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

DATE: TUESDAY, May 3, 1994                   TAG: 9405030144
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

STUDENTS WON'T SEE BIKE RACE

And to make matters worse, the children in Roanoke's schools will have to spend an additional 20 minutes in class on race day until the blocked streets are reopened.

The time trials, Stage 5 of the race, will begin at 11 a.m. at the Salem Civic Center and end at 2 p.m. on the Roanoke City Market.

City school administrators have been told that the streets should be reopened by 2:15 p.m. But that will be after the city's middle schools are suppose to dismiss for the day.

Richard Kelley, Roanoke's assistant superintendent for operations, said the school day will be lengthened by 20 minutes for all schools to avoid any scheduling problems that might be caused by blocked streets.

Roanoke's high schools and several elementary schools dismiss at 2:40 p.m. Some elementary schools end their day at 3:15 p.m.

Kelley said the bus schedules for middle, elementary and high schools are linked, so all schools must add the 20 minutes to their day.

Other localities' school administrators said Monday they have no plans to change their school days or bus schedules because of the race.

Michael Bryant, Salem's assistant school superintendent, said the race should be finished by the time that county schools begin dismissing at 2:30.

Bayes Wilson, Roanoke County's superintendent, said he doesn't expect the race to cause any change in the county's school and bus schedules.

Kelley said city school officials discussed the possibility of closing schools early so the children could see the race, but decided against it for several reasons.

The city missed nine days for bad weather, and the instructional schedule has been interrupted

because of it, he said.

"The Tour DuPont is a great event, but we think that education has to take top priority,'' Kelley said.

If the schools dismissed early for the race, he said, they would have to close at 10:30 a.m., because it takes 90 minutes for all of the bus routes and schedules to be completed.