Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 3, 1994 TAG: 9402040003
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By MARA LEE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Ray Van Dyke, who will serve as principal of the new school, presented a plan to the Montgomery County School Board Tuesday night that will move roughly 650 pupils into the new school's district. It includes portions of the districts of four existing schools: Margaret Beeks, Harding Avenue, Gilbert Linkous and Prices Fork elementary schools.
Van Dyke, Gilbert Linkous Elementary principal, said only four parents had called him Wednesday, and they were confused rather than angry.
No parents asked him any questions after the meeting, he said.
Van Dyke will hold public hearings on the plan at the four elementary schools beginning next week.
Harding Avenue Elementary Principal Belva Collins only had two calls Wednesday. "I'm glad people are waiting, truthfully, so that rumors won't abound," she said. "I'm pleased the way people have handled it so far."
Regina Smith, president of the Montgomery County Council of PTAs, said she thought a storm was on the horizon. "It won't be smooth," she said. "They're not going to be able to please all the people, and that's why we're going to have the community meetings."
Prices Fork Elementary Principal Larry Arrington said he wasn't surprised that his school received only two calls.
He said he expected concern about the plan to come mostly from Blacksburg parents. "There is an amazing loyalty to schools within the town limits," he said. "I think they will probably have most of the dissenters."
Margaret Beeks Elementary School - which will trade some students with Harding, lose some to the new school and end up with roughly 87 fewer students - didn't receive any parent calls.
Margaret Beeks PTA President Jeri Reinholtz said, "Everybody's still kind of in the dark."
Similarly, Gilbert Linkous PTA President Jamie Simmons said, "I haven't heard a word."
"I f\ ti hopeo that Gilbert Linkous parents will be accepting and will realize that this is for the good of all children," she added.
Linkous will be affected most by the plan, with 51 percent of its students leaving to go to the new school. Some Harding students will go to Linkous next year. Linkous is the most overcrowded, with more than 627 students - next year roughly 415 children will attend.
Smith hoped this plan would draw less fire than the 1989 plan which would have moved 240 students to relieve overcrowding. That plan was scrapped under public pressure, which she attributed to anger over split neighborhoods.
Harding Avenue PTA President Martha Olson said she thought some parents would be surprised that 50 students would leave to go to Linkous and Beeks. Because Harding is on the other side of town from the new school, Olson said, "I think people might not have realized that it would affect them directly. I don't think Harding Avenue [parents] thought they were going to be involved in the change that much."
But Olson said Harding would benefit from the new lines. "We really have a disparity in education at Harding," she said. Harding does not have a federally funded remedial reading program because only 13 percent of its students qualify for free or reduced lunches. Under the new plan, that percentage would grow to 23 percent, and the school should get the grant. "Just because you have kids from higher incomes doesn't mean they don't have reading problems," she said.
In addition, Harding, like every Blacksburg area school except Beeks, is over capacity.
Prices Fork will be losing about 86 students, but PTA President Chris Wakley said members weren't sure how much that would really ease overcrowding, because the school will also lose three classroom trailers.
"We thought our space situation was going to get better with the new school," he said. "We're going to lose a lot of students, but we're going to lose a lot of teachers, too."
"We're not gaining anything by it, I think this is the feeling," he said. "I feel like we're actually going to be losing something."
Many PTA presidents said although the plan was imperfect, it served all the county best. "I thought it was about as fair as anything could've been," Simmons said. "When you see a picture, it's very logical."
Smith said parents should accept change as necessary. "We've got a new school, and we're going to have to fill it up," she said.
No school is inferior to any other, Reinholtz said, and added parents have been saying, "No one should be too upset because all the schools are good."
Maybe no parents will kick up a fuss, Van Dyke fantasized. "We want it just to be very calm and quiet," he said. "That would make my job a lot easier."
Van Dyke will answer parents' questions at Prices Fork Elementary on Tuesday, Gilbert Linkous on Wednesday, Harding Avenue Feb. 10 and Margaret Beeks Feb. 17. All meetings will begin at 7 p.m.
by CNB