
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 25, 1990                   TAG: 9007250191
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: MARGIE FISHER RICHMOND BUREAU
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

BUSINESS COULD HELP SCHOOLS, WILDER SAYS

Virginia businesses, colleges and families were urged by Gov. Douglas Wilder on Tuesday to get more actively involved in promoting quality public schools.

In a speech at a conference on education, Wilder said the state's tight budget situation makes it more important than ever "that a working partnership be forged between schools and businesses."

He called on business leaders to go beyond the traditional "adopt-a-school" concept and realize that "it is in their best interests to join in a long-term, continuous communication and interaction between classrooms and the private sector."

If companies will expand efforts to develop internships and similar hands-on learning experiences for young people, the payoff will be entry-level workers that are far more productive from the outset, the governor said.

To meet economic and social demands, there should also be stronger partnerships built within the education system. "Excellence in education means recognizing that we have one continuous education system" and that those in higher education need to become more involved with what goes on in elementary and secondary schools.

As a step toward a stronger alliance, Wilder said he has asked every college and university president to put in place this fall a program modeled on one at Longwood College.

"Every month, Longwood President Bill Dorrill meets with area superintendents, legislators, educators and supporters of education to discuss issues of common concern. As a result, this program - with future programs around the state - will provide an ongoing forum of benefit to all levels of education," Wilder said.

"Likewise, I believe that all levels of education will see the benefits of the reorganization of the Department of Education." A planned reorganization to make the department less regulatory and more service-oriented should lead to several positive developments that will benefit colleges and universities as well as the public schools, the governor said.

But reforms that are enacted at the state level can accomplish only so much. Major improvement in the educational system won't come, Wilder said, "until more parents take the time to attend `back-to-school night,' until more parents stop ignoring and rationalizing the early signs of drug and alcohol abuse in their children, until more parents check that homework is done - and is done correctly - before the television and stereo are allowed to be turned on."

Quality education, he said, "begins in the home."

by CNB