Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 6, 1990 TAG: 9007060807
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MARGARET CAMLIN NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The school system had overestimated the cost of health insurance premiums for the coming year by $155,100. The savings also will be used to expand formal elementary art instruction to third grade and to pay stipends to teachers being trained this summer to teach new courses.
Three central office administrators flew to Florida in late June to visit Marion and Orange county school systems.
Doris McElfresh, director of elementary education; Charlotte Sellers, an instructional supervisor; and Janet Cox, a public relations specialist for the school system, took the trip.
In Marion County, they met with a principal and supervisor of an elementary school where children attend in "shifts" - 60 days at a time. Pupils have 15 days of vacation between shifts and all pupils get the same midwinter and summer vacation, McElfresh said.
She said her group also met with an educational consultant in Orange County to learn about that school system's plans to begin year-round education this year.
In both Florida school systems, year-round education does not mean children spend more time in school. They still attend 180 days a year - as in Virginia. The difference is that the school does not shut down in the summer.
Another trip to Florida is planned for three other administrators, according to Deputy Superintendent Curtis Gray.
Steve Staples, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction; Robert Miller, Auburn High School's principal; and Larry Schoff, director of facilities, maintenance and transportation, will visit school systems in the Palm Beach and Jacksonville, Fla., areas.
Three others will visit a school system in Missouri, Gray said: Superintendent Harold Dodge; Shawsville Elementary's principal, Dale Margheim; and Blacksburg Middle School's new principal, Jim Sellers.
Dayton, Ohio, is the destination for research on year-round schools for Gray; Gary Bishop, transportation supervisor; and Doug Morgan, principal at Christiansburg Elementary School, Gray said.
Richard Ballengee, the new director of secondary education, visited Virginia's Buena Vista school system, which has an optional summer program for students.
At Tuesday's Montgomery County School Board meeting, school administrators said a trip to California would probably be necessary to see "true" year-round education for secondary students.
With only Chairman Marty Childress voting no, the board approved the expenditure of $12,000 for travel money.
Gray said the trip to California is not definite, and he said that he did not know which school system officials would visit.
In May, the School Board asked Superintendent Harold Dodge to come up with several possible plans for a "modified school calendar."
Students would still go to school 180 days a year, but blocks of students could attend at different times so that buildings could be used year-round, Assistant Superintendent Steve Staples said in May.
The $155,100 insurance savings will also be used to expand the elementary art program. With $118,237, three new art teachers will be hired for third grade and supplies and equipment purchased.
So, beginning this year, third-graders will join fourth- and fifth-graders in being taught art by a specialist for 50 minutes a week.
Children in kindergarten through second grade will continue receiving art instruction from their regular classroom teachers and by an art specialist four times a year.
Use of the insurance savings also includes $17,303 to be paid to teachers working this summer on curriculum and staff development. Selected teachers will be paid $50 per day for training in instructional programs such as elementary foreign language and culture and IBM's "Writing to Read."
***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on July 6, 1990\ An article in today's New River Current says Montgomery County School Board Marty Childress voted no to spending $12,000 for school administrators to travel out-of-state to gather information on year-round education.
Actually, Childress voted against the total proposal, which included the travel, for reallocating the $155,100 saved from health insurance.
Childress said Friday, after the Current had been printed, that he favored allocating $12,000 for travel to research year-round schools, but he voted against the proposal because he opposed expanding art education, preferring the money be spent on remedial reading instead.
Memo: CORRECTION