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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 11, 1995                   TAG: 9510110100
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BOARD MEMBER CALLS FOR MORE STAFF DIVERSITY IN SCHOOLS

However, only 15.4 percent of the city's teachers and school administrators are minority members.

School Board member Melinda Payne said Tuesday night that the gap needs to be narrowed and the school system needs to become more aggressive in recruiting minorities.

"Maybe we need to do more advertising, to be recruiting and planning ahead when we know that we've got retirements coming up," Payne said.

"You can't tell me that the people are not out there," she said. "Everybody says that we should diversify the staff, but I want to see results."

Faye Pleasants, executive for human resources for the schools, told the board that the percentage of minorities in the administrative and teaching staff has remained about the same for the past three years despite efforts to achieve more diversity.

Pleasants said some minorities have retired as others have been hired, making it harder for the school system to increase the percentage. The teaching staff also has been increased, and this has been another factor in the percentage of minorities remaining about the same, Pleasants said.

"I want to make sure that we are doing everything that we can to attract more diversity," Payne said. "Children want teachers who are like them."

Payne said the city needs more Asian and Hispanic teachers as well as blacks.

Payne asked what the school system is doing to recruit minorities.

Pleasant said recruiters visit predominantly black colleges and universities and advertise openings.

The school system also has a summer intern program for minorities training to be teachers, she said, and a cooperative program with Virginia Tech for training minority students to become teachers.

And Pleasants said the city has developed a program with Roanoke College to help minority teaching assistants and paraprofessionals get their degrees and teaching certificates.

She said the number of minority applicants is increasing as a result of the recruitment efforts.

"We are committed to provide a work force representative of the rich diversity of our student population and our city," Pleasants said.

She said the school system hired 15 new black teachers this year and three Hispanic-Americans. Two new black administrators also were hired.

Payne said the school system's first goal should be a teaching and administrative staff that includes approximately 25 percent minorities to reflect the city population. Later, it might want to seek a diversity reflecting the student enrollment, she said.

Pleasants said by the 1998-99 year the school system has minority staffing goals of 20 percent for teachers; 25 percent for central administrative staff; 30 percent for principals; and 34 percent for assistant principals.

Reporting on the gender of the 1,172-member professional staff, she told the board that 77.6 percent are women and 22.4 percent are men.

But less than 10 percent of the elementary teachers are males. Nine new male elementary teachers were hired this year.

Approximately half of the school system's administrators are men.

Pleasants said the city hired 109 new teachers and administrators this year. Forty-five percent of them have master's degrees, she said.

Pleasants also gave the board an overview of the pupil-teacher ratios and staffing in city schools showing that the city's ratios in almost all cases are substantially below state-mandated standards.

Pupil-teacher ratios average 18.1-to-1 in high schools, 18.3-to-1 in middle schools and 19-to-1 in elementary schools, she said.

While the city's average ratios are well within the state requirements, she said, a small number of classes have a higher ratio than desirable. Adjustments have been made and teachers have been moved to reduce class sizes in most cases, and teaching assistants and paraprofessionals have been added at some elementary schools to provide assistance in larger classes, she said.