Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 12, 1994 TAG: 9410120099
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The School Board voted Tuesday night to approve a five-year lease with First Union Corp. for nearly 20,000 square feet of space in Valley Court near the Hershberger Road and Interstate 581 interchange.
Superintendent Wayne Harris said the alternative education program will be moved by Feb. 1 if renovations to the building are finished on schedule.
The alternative education program now is housed at the Addison Magnet School on Fifth Street off Orange Avenue Northwest.
Valley Court formerly was known as Celebration Station, a shopping center that encountered financial problems.
The schools will pay $119,381 for the lease. The annual cost for utilities and other services will be $36,250.
Richard Kelley, assistant superintendent for operations, said the school system hopes to get a federal grant of between $1 million and $1.5 million for the new alternative center that will be known as Tech Plaza.
"This could help us with some of the labs and other things," he said.
The alternative education center will serve 150 students initially, but school administrators say it could be expanded later to provide more specialized training for other students.
Tech Plaza will be a skill-based, technology-driven program combined with clear academic and behavioral standards to help prepare students for a job or college.
Harris said the center will expand students' experience and sharpen their ability to think and solve problems.
Moving and upgrading the alternative education program were triggered by a consultants' report that said the program was mismanaged and violated the school system's administrative and financial policies. Many of the program's teachers did not have current teaching certificates.
Harris said the report confirmed what school administrators had expected - the alternative education program needed to be redesigned.
As a result of the report, Harris hired a new administrator for the program, assembled a staff of teachers with state certificates and decided to move it to Valley Court.
Harris said the alternative education plaza will be held to the same administrative, financial and academic standards as other schools and will have to abide by the same rules.
by CNB