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

DATE: FRIDAY, May 21, 1993                   TAG: 9305210198
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

GILBERT LINKOUS PRINCIPAL TO MOVE TO NEW ELEMENTARY

Superintendent Harold Dodge has picked Van Dyke to be the principal at the new Blacksburg Elementary School under construction on Prices Fork Road.

Van Dyke is not leaving Gilbert Linkous without regrets.

"I've grown very attached to the community, to the students and to the staff and it's an excellent school," he said.

Making the move easier, though, is that some of the parents and teachers with whom he has worked at Gilbert Linkous will be moving with him to the new school, he said.

The new principal at Gilbert Linkous hasn't been chosen. If the same pattern is followed as at the new Falling Branch school in Christiansburg, Van Dyke may share principal duties with someone else at Gilbert Linkous next year as the new school is being built.

Van Dyke, 38, received his bachelor's and master's degrees from Virginia Tech. He taught English and journalism at Blacksburg High School for seven years, was the county's language arts coordinator for two years and principal at Bethel Elementary School for two years before moving to Gilbert Linkous.

Van Dyke's new job was announced early so many of the preliminary tasks involved in construction of the new school could be handled more efficiently, Dodge said.

Among his early duties will be picking teachers and other staff, buying equipment and establishing attendance lines.

"It's kind of like the ultimate challenge for a school administrator to start a building from scratch. . . . It is almost like an administrator's dream," Van Dyke said.