Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 15, 1993 TAG: 9310150124
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"What are the schools like?"
Now - at least when they ask about city schools - she knows what to tell them.
Bell and about 20 other Realtors got a crash course on Roanoke schools Thursday during a whirlwind bus tour organized by Mayor David Bowers, City Manager Bob Herbert and the city school system.
"We want to let people know that we've got great neighborhoods and great schools and this is a great place to live," said Bowers, who ate lunch with the Realtors in the library at Fairview Elementary School.
Bell and the other Realtors also met with Superintendent E. Wayne Harris at Fairview, a magnet school that specializes in plants and animals. After a tour that included lessons on lizards (they smell with their tongues) and the migration patterns of the hooded merganser, they boarded a bus to see three other city schools: Ruffner Middle, Oakland Intermediate and Raleigh Court Elementary.
En route to each school, principals and school administrators briefed the Realtors on special programs, student achievements and renovation plans for the city's schools.
"So far, there's a lot more to the city school system than what I would have thought," said Kathy Nunally, who's been selling homes for Coldwell Banker Valley View Realtors for six years.
At Ruffner, recently paired with adjacent William Fleming High School under a two-year $7 million federal grant, Nunally and her colleagues toured a high-tech lab where students can learn to build robots. They nibbled cookies and brownies at Oakland Intermediate, where students filled the visitors' arms with artwork for their offices. And at Raleigh Court, they learned about PLATO, a cooperative learning program for high achievers.
The notion of a bus tour sprang from a conversation between Bowers and Anne Lee Stevens, president of the Roanoke Valley Association of Realtors. Stevens said people looking for homes frequently want to know about schools, but Realtors often don't know what to tell them.
City leaders hope Thursday's bus tour will help change that - and help to polish the city's image.
"We're very proud of our schools, and it's not just empty pride," said Bowers.
Stevens said fair-housing laws restrict Realtors in what they can say about a local school division. While they cannot - and should not - promote one school or neighborhood over another, they can supply information to families if they have it.
For example, Stevens learned from Clark Vandergrift, principal of Raleigh Court Elementary, that his school offers a breakfast program and after-school day-care services, information she said would help her sell homes to families with two working parents.
"I can say they have a morning drop-off at 7 o'clock, and you don't have to come back until 5 o'clock," she said.
"My only recommendation," said Winston Underwood, of Winn & Co. Realtors, "is we need more people to do this."
by CNB