Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 16, 1994 TAG: 9404180132
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
Sandidge told the board that two-thirds of the sixth-graders taking the Literacy Passport Test passed it on the first try.
Because of problems in Richmond, the 1993 report did not include Scholastic Aptitude Test results, Sandidge said. SAT scores will be put back in later reports.
Other bright spots in the report included improvement in the county's dropout rate, which Sandidge said was at 5 percent "and it's still declining."
Assistant Superintendent Phyllis Bishop said the most recent figure was 4.51 percent, which is still above the state average of 3 percent.
School Board members were at once pleased and concerned about the drop-out figure. "It's good to see it going down," board chairman Ron Chaffin said. But board member Lewis Pratt wanted to know why the figure was still too high.
"Disparity would have to play a part in it," Sandidge responded. "We can't provide all the options Fairfax [County] can."
Superintendent William Asbury said a high percentage of dropouts leave school for "family-related reasons." But school officials also were encouraged that academic improvement programs put into place over the past few years appear to be working. The report also showed gains for both minority students and special education students.
In other business, the School Board also accepted a recommendation to negotiate with Honeywell to set specifics for a systemwide energy management plan. Division business manager Walter Shannon told the board the plan would involve energy-saving improvements that would, for the most part, pay for themselves over 10 years. Shannon has estimated the cost of capital improvements at around $1.5 million.
If the board approves, the schools would contract with Honeywell to engineer improvements and guarantee a saving. The company also could arrange financing to cover the capital costs, Shannon said.
For its part, the school system would have to agree to strictly follow the program.
If the company's savings projections are off, Honeywell would cover the difference, he said.
Shannon and the division's operations manager, Harry DeHaven, said not all of the energy-saving improvements would pay for themselves, but that savings in one area could be used to pay for enhancements in another. The board also could consider funding some capital improvements on its own.
Board members and school officials said they wanted flexibility in the planning. "I don't want people freezing to death" to save energy, Asbury said.
Although details are not yet final, the plan could call for new heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems in county elementary schools and wholesale conversion to natural gas at Pulaski County High School.
In other matters, Asbury encouraged the board to be receptive to requests to donate land for a new Southwest Virginia Governor's School building. The governor's school now is on the high school campus near Dublin.
"Otherwise, they might get an offer to go up or down the road," he said.
Asbury also told the board that the governor's school has become a model for other school systems. "School divisions are calling by the droves to come to visit," he said.
Teachers got an appreciative nod from the board during the meeting as members approved a resolution setting May 1-7 as Teacher Appreciation Week.
"Anybody who's made it through this year needs to be commended, Asbury said, remarking on the trouble-plagued school year set to end June 17. "The rhythm has been upset."
Asbury praised teachers, principals and students alike in getting through a year during which one Dublin Middle School youngster died in a bus accident and most of a month of school days was lost to bad weather.
The board also approved DeHaven as its agent for Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster-relief efforts.
by CNB