Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 12, 1993 TAG: 9306120080
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
During a meeting of county principals and central school office administrators Thursday, it was decided to stick with an original schedule for restructuring the county's high schools. That schedule called for more planning next year.
Jim Sellers, the county's assistant superintendent for instruction, wrote in a memorandum to Superintendent Harold Dodge that the schools will use next year for more planning, research and meetings with parents on proposed changes.
Even before a Tuesday night meeting with parents at Christiansburg High School it had appeared the county was not yet ready to move ahead with the changes, Sellers said.
The Christiansburg school had proposed going next year to a system similar to that used in colleges, in which some classes meet on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and others meet Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The school also had proposed combining its college-prep and general (or vocational) classes into a new level to be called the "standard" level. That would have left the school with three rather than four class levels: basic, standard and honors advance placement.
Other changes had been proposed at Auburn and Shawsville high schools, but none of them had been presented to the School Board. Plans to brief the board had been delayed by the board's budget deliberations, Sellers said.
Some parents at the Tuesday night meeting at Christiansburg High School were concerned that combining the class levels might hurt the chances of some students getting into the colleges of their choice and might harm college-bound students.
Sellers said he and Jim Ruffa, director of secondary education, clearly knew following the meeting that the principals needed to spend more time planning the restructuring.
Ann Rhudy, PTA president at Christiansburg High, is pleased with the delay. The PTA had not been included in the planning for the changes.
"It's best that the teachers and parents get more involved and we don't go too far too fast," she said.
Rhudy said she has asked Christiansburg High Principal George Porterfield to include her on a committee studying the changes.
Herman Bartlett Jr., who will become the county's new superintendent July 1, said he, too, had not been told about plans to begin restructuring in the high schools next year. Bartlett agreed that changes are in the future for the schools but said the School Board and parents must be involved.
Although the administrators still support making changes, they want to give others more time to be sufficiently informed, Sellers said. Principals and teachers have been excited about the ideas for change and have visited other Virginia schools that have made changes, he said.
"I am sorry that our plans have caused community concern," Sellers said. "Clearly, that was not our intent."
by CNB