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

DATE: FRIDAY, May 14, 1993                   TAG: 9305140021
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI                                LENGTH: Medium

2-SCHOOL PRINCIPAL SEEMS TO BE BOARD PLAN

Some of them came to the Pulaski County School Board meeting at Claremont Elementary School Thursday night to express those concerns.

At this stage, however, it appears that the plan is to save money by having one principal for two schools. Work is continuing on the proposed 1993-94 school budget in the face of state cuts and less money available at the local level than for the current year.

But that does not mean Newbern Elementary might not be slated for closing later. In fact, Superintendent William Asbury mentioned Newbern in April as a school that could be closed without disrupting attendance lines too much.

Jefferson Elementary School will close at the end of this year, because of the need to reduce costs in the face of losing about 100 students a year countywide for the past five years. State funds are based largely on student number.

The School Board and Board of Supervisors are in the process of looking jointly at ways to downsize in the future with the least harm to the school program.

James E. Harvey, who became principal at Newbern in 1991, confirmed when asked by a reporter that his contract is not being renewed next year. He said he had been notified in April.

Harvey, 55, had been mathematics and science supervisor in Mercer County, W.Va., when he took advantage of that state's early retirement offer in 1989. He worked in industry for a year, but decided he missed education and accepted an offer to come to Pulaski County.

He has been commuting from his home in Princeton, W.Va., about an hour each way, after being unable to find a home to buy in Pulaski County. Now he is glad he could not find local housing.

"I hate to leave the county," he said. "It's just that the county ran out of money."

He spoke highly of the parents of the about 140 pupils at Newbern, saying they were supportive of the teachers and handled any discipline needed "so we can just get on with the business of education."

Newbern PTA President Bill Craft and Dr. Scott Brandau, a parent, already had expressed concerns to the School Board at its April 15 meeting about the possibility of closing Newbern. That possibility had been raised at the March 11 board meeting.

The Southwest Times, a Pulaski newspaper, recently took an informal and admittedly unscientific poll on whether its readers would favor a tax increase to provide more money for schools. When it stopped counting the responses at 309, 217 writers had said "no" and only 91 said "yes." There was also one "maybe" reported.

And yet, in 1990, Pulaski County voters passed a $2 million referendum by 4,217 to 3,159 to pay for equipping their school system with computers at all grade levels. It was the only one of three referendums on the ballot to be approved, indicating citizen support at that time for educational funding.