Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 24, 1995 TAG: 9508250023
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-14 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Josh Fleisher lives in eastern Roanoke County, but he attends Fairview Elementary School in Northwest Roanoke.
Josh, 10, will be a fifth-grader this year at Fairview, a magnet school with a theme of plants and animals. He attended W.E. Cundiff Elementary School in the county for three years, but he switched to Fairview two years ago.
He was attracted to the magnet school because he likes animals. So does his brother, Andrew, who will be a second-grader at Fairview this year.
Josh had trouble with his grades at the Roanoke County school, but he makes A's and B's at Fairview, said his mother, Barbara.
"The magnet school has been good for both Josh and Andrew. The classes are smaller and they like the emphasis on animals and plants," she said.
Sarah Boyd, a fifth-grader, lives in Roanoke, but she goes to Mountain View Elementary School in Roanoke County.
Sarah would have attended Roundhill and Huff Lane schools if she had enrolled in the city. But her mother preferred Mountain View because she said that it offered more stability.
In Roanoke, Sarah would have gone to Roundhill until she completed the second grade and then she would have switched to Huff Lane.
Roundhill, a primary school, serves kindergarten through the second grade. Huff Lane has grades three through five.
"I didn't want her to have to change schools. I wanted the stability of an old-fashioned school," said Sarah's mother, Leigh.
Erin Gordon, 10, lives in Bedford County, but she attends the W. E. Cundiff Elementary School in Roanoke County because it is more convenient for her.
"The school is only two or three minutes from our house and I had heard excellent things about it," said Erin's mother, Carolyn.
By attending Roanoke County schools, Sarah will be able to go to William Byrd High School, which is five minutes from her home. She won't have to take a 25-minute bus ride to Staunton River High in Bedford County.
Nearly 1,450 children will cross jurisdictional boundaries in the valley this year to go to public schools outside their home localities for a variety of reasons.
Some are seeking specific academic and magnet programs. Others attend school outside their home locality because of convenience and child-care arrangements. Still others do it because they are unhappy in their home schools.
With the prospect of charter schools, vouchers and school choice becoming a hot issue, these students are already making a choice.
All three school systems in the valley have open enrollment policies of accepting children from other localities when space is available.
Roanoke County educates nearly 750 students who live in other jurisdictions in the valley or surrounding counties. Roanoke has nearly 360 students from other localities, and Salem has 340.
Roanoke County and Salem reject some applications from students outside their boundaries because they don't have the space. Roanoke has been able to accommodate most applications from nonresidents.
"We have to deny more than we accept at some grade levels and schools," said Deanna Gordon, Roanoke County superintendent.
Deana Gordon, Roanoke County superintendent of schools, said that many people from surrounding counties who work in the Roanoke Valley want to enroll their children in Roanoke County schools.
"We get them from Montgomery, Bedford and Franklin counties and other places. For many, it is a matter of convenience in child care," she said.
"It has gotten to the point that we don't have space in some cases," said Wayne Tripp, Salem school superintendent. "We have a school system that people want to get into. It is a point of pride."
Tripp said the nonresidents add diversity to Salem schools and strengthen academic programs in some cases. Salem has attracted top students from other school systems to its International Baccalaureate program.
Roanoke's magnet schools attract students from a wide area: they come from Bedford, Botetourt, Franklin, Montgomery and Roanoke counties.
Magnet schools are federally funded programs designed to promote voluntary desegregation in Roanoke through innovative instructional programming. Magnet schools are organized around a theme, such as space travel, and have the latest in educational technology.
Roanoke Superintendent Wayne Harris said many students from other localities want to take advantage of the magnet offerings.
Sandra Burks, interim director of magnet programs, said many students from outside Roanoke are interested in the technology curriculum at some schools. Others want to take courses in the performing arts, she said.
Racial guidelines and space determine whether the city can accept a nonresident, said Sandra Burks, interim director of magnet programs. The goal is to balance the enrollment in the schools to reflect the school system's racial breakdown of 60 percent white and 40 percent black students.
The students have to provide their own transportation when they attend schools in another locality, but they don't have to pay tuition.
Roanoke County and Salem charge a $100 administrative fee and registration to cover the paperwork cost for processing a student's application and enrollment.
Roanoke has a $25 registration fee for students outside the city who attend a magnet school.
Except for the registration fee, the nonresidents are treated like all other students financially.
The school systems receive state aid for nonresidents, which is about $2,500 per pupil a year. The state money goes wherever the students attend school.
"This ensures that Roanoke County taxpayers don't have to subsidize the education of students from other localities," said Gordon.
If they have space and don't have to hire more teachers, school divisions can benefit financially from non-residents, said Richard Kelley, assistant superintendent for operations for Roanoke.
"So long as you have the space in classrooms for additional students, it is an advantage to attract more students," he said.
Books and other supplies cost only about $100 for a student, but the school system receives about $2,500 in state aid, he said.
In addition to the children who cross boundaries, another 1,000 students in Roanoke exercise choice by attending magnet schools outside the district for their home schools.
Among those is Greg Overholser, an eighth-grader at the Addison Aerospace Magnet School. Greg lives in Raleigh Court, but he has attended magnet schools since he was in kindergarten because his family believes they have more to offer than regular schools.
Greg attended the Highland Park magnet school through the fifth grade. He then enrolled at Addison because it has an accelerated academic program for middle school students and an aerospace theme.
Academics aren't the only reason that he attends Addison.
"It's not just the programs, but I favor him being exposed to people from all races, economic and social backgrounds and other parts of the city," said Greg's mother, Kathy.
Burks said there are hundreds of similar cases throughout the city in which students choose to attend magnet schools outside the attendance areas for their home schools.
Harris said there is a myth that many children are leaving Roanoke to attend private schools and nearby school schools. But he said the facts don't support the perception.
"We take in more with the magnet schools than we lose," said Richard Kelley, assistant superintendent for operations for Roanoke.
by CNB