Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 22, 1995 TAG: 9509220058
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
They have formed a team to contact the students to see if they plan to return to school this year. They don't know whether the children have moved or whether they have decided to drop out of school.
Enrollment at Fleming the first week of school was nearly 200 below the projected 1,560 students.
Superintendent Wayne Harris told the School Board last week that school officials were puzzled by that.
Enrollment at Patrick Henry High and most other city schools is close to - or above - projections, Harris said.
During the first month after school opens, enrollment often increases because some students don't show up during the first week, he said.
But school officials are looking at the reasons for the Fleming situation, even though they expect some students to return by the end of the month, Harris said.
They have found that nearly 50 of the missing students are enrolled in the alternative education program at the Noel C. Taylor Learning Academy.
In the past, alternative education students have been counted in the enrollments at William Fleming and Patrick Henry, said David Partington Jr., director of secondary education for the school system.
Some of the students had been included in William Fleming's projected enrollment for this year.
But alternative education students will be counted on the rolls of the Taylor Academy beginning this year and won't be included in the numbers for the high schools, Partington said.
The city has established a separate student enrollment and accounting system for the Taylor Academy as part of an effort to get the school accredited by the state.
Still, that leaves 150 expected William Fleming students unaccounted for. "We're down 150 at William Fleming now and we've got a team looking for the no-shows," Partington said.
The team hopes to contact most of the students by Sept. 30, when the official enrollment count for the year will be taken, he said.
The biggest potential problem for the school system is the loss of about $210,000 in state funds if the students do not return. The city receives about $1,400 per pupil in basic state aid for education.
Partington said that the lower enrollment wouldn't cause any significant problems in staffing or scheduling of courses.
"Since the students would be spread out in a lot of classes, you just might have a few less students in some classes, but I don't think there would be any pulling of staff," Partington said.
School officials said the enrollment was close to projections in most city schools, but they are still working on an overall count. The projected enrollment was 12,895.
Roanoke County and Salem report small increases in their enrollments this year. Roanoke County's enrollment is 13,739, up from 13,687 last year. In Salem, the student count is 3,800, an increase of 52 over last year.
The biggest increase in Western Virginia was recorded by Bedford County, which gained 400 students. The enrollment in Bedford County, one of the fastest-growing localities in Western Virginia, is 9,889.
Montgomery County, another growing locality, had the second largest increase - 207 students. Its enrollment is 8,955.
Botetourt County gained 82 students and enrolled 4,490. Pulaski County's enrollment increased by 25 to 5,152.
by CNB