THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 31, 1996 TAG: 9610290155
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOAN C. STANUS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 129 lines
When Dorothy Marshall first began teaching at Oceanair Elementary School in 1958, part of her daily routine was to lead her second-graders through air raids and evacuation drills.
The kids would huddle under their desks with chins tucked, while Marshall, a young teacher of only 24, tried to keep their fears of a Soviet enemy at bay.
Back then, the post-war Baby Boom had created such a flood of offspring entering schools that for a few years Marshall crowded as many as 32 students in her classroom.
Because almost all of her students came from military families, fathers leaving on six-month deployments were commonplace. Stay-at-home moms were, too. In those years before integration, all Marshall's students were white, and so were the other teachers.
Now, almost 40 years later, the Boomers are grown and have begun sending many of their ``Boomlet'' offspring to Oceanair.
But conditions are far different for the current generation than they were for their parents.
Oceanair is a multicultural school with a fully integrated teaching staff and students who can trace their roots to such far-off places as Vietnam, Bosnia and Africa. The few students from military families who do attend the school may watch their moms deploy rather than their dads.
Instead of protecting themselves against possible air raids, today's children are trained to avoid drugs, gangs and neighborhood violence.
Yet, despite the changes, at least one thing has remained constant at the school during the last four decades.
Each year, as dozens of new students walk through the doors of the brick elementary school on Dudley Street, they're still greeted by Marshall, a perky snip of a woman who, at 62, continues to relish teaching the fundamentals of learning to young children.
Although she now teaches first grade instead of second, Marshall is to Oceanair's legacy almost like the school building itself: flexible, yet steadfastly permanent. She's been there for all but two years of its existence.
As the school celebrates its 40th birthday Nov. 16, former and current students and staff will gather to also honor Marshall, the teacher who is its mainstay, the rock who links its past to its present.
``I'm like the center of the circle,'' explained the teacher, who grew up only a few blocks from the school. ``Everything revolves around me. Each year, I get to see new children and changes in how we're doing things. So I've gotten a new view through the years . . . but I've never left. This is like home to me.''
The only child of a Norfolk first-grade teacher, Marshall was initially not too sure she wanted to follow in her mother's footsteps. Her mother, now deceased, taught for years at Ocean View Elementary School, where Marshall received her early formal education.
But as a college student, Marshall realized teaching was, in fact, her calling.
``As soon as I walked into the classroom as a student teacher, I knew,'' she now recalls. ``I just loved working with the kids.''
Fresh out of Longwood College, Marshall snared a job teaching in Fairfax County. But after two years in Northern Virginia, she returned to Norfolk to get married.
Back home, she had no trouble getting a job. Schools were bulging, and teachers were at a premium. Marshall even had her choice of schools. She chose Oceanair.
As the school years passed, Marshall watched students, teachers and principals come and go, almost as regular as the tidal rhythms in the nearby Chesapeake Bay. But in the mid-60s, Oceanair, like other Norfolk schools facing integration, found itself in the midst of a raging storm. Marshall, however, recalls little turmoil at Oceanair, only a ``peaceful'' transition.
``By the time there was a court order requiring us to integrate, my feeling was that everyone was being nice and friendly in order to make it all work.
``What you found out was a basic truth: That you're all just people working together to do a job.''
Like many sheltered whites growing up during the '40s and '50s, Marshall discovered integration to be a positive and broadening personal experience.
``I had never had a black friend before,'' she admitted. ``But the friendships I made that first year when we integrated are still very dear to me.''
By the '70s, busing required another reshuffling of teachers and students within the Norfolk school system, and Oceanair was not immune. The school was turned into a primary center of students from kindergarten to second grade. Oceanair's third-, fourth- and fifth-graders were bused to Huntersville to attend classes, and the younger students from that neighborhood came to Oceanair.
By then, the surrounding East Ocean View neighborhood had begun to change drastically. The construction of more low-income rental apartments, declining property values and an increase in crime began to plague the area.
The neighborhood, once a haven for military families, began to draw increasingly more families struggling to make ends meet and immigrants just getting a start in this country.
As a result, Oceanair has seen its share of at-risk students. Because it draws so many students from low-income households, it now qualifies for special federal assistance.
But Marshall prefers looking at her students individually, rather than lumping them into a category. She continues teaching in much the same way as she did when she began: with her heart.
``The kids I work with don't have a lot of experiences outside the classroom, and I feel like I have a lot of experiences to share with them,'' the teacher explained.
``Even though they're not brand new to school by the time I get them, the challenge is even greater for me to make things fresh and new for them. I feel as though they're my children for the time I have them.''
After almost 40 years of teaching, Marshall is hardly one of those teachers who has burned out. But as she nears retirement, the teacher admits she's ready for a new challenge. She plans to spend her retirement working with the elderly.
But for the next three years at least, she'll be where she's always been: molding the minds of Oceanair's first-graders.
``I still get excited every day about coming to teach,'' she said. ``I still have my energy, my enthusiasm and my connection to the children.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by RICHARD L. DUNSTON
Dorothy Marshall has been teaching at Oceanair Elementary for all
but two years of its existence.
Graphic
BIRTHDAY PARTY
Oceanair Elementary School will hold its 40th birthday party from
2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16, in the school's multipurpose room.
The public is invited.
Scheduled activites include a tour of the school, a choral
recital, and cake and punch. A variety of exhibits will be on
display.
A special recognition will be held for the school's
``matriarch,'' Dorothy Marshall.
Former students and teachers who have any photographs or
memorabilia to share can contact Diane Gibson, the school's
instructional specialist, at 441-1830. by CNB