim to know.

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Nickname should be something related to the Carter Family who is legendary and monumental in helping establish what is today country music.  Something to do with the Carters, June Carter-Cash, Bluegrass, etc.  That would be a good touch I think.  Building a new school is super expensive and I think Gate City is central enough, plus the Vocational Center for the students is already there.  It would need additions as would Gate City High.  Don't the Rye Cove and Twin Springs kids in vocational training for the afternoon already come to Gate City High School?   I thought they did, which means they are already bussing kids from RC and TW to Gate City anyway and have been doing so for a while IF I'm not mistaken.  30 minutes bus ride one way which means 1 hour per day for the TS and RC kids, if consolidated with GC could be used as a plus if they think about it.  Be creative, be proactive, be innovative and since some jobs will clearly be lost if the 2 schools closed, leave money in the budget for 2 or 3 fulltime and/or 2 or so part-time tutors that ride on the bus with the kids and help with homework, or just add an incentive for any of the current full time teachers and rotate that duty which would include valuable overtime pay and use the bus trips as study halls.  It doesn't have to be all negative.  Could be used as an advantage.   

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30 minutes ago, Liam McPoyle said:

image004.png

Before any talk of consolidation, the Scott Co School Board has to consider the significant investment they've made at Titan Stadium.

(Photo Credit: Fourseasonsfootball.com)

I was just too lazy to walk to the other side and take a photo of the massive home bleachers. I did film a game for Pocahontas in that box on the hill on  Sept 9, 1994.

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19 hours ago, Smashmouth said:

Cove and ts are 20-30 min apart, build one in between.  2A numbers? Gate city has numbers already

 Not popular but maybe more beneficial in the long run.  Just a thought that has been tossed around before I'm sure. 

 

Fort Blackmore Bandits 

They won't care how far the kids have to travel when deciding.  When Lee was built they sent the kids from keokee to Ben Hur and that is a rough road for buses.  Someone told me that their kids were picked up at 7:00 a.m. to catch the bus and didn't get home until 4:30

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7 hours ago, Bluefield researcher said:

I was just too lazy to walk to the other side and take a photo of the massive home bleachers. I did film a game for Pocahontas in that box on the hill on  Sept 9, 1994.

That box has a quality-level usually found in hunting blinds and chicken coops. I feel confident it was built as a 1970s shop class project. 

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12 hours ago, Bluefield researcher said:

I was thinking something along the lines of the Clinch River Crawdads.

When Central was formed I was hoping that the school would be built where the flea market is. My desire was Indian Creek High School-Home of the Redhawks,but nope good 'ol Wise County stuck generic names on all 3 schools and tried to tell us the students voted for those horrid names. Union is the less horrid of the 3 IMO,

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16 hours ago, Liam McPoyle said:

image004.png

Before any talk of consolidation, the Scott Co School Board has to consider the significant investment they've made at Titan Stadium.

(Photo Credit: Fourseasonsfootball.com)

Gotta say, ive always been impressed with how good the TS logo looks. It really is nice imo

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10 hours ago, Liam McPoyle said:

That box has a quality-level usually found in hunting blinds and chicken coops. I feel confident it was built as a 1970s shop class project. 

The box has been redone so it is one of the better ones that I have been in.  Other than the walk up the hill it's not bad.  Definitely been in a lot worse. 

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Not sure where TS numbers are currently heading, but RC numbers should be increasing over the next few years.  I believe the SR class is one of the smallest in recent memory and the JR class is close.  It makes a pretty good jump after that.  The current team is mostly FR and SO and there are 17 8th graders I believe playing.  The 8th grade class is an odd one.  45-48 students I believe and only 12-15 are girls.   Boys sports will be fine with that number but the current 9th and 7th grade classes will have to carry a lot of the girls sports in the near future.

Finding a location will be the toughest thing, but if they consolidate they really should do one school near 71/72 interchange or near the quarry pond on 23.  Moccasin Gap makes it really difficult to divide the county evenly with two schools.  The other option would be letting the Clinch divide the county possibly. Nicklesville/Midway go to GC and Dungannon/Fort Blackmore to RC since RC is more centrally located than TS.   I dont think anyone can sell that option though, and I hope it doesnt have to come to that for anyone in the near future.

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13 hours ago, goose111874 said:

They won't care how far the kids have to travel when deciding.  When Lee was built they sent the kids from keokee to Ben Hur and that is a rough road for buses.  Someone told me that their kids were picked up at 7:00 a.m. to catch the bus and didn't get home until 4:30

I know of some bus routes in Tazewell Co that are already those types of times and we aren't consolidated.

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I would bet the chances of Scott County building a new high school are ZERO.  With Gate City within 30 minutes of both of the other schools and again, the Vocational Center is already there, and when they build schools, they are thinking about the next 25 years of population growth.  Nickelsville and Duffield are only going to plummet far more than where they are now.  Gate City will drop only slightly of stay at it's population, as it's close enough to the Kingsport area (which is actually slightly growing) which will hold its population more than Duffield and Nickelsville.  Again, if you build a new school for the county instead of adding onto and updating the current Gate City High School building and adding on/updating the Vocational Center, then you have to build a new Vocational Center with that new school and that is very, very costly.  Within 25 years, it's a safe bet that more than 80% of Scott Counties population will live from Clinchport to Gate City and going from 58 to the South including Weber City as the majority of jobs will rest on the Tennessee side in the Kingsport area.   They should add on/update/modernize the current Gate City High Building and add on/modernize the Vocational Center and update/modernize the current Rye Cove and Twin Springs High buildings, and turn the current RC and TS's buildings into junior high schools.   With some solid engineering and updating, the current Gate City Building can look like a brand new High School.  

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We have kids at Giles County that live in the Huffman community that bus to school and it's a good 30 minutes drive by bus to the school.  In Bland County, there are kids that live in the Ceres area that travel about 35-40 minutes by bus, and along route 601 in the very southern end of the county near the Big Walker Mountain Tunnel, but a ways out there on 601 quite a few minutes from !-77 (as in 10 minutes just to reach !-77) that is a good 30 minute bus ride..  

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The one thing Scott County has done a good job of is updating their high schools.  Although RCHS was built in 55 it isnt in bad shape compared to the way Wise County schools were before consolidation.  TS is the newest of the three schools, but probably had the most issues 5-10 years ago.  Those foundation issues, etc were addressed and the building is in good shape now.  I have always given the Scott system credit for not letting those building fall in disrepair like some of our neighbors.

Nicklesville may have issues with growth I agree, and that has hurt TS's enrollment.  Dungannon and Fort Blackmore probably hurt TS more so than Nicklesville though.  RC's numbers are seeing a slight incline right now.  Losing a few kids to Union since consolidation has hurt, but those are minimal numbers.  Some of the largest classes to come through RCHS since the late 90s/early 00s are starting to come through now.  It will be cyclical though as the 2nd grade class right now is quite smaller than most from 10th-K currently.  The Industrial Park and Federal pen helps Duffields numbers typically.

 

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