Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 28, 1994 TAG: 9408290036
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Just ask the folks at the Roanoke Valley Governor's School for Science and Technology, which serves seven school divisions.
Schools will open Monday in four of the localities that send students to the regional school for advanced courses in math and science on the Patrick Henry High School campus.
They are Salem, Roanoke County, Botetourt County and Craig County.
But the governor's school won't open until after Labor Day - Sept. 7 - when schools open in Roanoke, Bedford County and Franklin County, the other three participating school divisions.
Under the operating policy for the school, its calendar is dictated by the Roanoke school system's schedule. About half of the school's 205 students come from Roanoke, and the city had a major role in establishing it a decade ago.
Richard Shelly, director of the governor's school, said this is the first time in the school's history that there has been such wide differences in the opening dates for participating school divisions.
"Typically, it is only one or two days' difference, or everyone starts the same day," Shelly said.
Students spend a half day at the governor's school and the rest of the day at their home high schools.
So what will the students from Salem and Botetourt, Craig and Roanoke counties do for a half day until the governor's school opens?
In Botetourt County, Craig County and Salem, students will participate in classes at their home schools during the time when they would have been at the governor's school.
Roanoke County governor's school students will report to their home schools Monday so they can complete paperwork for the new school year. They will have to work out arrangements with their home schools on when they will have to report for classes until the governor's school opens.
Also causing confusion is the state requirement that school systems that open before Labor Day must be closed on both Sept. 6 and 7 for Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year.
Roanoke's schools will observe only one day, Sept. 6, for Rosh Hashana. Similarly, the governor's school will delay opening for only one day for the Jewish holiday.
But schools in Salem, Roanoke County, Botetourt County and Craig County will be closed Sept. 7, too, because they are opening before Labor Day.
Governor's School students from the four localities will have to attend the opening day, however, even though their home school systems will be closed.
"It is important that all students be in class on the first day, Sept. 7 at the regular time," Shelly said in a memorandum to principals of high schools in the Roanoke Valley.
by CNB