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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 10, 1991                   TAG: 9104100117
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-4   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER/ NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: DUBLIN                                LENGTH: Medium

VALLEY LEADERS PLAN FUND-RAISING EFFORT FOR GOVERNOR'S SCHOOL

A gathering of New River Valley leaders in education, industry and business will be invited to kick off the organization this fall of a fund-raising foundation for the Southwest Virginia Governor's School for Science, Mathematics and Technology.

Gov. Douglas Wilder will be invited to be the keynote speaker for the black-tie festivities at New River Community College on a date to be announced.

The invitation-only event will be the signal educational and social event of the season, if all goes as planned, Dr. A. Carole Pratt, a Pulaski County dentist and one of the planners, told the school's governing board Tuesday.

Joel Williams, a Montgomery County stockbroker, said the foundation, once formed, would work for long-term endowments, short-term financial needs, sponsoring student trips and getting equipment for the school.

Ruth Horton, a retiree from Giles County, said the board needs to appoint more representatives to the foundation to help in the planning. The existing appointees will get it done, she said, "but having the extra bodies will make it a whole lot easier, and more fun."

The governing board decided to ask Giles County School Superintendent Robert McCracken to become the regional school's new superintendent-in-charge. He would succeed Galax School Superintendent Jimmy Stuart.

McCracken, reached at his office in Pearisburg, said he would have to know more about the time involved and other aspects of the job before commenting.

The school has 36 students commuting for a half-day from the counties of Pulaski, Floyd, Giles, Carroll, Bland and Wythe and the city of Galax. They are all high school juniors this year, the first year the school has been in operation.

It has a capacity for about 100 students. The number is expected to double next year when it will have both juniors and seniors from participating localities.

The board has been exploring the possibility of serving more students by using the facility as a development center for teachers and sending them to their localities to train other teachers in teaching advanced classes. But no decision has been made on whether to take this direction.

The board went over a new description for the job of school director, which will apply to whoever succeeds Michael Bentley, who resigned March 6.

Advertising for applications for a school director will start Monday . The deadline will be June 1 and selection is scheduled for early July.

by CNB