Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 19, 1993 TAG: 9302190354
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
NEW ELEMENTARY ZONES RECOMMENDED FOR PULASKI
Children attending Critzer, Claremont and Northwood elementary schools in the town of Pulaski may not have the option of choosing their schools next year.A study team has drawn up recommended attendance boundaries for the three schools because the closing of Jefferson Elementary at the end of this school year makes it necessary to divide Jefferson pupils among the other schools.
The new boundaries were outlined at a public meeting Thursday night.
The team also recommended that all Pulaski town students attend the school in their assigned areas and that no out-of-zone pupils be allowed to attend Critzer, Claremont or Northwood for at least a year or until enrollment figures can be stabilized.
The restructuring of attendance zones makes it necessary to strictly control enrollments, except in extreme hardship situations approved by the Pulaski County School Board.
The recommendation, still to be considered by the School Board, does not affect children in other county schools outside their attendance areas.
Starting with the 1996-97 school year, however, approvals to attend any school outside home-school boundaries also will be limited to hardship cases. The restriction is starting earlier for these three Pulaski elementary schools because of their enrollment shifts.
Parents in the county have become used to choosing their children's schools even when children live in attendance zones for different schools.
A total of 249 pupils countywide now go to schools outside their attendance zones. Of that number, 113 out-of-zone pupils are enrolled in one of the four elementary schools in the town of Pulaski. Sixty-eight live in the town and 45 in the county.
A number of variables were considered in drawing up the new attendance zones, including numbers of children in each grade, numbers of out-of-boundary pupils attending each school and pupil-teacher ratios.
The study team - made up of Shirley Cook, director of curriculum and instruction; Harry DeHaven, director of operations; and Phyllis Bishop, associate superintendent - had to review each of the 1,147 pupils attending the four schools by grade level and residence.
The redefined boundaries could not be determined until enough students could be grouped to balance the enrollment at each school. The team said the task was like working a jigsaw puzzle.
Because Critzer housed all town pupils in grades four and five since it opened in 1974, no attendance zone for kindergarten through fifth grade had ever been defined for it. Next year, it will house those grades as Jefferson, Claremont and Northwood already do.
It was apparent early in the study that boundary zones for the five grades next year at Critzer, Claremont and Northwood had to be controlled by the number of children in each grade for proper pupil-teacher ratios.
The proposed enrollment for Critzer and Claremont will have three classes for each grade level, plus three to four special education classes at each school. Northwood would have one class per grade level and one special education class.
Most class sizes would range from 22 to 26 pupils, with perhaps two classes having 28 and one or two as low as 18. These are in line with pupil-teacher ratios throughout the county.
The closing of Jefferson, the county's oldest school building, stemmed from county enrollment declines. The total enrollment has gone from about 7,800 students in 1976 to 5,326 now.
Follow-up meetings will be held next week at each of the four town elementary schools to review the boundaries and answer questions from parents in the audience or privately.
The meetings will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday at Jefferson, Tuesday at Claremont, Wednesday at Critzer and Thursday at Northwood.
TOWN OF PULASKI ENROLLMENTS CURRENT and PROJECTED 1992-93 1993-94 Maximum Northwood 154 149 160 Claremont 400 462 500 Critzer 367 462 500 Jefferson 226 Closed -- Totals 1,147 1,095 1,160