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

DATE: THURSDAY, August 24, 1995                   TAG: 9508250018
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: S-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: FRANCES STEBBINS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ADVENTIST SCHOOL SAYS STUDENTS BENEFIT FROM EXTRA ATTENTION

And as a result of that growth, a ninth grade has been added this year for five students.

Twenty-four students were on the roll when Greve started at the school, formerly known as Oxford Avenue School, as an administrator and teacher in 1992.

When classes ended in May, Greve and three other staff members had 48 students. Fifty showed up for the fall term that started Monday.

Greve attributes the school's growth to several factors. Parents, he said, are increasingly concerned about their children's having a safe place to attend school. They also want solid values taught along with sound academics. In addition, many parents like the small classes that offer a family atmosphere.

Greve said, the school tries to keep tuition as low as possible. Although tuition is about 10 percent higher than when he came, Greve said he thinks it has leveled off at the $135 registration fee with 10 monthly payments of $159.50.

The school's governing board decided to increase tuition in the early 1990s when it started upgrading facilities. The two-story school building, attached to the Roanoke Seventh-day Adventist Church on Memorial Avenue Southwest, has had nine computers for children in kindergarten to the ninth grade.

This month, though, Greve learned that an $8,000 grant would make it possible to add at least five more computers, allowing nearly every child in the upper grades to use one simultaneously. His goal is to raise enough money to have a computer for each child.

Some church members have indicated they'll help him achieve that goal, he said.

Church members also are instrumental in helping the school maintain its annual $110,000 operating budget. An annual fruit sale before Christmas brings in about $40,000 to put toward expenses.

Greve, who also teaches the seventh, eighth and ninth grades, said a major strength of the Adventist school, which has operated since the 1930, is its small size. Though other schools in the valley offer specific religious instruction or are free to develop special programs, some are large enough for children to fall through the cracks, he said.

In a day when many children are being reared by one parent or guardian, going to a school where everyone knows each other and where classes have only about 10 pupils can be an advantage, said Randy Reece, a teacher.

The school, accredited by the denomination, is regularly examined by the church accrediting agency, Greve said. Virginia accredits it as a private school.

"The denomination nationally can kick us out if we fail to meet high standards for facilities, instruction or the church belief system," said the principal.

About 60 percent of those at the parochial school are members of one of the three Adventists congregations in the Roanoke Valley. Reece is a convert to the Adventist church while Greve, who came to Roanoke from Tennessee, has been in it all his 32 years.

Sometimes, Reese said, minority race children make up as much as 20 percent of the enrollment.

Following completion of the program at Roanoke Adventist Preparatory School, many youth enroll in a denominational senior high academy in New Market.

Roanoke Adventist Preparatory School is at 1716 Oxford Ave. The phone number is 342-1133.