THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 25, 1997 TAG: 9701240012
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 33 lines
I agree wholeheartedly with the editorial (Jan. 8) in favor of a regional school cooperative. However, you failed to mention an important example of cooperative education that already exists in South Hampton Roads. In fact, this program has been thriving for almost 10 years. I am talking about The Governor's School for the Arts.
The Governor's School provides excellent opportunities and facilities to students from the public-school systems of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Virginia Beach and Isle of Wight and Southampton counties, which are not available to students in their ``home schools.'' Examples include up-to-date visual-arts equipment at Old Dominion University and well-equipped dance studios at the Virginia Ballet Theatre.
In addition, The Governor's School has also served as a way to bring representatives from the school systems together on a regular basis. And each of the past two years, graduates from the school have earned more than $1 million in college scholarships because of their training at the facility.
The New Horizons Regional Education Center on the Peninsula, which you mention in the editorial, is indeed a great example of cooperation. But The Governor's School for the Arts, in Norfolk, should not be overlooked. We are living proof that cooperation between school districts can yield enormous benefits for the region as a whole.
VIRGINIA THUMM
Foundation director
The Governor's School for the Arts
Norfolk, Jan. 13, 1997