Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 12, 1993 TAG: 9308120033
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Harris said Hurt Park - one of 12 schools in Virginia selected last year to share $1.5 million in grants - would not accept the second year's funding because some faculty members were unable to attend out-of-school training sessions.
"It really needed to be a whole school kind of commitment," Harris said.
The state needs that type of commitment because it wants to use the 12 schools as models for its World Class Education reforms, said Ned Carr, deputy for administration for the Virginia Department of Education.
Now, said Carr, there's "a good possibility" the money will go to another school in a different part of the state.
"There's a waiting list," he said.
Roanoke's new superintendent, who made the decision jointly last week with Hurt Park Principal William Shepherd, said he did not know why some teachers were unable to make the training sessions.
"There were things that were keeping them from participating," Harris said. But what those things were, he didn't know.
Shepherd would not comment on the grant and referred all questions to Harris.
Some Hurt Park faculty will continue to take part in state workshops at no cost to the city, Harris said.
Other parts of the program - particularly philosophical changes in teaching practices - also will continue, said Mary Hackley, director of elementary education.
Hurt Park teachers will continue to use "High Scope," a philosophy in which teachers encourage students to become more active learners by letting them make choices about how they spend classroom time, she said.
It remains unclear, however, how losing the grant will affect programs to promote parental involvement or provide easier access to health and social services.
Hurt Park's grant, which ended after a year of planning, was to have provided parenting and adult literacy classes to foster more parental involvement at the only school in the city with no Parent-Teacher Association.
The grant also would have helped parents gain access to health and social service agencies for immunizations, dental and medical checkups, psychological exams and drug and mental health counseling, according to previous reports.
Roughly 70 percent of Hurt Park's students come from low-income families.
Hackley said Hurt Park's staff, like that at all Roanoke schools, still would encourage parents to get involved and would connect parents to other city agencies whenever possible. She could not comment on how the grant had been used to help with those endeavors or how its loss would be felt.
Hurt Park will also continue to benefit from materials it purchased with last year's $144,000 grant, Harris said.
Jo Bunce, the state education department's division chief of early childhood education, said Hurt Park purchased science and math classroom materials and tables and chairs with some of the money.
It also paid the salary of a school nurse, who would not have been allowed to return this year anyway, she said. The state had asked Hurt Park to hire a project coordinator instead.
Bunce said this was the first time she had heard of anyone voluntarily returning a state education grant. She added, however, that the state was asking pilot schools to make a lot of changes quickly and that it was "very stressful" for those involved.
It was her understanding that Hurt Park faculty members "weren't really ready for implementation" after the planning year, Bunce said.
The pilot projects targeted elementary school students as part of the first phase of the state's World Class Education reforms.
But forfeiting the grant does not mean World Class Education won't come to Roanoke, said Harris.
During a leadership conference Wednesday for 85 principals, assistant principals and central office staff members, Harris said he embraced the "sound philosophy" of World Class Education and wanted to be in the forefront of the movement.
"I'd rather be in the front seat with the driver than to try to tag along and get a seat on the back," he said.
The reform movement would shift the focus in Virginia's schools from what teachers teach to what students learn, holding educators responsible for their students' successes or failures.
Some have criticized the reforms for teaching values, such as honesty. Critics charge the schools will attempt to turn students into "politically correct" children.
Harris said Roanoke schools would not embrace all aspects of World Class Education but would continue to implement the philosophy in pieces.
by CNB