CITY SCHOOL OFFICIALS TAKE REMARKS AS RACIST

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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 20, 1993                   TAG: 9301200281
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
CITY SCHOOL OFFICIALS TAKE REMARKS AS RACIST
Angered at what they interpreted as racial implications by a parent complaining about safety at Lucy Addison Aerospace Magnet Middle School, Roanoke school officials on Tuesday jumped to the defense of the school and the city school system.
Molly Bratton of Salem told the Roanoke School Board that she pulled her son from the Salem school system to attend Addison because of his interest in the aerospace program. But Bratton said she fears she may have to take him out of Addison next year, out of concern for "incidents of violence" at the school.
"In September, we had the shooting," Bratton said, referring to the shooting last year of an alternative education student on Addison grounds. "In October, my son was assaulted by another student." Later, he watched a fight outside the school, she said.
"Violence is more common than you think. I'm amazed you have not done something about it."
Bratton's concerns were not the first brought to the board since last year's shooting. Addison parents told administrators then that they wanted alternative education - housed in a building on Addison grounds - moved because it created a danger to middle-school students.
A wall was built two weeks after the shooting, blocking access between the middle school and the adjacent alternative ed center. But the concern for school safety remains, Bratton said.
Bratton spoke of the need for "better role models" inside the school, of a "need for more resources."
But it was Bratton's references to Addison being "on the edge of the worst part of Roanoke" and being "fed by the projects" that raised the ire of some board members and school officials.
"I think that was a little racist to say," board member Marilyn Curtis said. "I can get nothing else out of that except racism. You cannot place a stigma on that community."
William Hackley, an assistant superintendent, said he, too, resented Bratton's implied link between children who live in public housing and violence in the school.
"Just because a child came from the projects does not make him or her a bad student," Hackley said.
Bratton, visibly upset, argued that her remarks should not have been interpreted as racist.
"I don't appreciate that and I don't think it's particularly fair," she said.
Said School Superintendent Frank Tota, "If you expect to be treated well, you need to be more careful of the words you use."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB