Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 12, 1990 TAG: 9004130826
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: W20 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Her concern was echoed by fellow members of the G.W. Carver Reunion Association, who appealed Harmon to the board Tuesday not to exercise its option of tearing down the 51-year-old building, now home of one of Salem's four elementary schools.
Harmon, a Roanoke County teacher, and others wanted to ensure that a part of history - in particular the Roanoke Valley's black history - be preserved.
Harmon graduated from Carver in 1966 in the last all-black graduating class. Her father, Chauncey D. Harmon, was the last principal of the all-black school 1953-1966). Her mother, Lucy, also taught at the school.
Improvements to Carver have been targeted in the school system's five-year capital program but that alone might not be enough, school officials have said. Architectural and engineering consultants determined that the school - while structurally it exceeds state standards for elementary schools - does not meet standards of the city's other elementary schools.
The school system is considering three options for Carver - total renovation (favored by the association), use the building for another purpose and build additional space at the other schools to handle the increase in student population or raze the building and start all over again.
The school was built in 1939 in response to complaints from blacks that their school - the Roanoke County Training School - was in disrepair.
When the school opened in September 1940, it was as a combined elementary and high school, accommodating 483 black students in grades one through 12. Its enrollment included students from Hollins, Salem, Vinton and other parts of Roanoke County.
The school became fully integrated in 1966, changing its name to Salem Intermediate School, reflective of its seventh- and eighth-grade enrollment.
In 1977, Carver was transformed into an elementary school because of the closing of the Broad Street and Academy Street elementary schools.
Tuesday marked the reunion association's third appearance before the Salem School Board. In 1977, the committee was successful in petitioning the board to restore the Carver name at the school. Five years later, the committee successfully petitioned the board to continue operating Carver as an elementary school.
"In 1990, we're here for a third time out of genuine and undying love for Carver's future," said Douglas Dowe, president of the reunion association.
"Carver has been a beacon of hope and light since 1939. With the exception of Salem's two black churches, Carver is the only institution left [with which] black people can totally identify," said Dowe, a 1947 Carver graduate.
The board sympathized with the association's concerns, noting that the concerns were the very reason a G.W. Carver Facility Study Task Force was being formed to examine the physical future of the school building.
"South, East and West Salem elementary schools were built as elementary schools," Board Chairman John Moore said. "But Carver was built as a high school, and the needs of elementary students are different from the needs of high school students."
The board approved the appointment of a 10-member task force that includes a cross-section of people from all segments of the Salem community. Dowe
"We want to do what's best for students. We're not trying to exclude anyone," Moore said.
In another matter, the board heard recommendations from a committee that has been evaluating the school system's vocational education programs since October.
Recommendations include start offering keyboarding in the sixth-grade for an 18-week period, purchasing an IBM-compatible computer with software and an imaging screen for marketing-education courses and offering Occupational Child Care I and II as home-economics courses.
Other recommendations include increasing enrollment in auto-body classes to an acceptable level, encouraging students in the Building Trades program to enter the field for which they are trained, promoting adult-education classes in the Metal Trades program and enrolling students in proper sequence so that full classes can be maintained.
The board asked that the school system act immediately on recommendations wherever possible.
In other business, the board:
Discussed converting the Salem High master schedule from seven periods to six periods, placing all the elementary schools on the same schedule and adding more time to the Andrew Lewis Middle School schedule. The board took no action but agreed that all of the proposals required further study.
Agreed to have a consultant look at replacing a portion of Salem High School's 13-year-old roof. The roof has been leaking.
by CNB