ACCOMAC, Va. - On Courthouse Avenue heading toward downtown Accomac, visitors are welcomed by the Doric columns of the former Accomac High School and Elementary school, which was built in 1932.
Also welcoming visitors are cries of "SOS" peppered around town, a plea to "Save Our School."
"To ride in town and see this beautiful school here, we hate to see it torn down. If you tear it down it's history gone," said Accomac Town Councilman Tommy Hines.
The grounds of the former school have been used for several years as a storage area for Accomack County Schools. They are a proposed site for relocation of the County School Board and related offices.
One proposal for the property calls for a renovation and rehabilitation of the current building.
But what has neighbors concerned is the other proposal - to tear down the structure and build a new one.
Accomac families have a history in the former school.
"My grandmother grew up here in Accomac and she and her three sisters all went to Accomac School," said Accomac neighbor Rick Hall. Also also mentioned that his father attended Accomac High School for several years.
A cost analysis by a Virginia-based firm estimated that both options would cost nearly the same - about $5.5 million, with the renovation estimated to be only $5,000 more expensive.
But for Tommy Hines, the memories made in the former school are priceless.
"There was a lot of graduations from Onancock School here in this auditorium," Hines said."It had more room that we could graduate. [We have] a lot of memories from that."
WBOC reached out to several School Board members and district officials, some of whom support replacing the 90-year-old building, but they were unavailable for interviews. They said, though, that they are continuing to evaluate several different cost analyses for both options.
The Accomack County Board of Supervisors will ultimately made the decision on the future of the building. No timeframe has been set, though, on any possible vote.
