THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 14, 1994 TAG: 9409130151
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 17 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA McNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
Students returning to local public schools this fall should have no problem knowing what kind of behavior the local school system expects.
A ``Code of Conduct'' brochure went home with every child on the first day of school, Assistant Superintendent William Birchette told the School Board recently.
Older students were told they should ``conduct themselves as a responsible member of the school community'' and more. And the younger children learned that there will be no ``guns, knives, firecrackers, cigarette lighters, matches, beepers, karate or other dangerous items'' in school, and ``no hitting, kicking, biting or fighting with other kids, teachers or adults.''
Parents, meanwhile, received a form to sign and return so that school officials will know that they, too, understand what the schools expect from the standpoint of discipline.
``A student who is disruptive, dangerous, or disrespectful will not be allowed to attend a class, classes, or school until a parent comes to school for a conference involving the student, the teacher, and an administrator,'' parents were informed.
In addition, Birchette said, the new attendance policy has been posted throughout the schools, and parents have been notified; technology upgrades at all of the county schools are well under way, and the new middle-school program, in place throughout the system this year, ``is going very well.''
``Basically, the schools have been very quiet,'' Birchette said about the first few days of school. ``Things have been very orderly.''
And all of the schools opened on schedule, including the new, $10 million educational complex in Windsor that will serve both middle and high school students, Assistant Superintendent Alexander Decker said.
Attendance in the county schools on the first day was up by 151 students, Superintendent of Schools Jane T. York said, from 4,188 last year to 4,339 this year. By the third day, enrollment had climbed even more, to 4,488 students.
The biggest difference was seen at Carrollton Elementary, the county's newest elementary school, she said.
``Carrollton Elementary was up by 52 more students, to 755,'' York said.
Third-day enrollment at Carrollton was 765.
Elsewhere in the county, it was hard to determine which school zones had climbed in population because of the many shifts the school system went through this year, York explained. Sixth and seventh graders at Windsor Elementary, for example, and eighth graders at Windsor High moved to the new middle school.
And Carrsville Elementary, down by 29 students, lost the sixth and seventh grades to the new school in Windsor.
York said the percentage of black students enrolled in the county's schools dropped again this year, by 1.6 percent.
One of the lightest notes on back to school came from School Board Chairman Richard Peerey.
He met one mother, crying and obviously upset, as he made his way into one of the elementary schools on the first day, Peerey told the board. The woman told the School Board chairman that she was upset by something her kindergarten-age daughter had said to her when she left the child in her new environment.
``The woman said, `She looked up at me and said, `Bye, Mommy. I've been waiting for this all summer,' '' Peerey said, laughing as he recounted the incident to the board. by CNB