Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 23, 1994 TAG: 9412230124
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Lincoln Terrace and Huff Lane elementary schools will become magnet schools in September, bringing the number to 12 among the city's 29 schools.
Magnet schools are organized around particular themes such as aeronautics, high technology, animals, plants or the performing arts.
They are full time and operate during the regular school year.
The schools offer innovative educational progams with state-of-the-art technology in hopes of attracting students who otherwise would attend other schools. The goal is to attract white students to schools in mostly black neighborhoods and blacks to schools in mostly white neighborhoods.
Lincoln Terrace is in a predominantly black neighborhood, and Huff Lane is in a racially mixed area.
Federal guidelines require that the school system try to achieve a 50-50 racial balance in magnet schools to help desegregate the school system, which is 39 percent black.
Students who live in the magnet schools' attendance zones can attend them if they wish. They are not required to apply for enrollment.
Many students from the counties of Roanoke, Botetourt, Bedford and Franklin also attend the magnet schools. There are no tuition charges for students from outside the city.
The number of open slots in magnet schools depends on several factors, including the schools' racial balance and the number of students in the magnet schools' attendance zones who enroll.
Superintendent Wayne Harris said the school system will apply for federal funds to implement the magnet programs at Lincoln Terrace and Huff Lane.
The school system has received more than $10million in federal funds in the past decade for equipment and other start-up costs for magnet schools.
Although the magnet schools have been financed mainly with federal funds, the school system must absorb some costs as the federal money is phased out.
During the current fiscal year, the schools will use $200,000 in local funds to help pay the magnet schools' operational costs, said Richard Kelley, assistant superintendent for operations.
In the next year, Roanoke must spend an additional $310,000 for local support for magnet programs at William Fleming High and Ruffner Middle schools.
"We have to make a good-faith effort to continue the magnet schools," Kelley said. "The federal government expects us to do that."
With the addition of Lincoln Terrace and Huff Lane, eight of the city's 21 elementary schools will be magnet schools. Three of the city's six middle schools and one of two high schools have magnet programs.
School administrators also have identified Hurt Park and Round Hill elementary schools as potential candidates for magnet programs.
Mary Hackley, director of elementary education, said the core curriculum - English, mathematics and science - will be retained at Lincoln Terrace and Huff Lane when they become magnet schools.
by CNB