Board of

Education members are balking at the idea that in order

for students to study the environment, the board may have

to destroy a little of it.

The group

Monday tabled a proposal to clear-cut approximately 17

acres of timberland to fund a new greenhouse and

environmental science program at Fayette County High

School, and directed staff to study alternative measures.

According

to Jerry Whitaker, coordinator for the school district's

Vocational and Technical Education Program, the property

is on the corner of McElroy and McDonough roads and was

deeded to the Board of Education in 1959 for the Future

Farmers of America forestry plot. The land also is in the

path of a planned extension of County Line Road, which

could be completed in five or 15 years depending on

federal restrictions on new road construction.

"We

would lose the land anyway," board member Greg

Powers pointed out.

Many of the

trees standing on the acreage have reached 40 to 45 years

of age and are beginning to die off, Whitaker told the

board. "We would like to salvage the timber, before

it starts to clear itself out," he said. Three

bidders have offered to pay between $26,000 and $41,000

for the timber.

"I'm

very uncomfortable with it," said Debbie Condon,

school board chairman. "I'd like to see how much

money it would cost to thin those trees. I don't feel

good about clear-cutting 17 acres," she said.

Dr. John

DeCotis, school superintendent, said staff members also

are considering a similar move at North Fayette

Elementary School, which will have to clear three acres

for a septic system to support its new addition. Revenue

accrued from the sale of timber could be used to finance

playground improvements, DeCotis said.

Condon

asked Whitaker to check into thinning the area with

follow-up reseeding, and to check out any impact their

actions may have on the environment.

The school

system received a $50,000 state grant in July to

construct a 40-foot by 80-foot greenhouse for studies at

Fayette County High School. Whitaker said the money

earned from the sale of timber could be used to stock the

greenhouse.

There is an

existing greenhouse at the LaFayette Education Center,

but the cost of moving it was estimated at $35,000. Plans

are to declare it "surplus" and make it

available to another school or use it for storage.

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