THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 30, 1994 TAG: 9408300370
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
A military-style alternative school for high school dropouts at the Virginia National Guard's Camp Pendleton has about everything it needs to open Sept. 10.
There's just one key item missing.
``We need kids,'' said Col. Maynard K. Bean, director of the Virginia National Guard Commonwealth Challenge Program.
Despite promises that they would be given spending money during the program and $2,200 when they finish, only about 30 dropouts had applied for the 100 to 200 slots as of Monday.
The school is open to male and female high school dropouts from 16 to 18 who are unemployed, drug-free, not pregnant and have not been charged with or convicted of a felony.
Organizers have scrambled to get the program ready since it was announced by Gov. George F. Allen early last month. They've had no trouble recruiting staff members - about 1,400 people have applied for 40 positions.
Bean said the state Department of Education sent brochures to all Virginia high schools, hoping principals and guidance counselors would direct some dropouts to the program. ``The problem we're having here in Virginia, the way I interpret it, is timing,'' Bean said. ``School's starting, people are just coming back to work.''
Principals, guidance counselors, dropout prevention workers, parents and students ``have not really had an opportunity to sit down and digest what we're offering.''
Rhonda L. Freye, the Challenge school's recruitment and employment coordinator, said she has received many calls in the past few days, and has put 40 to 50 applications in the mail.
``Everybody that we've described the program to has been just so excited about it because there aren't that many programs out there for high school dropouts,'' she said.
When students arrive at Camp Pendleton on Sept. 10, they will undergo two weeks of academic and physical testing. They will be screened for drugs, pregnancy and basic reading skills. They also will be given physical fitness tests, to make sure they can handle the drills and other workouts.
Students who pass all the tests will spend five months living in Camp Pendleton barracks, attending classes and studying to take the General Education Development test, a measure of knowledge they could have acquired if they had finished high school. The students also will exercise with physical trainers and learn basic military drills.
The school won't be like a boot camp, Bean said, although students will be required to wear uniforms and their activities will be heavily controlled.
``It will be pretty regimented,'' he said.
``We'll get them up at 6, and we'll have lights out at 10:30. And for all those hours in between, we'll have activities for them.''
There is no tuition for the program; students actually will receive money for attending. During the time they live at Camp Pendleton, they'll get $15 a week.
After five months, the students will return home with a $2,200 stipend they can use for expenses that will help them land work, such as tuition for job-training schools. For one year, adult mentors in their communities will help them set goals and spend their stipends wisely.
The program was developed by the National Guard at Congress' direction in 1992. Last year, Congress appropriated money for 10 states to try it. This year, the program is being expanded to 16 states. Virginia is receiving $2.8 million for the program.
Other states have not had trouble recruiting dropouts, said Bean, who helped draw up the National Guard's original proposal for Challenge.
By the time the second five-month session begins in February, Bean said, he expects to have a waiting list of students.
``We just need to let the public know that this opportunity exists, that we have spots available, and we want as many people as possible to take advantage of it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Map
Photo
CHARLIE MEADS/Staff
``We need kids,'' says Col. Maynard K. Bean, director of the
Virginia National Guard Commonwealth Challenge Program. The
alternative school opens Sept. 10 at Camp Pendleton.
Graphic
FOR DETAILS
For more information about the Virginia National Guard's
Challenge school, or to get an application, call the Camp Pendleton
office at 491-5932 or, for out-of-town callers, 1-800-796-6472.
by CNB