Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 10, 1994 TAG: 9412130008
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
``The people who came down were supposed to do a building-needs survey,'' Superintendent Bill Asbury told the School Board on Thursday night.
``Had nothing to do with what they came down here for. And we were just floored,'' he said of the Governor's School board on which he serves. ``It's tainted. It's worthless. It cannot be used as any kind of a planning document.''
The report, disclosed to the Governor's School board at its meeting Tuesday, expressed concerns about the time required for students to commute for a half-day from their own high schools. It suggested that all high schools involved go to block scheduling to better accommodate traveling students, and that Governor's School classrooms be set up in abandoned stores or buildings throughout the region.
The school has 98 students attending between 7:20 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. from the counties of Pulaski, Giles, Floyd, Wythe, Smyth, Carroll and Bland and the city of Galax.
``I guess the most upsetting part was that they never once looked at their mission,'' said Lewis Pratt, the Pulaski County School Board representative to the board.
Giles County Superintendent Robert McCracken, superintendent in charge of the Governor's School this year, has written state Superintendent of Public Instruction William Bosher a letter saying the report is flawed.
McCracken told the Governor's School board Tuesday that he was with the state committee during most of its Sept. 8 visit and does not recall the block scheduling even being considered.
He suggested that Bosher check with other team members besides David Boddy, facilities services director for the state Department of Education, who wrote the report.
During the team's on-site visit, Boddy suggested such options as dividing the Governor's School between two campuses, having a branch at each high school or using scattered storefront locations.
``School is not a place. It doesn't need to be a place, with the new technology,'' Boddy said during the committee visit.
But another team member, Janie Craig, the department's programs director for gifted and talented, said multiple campuses had been tried in some of the state's newest governor's schools and proved hard to manage. She said the students also miss the social opportunity.
Asbury said it became obvious in his own telephone conversation with Boddy, even before the visit, that Boddy resented having the study forced on him. Boddy could not be reached for comment Friday.
State Sen. Madison Marye, D-Shawsville, had called for the study after visiting the Governor's School.
Marye said at the time that seeing the advanced work being done by the students and the crowded conditions made him believe in what the Governor's School was accomplishing.
Pulaski County School Board Chairman Ron Chaffin said the committee's recommendation is not going to solve overcrowding problems at the Governor's School and asked if there are other approaches.
Asbury said one suggestion was to have the state pick up a larger share of the cost per student attending the school, and applying it to debt service on a bigger building.
by CNB