Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 6, 1991 TAG: 9103060437
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Faced with mounting concerns from parents, the board agreed it needed to rediscuss the schedule to clear up public misconceptions, if nothing else.
Representatives of three Parent Teacher Associations spoke at Tuesday night's board meeting, urging changes.
Pam Bandy, co-president of the Shawsville High School PTA and vice president of the Shawsville Elementary PTA, called the new schedule "a ludicrous, life-threatening idea" which leaves small children home alone and puts older students at bus stops before daylight.
The Blacksburg High School PTSA is asking the School Board not to start any school day before 8 a.m., said Tom Sherman, an association board member. The most important worry is the potential for having so many teen-agers left unattended in the afternoons, he said.
In January, the School Board approved a plan to go to a 8:45 a.m. to 3:05 p.m. schedule for elementary schools and a 7:40 a.m. to 2:10 p.m. day for high schools, with the exception of Christiansburg High School and Middle School, whose students would attend from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
The schedule lengthens the day for most elementary students and shortens it for most high school students. The plan also separates high school and elementary students onto different buses and switches the earliest bus pickup time for high school students from 7 a.m. to 6:45 a.m.
Although the new schedule will eliminate 12 bus driver jobs and save an estimated $80,436 a year, the reason the board switched was to make the school day uniform for teachers and students and to provide more instructional time for some schools.
Board member Don Lacy of Blacksburg agreed with opponents that 2:10 p.m. is "an awfully early time" to release high school students. The board needs to deal with community problems and perceptions, he said.
The main worry he's heard from parents in the Riner District is that older children will be getting on the buses first and leaving younger children home alone, said board member Mike Sowder.
Superintendent Harold Dodge said any schedule change is going to displease somebody.
Vice Chairman Robert Goncz said the schedule could be changed if need be and said misconceptions about it need to be cleared up. "I'm of the opinion we deal with it again as early as we possibly can and put it to rest," Goncz said.
In other action, the board voted 4-1 to award a construction contract for the new Christiansburg elementary school on Falling Branch Road to John S. Clark Co. of Mount Airy, N.C. The $3.6 million bid was about $400,000 under the estimate.
Lacy voted against the contract. He said he was concerned that if Clark failed to perform up to its terms, the county might have trouble because of the lack of reciprocal legal agreements between Virginia and North Carolina.
J.C. Callahan, principal of the Christiansburg Primary School, will be principal of the new elementary school and will serve as principal of both until the new school is completed.
The board also decided to ask the Board of Supervisors for a decision on a new Blacksburg elementary school by May. Dodge, noting that a Williamsburg school recently came in $1 million under its construction estimate, said the market is "too favorable" now not to go ahead on the school.
by CNB