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

DATE: THURSDAY, September 15, 1994                   TAG: 9410270010
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: W11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CHARLES STEBBINS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEW CASTLE                                 LENGTH: Short

40 UNEXPECTED STUDENTS PUSH CRAIG SCHOOLS ENROLLMENT TO 715

But something else happened.

``Forty students that we didn't expect showed up on the first day,'' said Dallas Helems, superintendent of schools.

Helems revealed the higher enrollment during the Craig County School Board's open forum with parents Sept. 6.

The higher figure pushed total enrollment up to 715 - 372 in high school, and 343 in the elementary grades - causing crowding despite the addition of four classrooms to the complex on Virginia 615.

The 40 additional students are distributed evenly through the grades and live throughout the county.

None of the county's population-increase indexes gave any hint that schools would have that many more students, Helems said.

He is not sure where they came from but thinks they must be from families that quietly have moved into existing rental property.

The 40 unexpected students probably will force the School Board to go into a capital-improvement program sooner than planned.

``We're bulging at the seams,'' said James Cady, chairman of the School Board. ``We all thought that by beginning the new year with four new classrooms, we would have plenty of space. But now the new classrooms are full.''

This will not deter the School Board from its mission of continuing to improve, Cady said.

Statewide testing in the previous term showed that Craig's students ranked near the top. Cady said the aim is to make that even better.

But to keep up the momentum will require more money, renewed commitment and the cooperation of parents, he said.