Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 13, 1990 TAG: 9005090504
SECTION: DISCOVER THE NEW RIVER VALLEY PAGE: 17 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MARGARET CAMLIN NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Long
The county has two high schools, two middle schools, two combined middle and high schools, 11 elementary schools - and more to come.
And with a staff of more than 1,100 teachers, administrators and support staff, the school system is the county's third largest employer. The system has 603 teachers.
Overcrowding persists at several of the county's elementary schools, but plans are underway to build two new ones - one in Blacksburg and one in Christiansburg. Voters will decide on a bond referendum this November. Architects estimate the schools will cost $5.6 million each.
Two new programs at the elementary level include IBM's "Writing to Read," a multimedia approach to teaching kindergartners and first-graders how to write what they can say and, in turn, read what they write.
Another is the SUN program (Students Understanding Neighbors), which teaches French and Spanish languages and cultures. Both programs are expanding to all elementary schools this coming year.
At the high school level, offerings in advanced placement courses have expanded and include art, calculus, English, biology, chemistry, history and government.
The county's special education program is considered one of the more progressive in the state. The school system is working toward integrating students with disabilities into the regular school program, while maintaining support from special education teachers.
The county's new alternative school, located next to Christiansburg High School, offers individualized instruction, counseling, and flexible scheduling for students at risk of dropping out.
The school served 38 students this past year, its first year of operation.
According to the recently adopted salary schedule, entry level teachers will make $22,260 (plus $1,615 for a master's degree) and the maximum salary will be $35,910. Board members have indicated these figures could still change.
The school system spent $4,078 per pupil in 1988-'89 (includes local, state and federal dollars).
In 1988-'89 the student/teacher ratio at the elementary level was 1:15.3, and at the secondary level was 1:12.7.
\ Pulaski
With roughly 5,735 students, the Pulaski County school system has seen some sweeping changes under the leadership of a new superintendent this past year.
The county has 10 elementary schools, two middle schools. Its one high school enrolls about 1,899 students.
Superintendent James Burns came to the school system last July with plans to bring computer-assisted instruction to the schools, and this has been realized at Riverlawn Elementary, Dublin Middle School and in Pulaski County High School's math department this year.
The computers were installed, however, in a "try and buy" arrangement, and it appears that only the high school and possibly Riverlawn Elementary will have computer labs for the coming year.
At least two members of the county Board of Supervisors, which appropriates local money, would like to eventually have a computer-assisted instruction lab in every school.
The computers provide instruction that is tailored to the individual needs of students, adjusting automatically to their abilities.
The high school's math department will continue to have a 64-terminal computer lab this coming year and the English department will have a reading and writing computer lab.
Beginning next year the English teachers are guaranteeing that every student who graduates will be proficient in reading and writing.
The English teachers have been empowered by the School Board with full authority to restructure the curriculum, schedule the students and determine teaching methods.
Beginning this fall, Pulaski County will be home to the Challenger School - a Governor's School for Math, Science and Technology. The school will enroll about 55 students from seven school systems the first year, and roughly 90 to 100 every year after that.
Like other school systems in the New River Valley, Pulaski County has been plagued by declining enrollment. The school system has lost 1,200 students over the past five years, and this has led to a reduction in teaching staff. Twelve teachers were recently laid off, but some could be rehired.
Starting teachers will make $20,000 this coming year, and teachers at the top of the scale will make $36,533 (plus $1,575 for a master's degree).
As of last fall, there were 380 teachers. The student/teacher ratio in 1988-'89 at the elementary level was 1:16.5 and at the secondary level was 1:13.8.
The school system spent $3,602 per pupil in 1988-'89, including local, state and federal dollars.
\ Radford
Besides Radford High, the city has one intermediate school for grades 7-8 and two elementary schools. The city schools have roughly 1,441 students and 115 teachers, and spent $4,218 per pupil in 1988-'89 (includes local, state and federal money).
The school system took first place in the Mountain Academic Conference for its science and "all-around" teams this year.
It also had several first place winners in the Regional Science Fair and New River Valley Reading Council competition.
Last year the schools introduced an environmental education program that combines active recycling with classroom learning.
Students and teachers are recycling office and computer paper in all five schools, and administrators are doing the same in the central office building.
They have gathered 1,090 pounds of paper so far, and the coordinator of the program, special education teacher Joanne Spiers Moche, is negotiating with a firm that has offered to buy the paper at the end of each year.
Literature on everything from groundwater pollution to pesticides is distributed to students throughout the year, and students manage the program.
"We're trying to teach civic responsibility," Moche said. Teaching young people about taking care of the environment is not enough. "We're trying to let them practice those kinds of skills," she said.
The recycling program recently won a U.S. Senate Productivity plaque.
The teacher salary scale for next year was not available, but an assistant superintendent said the average would be $30,793.
For kindergarten through grade seven, the pupil-teacher ratio was 1:14.3 in 1988-'89. For grades eight through 12, the ratio was 1:11.7.
\ Giles County
Faced for years with declining enrollment, Giles County recently bit the bullet and decided to close two schools - Rich Creek Elementary and King Johnston School.
The latter will remain open for another year for seventh-graders only. Giles has 2,691 students this year, compared with 3,912 in 1972.
After the two schools close, the school system will have three elementary and two high schools, a vocational school and PATS (Positive Approach Toward School), a school for students at risk of dropping out.
The school system contracted this past year with Whittle Communications of Knoxville, Tenn., to begin showing students a 12-minute news program every morning. In exchange, four schools will each get $50,000 worth of technology - a satellite dish, two video records and a television set for every 23 students.
The technology should arrive by the end of the school year.
The school system implemented an exploratory program for eighth-graders this year, giving entering high-schoolers a chance to sample short courses in art appreciation, music, business, home-economics, literature and more.
A vocational cooperative program will begin this coming year for upper-level high school students. This will offer students a chance to get on-site work experience that complements vocational courses taught at the high schools.
Students at the vocational school are building a modular home for the second year in a row, and plan to sell the house soon. The money raised will go back into a fund for building projects.
The system also is beginning a dual enrollment program for college-bound students. This will allow students to take courses for college credit through New River Community College at either Narrows or Giles High School. There are also advanced placement courses for the college-bound.
Giles County spent $3,774 per pupil in 1988-'89 (includes local, state, and federal money). Teachers' salaries will start this year at $19,971, and teachers with master's degrees earn an extra $1,365.
The school system expects to employ 179 teachers next year. The student-teacher ratio in grades kindergarten through seventh in 1988-89 was 1:16.1. In grades eight through 12 it was 1:12.8.
\ Floyd County
Floyd County spent $3,611 per pupil in 1988-89, including local, state and federal money.
There are 1,881 students and 133 teachers in four elementary schools, and a high school for grades eight through 12.
Floyd County High School's technical education lab has leapt into the 21st century, offering classes in technical drawing, computer-assisted drawing, and printing and photographic techniques.
The lab, located in a specially designed addition to the high school, includes darkrooms, an area for heating materials and air lines for power tools. It also has a modern graphics-communications lab.
Twenty-seven percent of the school's enrollment, 203 students, attend classes in the two laboratories daily.
"We're trying to make the facility on the thought that it will be for the year 2000," said Calvin Rorrer, the system's vocational educational director. "The skills of the '70s and the '80s are totally out of date. We're trying to look ahead."
Another county school, Check Elementary, has embarked on a long-range effort to improve its curriculum and modernize teaching techniques.
Check is one of 26 public schools in the nation participating in what is called a Mastery in Learning project.
Sponsored by the National Education Association, Mastery in Learning is paid for in part by the state Department of Education and IBM.
The project also has endowed Check Elementary with computer equipment, enabling it to share research with the other participating schools and several leading universities across the nation.
In essence, Check's teachers are getting away from teaching facts and figures and learning instead to teach children how to think critically.
The school system also recently began a Young Authors Program for grades kindergarten through seven. Children learn to write poetry and prose throughout the school year and enter a competition in the spring. The winners get their works bound in book form.
Entry-level salaries for Floyd teachers this coming year will be $19,280, with an extra $1,330 for a master's degree. Teachers at the top of the scale will make $28,520.
The student/teacher ratio at the elementary level in 1988-89 was 1:13.5 and at the secondary level was 1:13.4.
by CNB