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

DATE: TUESDAY, August 15, 1995                   TAG: 9508150107
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DUBLIN                                 LENGTH: Medium

SYMBOLS OF OFFICE GREET NEW PCHS PRINCIPAL ON HIS 1ST DAY|

Kelly and his wife had come to the school Saturday to move his belongings from three doors down the hall, where he had been an assistant principal since 1991. But "gremlins," he said, beat them to it. "They'd already moved me."

Brightly colored balloons proclaimed congratulations. The skull of a cow, horse or some large animal was meant to provide him with enough "correction" bones to get him through September. (At Virginia Military Institute, where he earned a biology degree in 1971, being put on report for some infraction was called "being boned"; as chairman of Pulaski County High's science department from 1974 until he became assistant principal, Kelly used the expression occasionally.)

As for the slightly worn Columbus statue, it has been around since the school opened in 1974. "It may have just come with the building," Kelly said.

The first principal, Dewey Wilson, displayed it prominently. Tom DeBolt, who succeeded him in 1991 and became superintendent for Manassas Park city schools this summer, did not care for it but never managed to get rid of it. He found it strapped into a seat belt in his vehicle when he left, but declined the gift and left it for his successor.

It was "alive and well when I got here Saturday," Kelly said.

A banner proclaimed "Congratulations Capt. Kelly," recalling his 16 years with the Army Reserve. "They started calling me that when I was chairman of the science department," he said. "Looks like they've reverted back to it."

Kelly wants the school is to be a leader in technology within four years, with the upgrading of science laboratories and computer networking of school departments. That will require more of the intensive staff training and development that has been pushed throughout the system in recent years.

The school is in the second year of restructuring its science program. "I look for that to be pretty well on line by the end of this year. Then we'll branch out into other areas," Kelly said.

Within five years, he said, he anticipates students learning more from computer-generated material than textbooks.

"When I came through, the new technology was a hand-held calculator. When I was at VMI, I used a slide rule," he recalled.

Also new this year is a service learning elective, with students performing community service in agencies such as rescue squads, fire departments and hospital candy stripers. Seventeen students have signed up so far.

One elementary school has already asked if some of those students would work as tutors. "We're probably among the first to actually put it into the curriculum," Kelly said.

Kelly plans to continue the block scheduling for classes started under DeBolt. "I don't anticipate any major changes," he said.

"I feel real strongly about a transitional program from the middle schools into the high school," he said. A preliminary program along that line called "New Beginnings" will start this year.

Another initiative will be interdisciplinary classes: teachers will have common planning periods for subjects like world geography and earth science. During those periods, they can arrange their material so lessons in one class will relate to lessons in another.

"We're just kind of experimenting," Kelly said. "There's a lot of overlap and the research shows that kids learn better when they see a connection between the disciplines."

Kelly is a graduate of Pulaski High School, the countywide school's predecessor. He has a master's degree from Radford University in secondary school administration and has done post-graduate work at Virginia Tech.