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

DATE: TUESDAY, July 11, 1995                   TAG: 9507110072
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ROANOKE'S SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT SAYS SAFETY IS JOB NO. 1

Harris promised Monday that the school system will do everything it can to keep guns and weapons out of students' hands.

The number of disciplinary cases involving weapons, drugs or assaults was down 35 percent in the past year, but school administrators won't relax their efforts to ensure that schools are safe, he said.

Harris told the School Board that copies of student conduct codes will be mailed to all parents before school opens in September. The city has separate codes for elementary and secondary schools.

In keeping with a new state law, parents will be asked to sign a pledge to assist school officials in disciplining their children.

Parents who don't sign the pledge can be fined $50. If they refuse to work with school officials to improve the behavior of their disruptive children, they can be fined up to $500.

At the board's planning workshop, Harris said school officials also will bolster programs to reduce absenteeism and dropouts.

The dropout rate for grades seven through 12 has decreased from 7 percent to 5 percent in three years, but it is still too high, he said. Twenty-four school systems in Virginia have a similar rate. The state average is 4 percent.

Harris said the school system also will expand programs that serve an increasing number of refugee children who are taking English as a second language.

The number of refugees has increased nearly tenfold in the past three years - from 23 in 1991-92 to 221 in the past year. The students represent more than 10 nationalities.

``This is a growing need that we must serve, and it is expected to continue increasing,'' he said.

A program for children who do not qualify for the federally funded preschool program will expand, too, Harris said. He said a program for 4-year-olds will begin this year at Wasena, Fishburn Park and Monterey elementary schools.

In the coming year, Harris said, the school system will have to cope with the financial pressures caused by a likely reduction in federal funds and the need to buy test materials - at a potential cost of $250,000 a year - for the state's new Standards of Learning.

Harris also announced the appointment of two new principals:

Gary Galbreath will become principal of Hurt Park Elementary, succeeding William Shepherd, who retired. Galbreath has been principal of Garden City Elementary.

Sharon Richardson becomes principal of Westside Elementary School, succeeding Linda Wright, who resigned to become principal of Penn Forest Elementary School in Roanoke County. Richardson has been principal of Preston Park Elementary School.

Harris said that Galbreath and Richardson applied for their positions. New principals will be announced for Garden City and Preston Park this week, he said.

At the board's annual reorganizational meeting, Nelson Harris was re-elected chairman and Marilyn Curtis was re-elected vice chairwoman. Harris, who recently was appointed to another three-year term, has been chairman for one year. There was no contest for either of the two posts.