Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 10, 1995 TAG: 9511100064
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Kitchens and schools sell houses, Kit Hale says.
If the wife doesn't love the kitchen, the family won't buy the house, he says. And if the parents and children don't like the neighborhood schools, they'll look elsewhere.
That is happening less often in Roanoke than it did a few years ago, says Hale, a real estate agent.
Schools are helping to sell more houses as more people become aware of the facilities and programs that are offered now, he said Thursday. "City schools have regained a lot of ground in the past five years."
For many years, Roanoke County schools had a reputation for being better, he said, adding that some home buyers had concerns about inner-city schools.
Karen Recknor, a real estate broker and appraiser, said the city's schools have become an asset in helping to close sales.
"I'm impressed with what city schools have to offer," Recknor said. "A lot of people are now interested in attending them."
Superintendent Wayne Harris and other officials showed off four schools Thursday to real estate agents, brokers and others in the real estate industry.
The semiannual tour, which Harris started when he became superintendent three years ago, is designed to help agents become more familiar with school facilities and programs.
They visited Woodrow Wilson Middle, Wasena Elementary, Round Hill Primary and Huff Lane Intermediate schools.
Anne Trout said the city's renovation of such neighborhood schools as Wasena has helped attract home buyers.
"Everybody wants good neighborhood schools so their children can walk to school," said Trout, a real estate agent. The city is taking the right approach in revitalizing older neighborhood schools, she said.
Donna Hamner, another agent, said the renovated elementary schools are impressive. The remodeled buildings and new educational technology are magnificent, she said, but she is equally impressed with the teachers, principals and atmosphere in the schools.
The city's enrollment is growing faster than Roanoke County's, a trend that Harris attributes to the variety of programs offered by city schools.
The magnet schools get the most attention, but Harris said many other schools have high-quality academic programs that are less well-known.
At Woodrow Wilson Middle, 42 percent of eighth-graders take Spanish. One-third of eighth-graders are enrolled in either algebra or geometry. Thirty percent of the school's seventh-graders scored in the top 3 percent of students nationally on a Johns Hopkins University standardized test of academic potential.
Principal Kay Duffy said Woodrow Wilson has a diverse student population with a veteran faculty that has a low turnover rate. The school, scheduled to be renovated in two years, will get many new facilities, she said.
Eighth-graders Rebecca Zayas and Catherine Jordan were among the students who showed off Woodrow Wilson to the real estate agents.
Jordan said students like the school's Spanish program. She is in her third year of the language, having begun in the sixth grade. Duffy said the school has focused on Spanish because Hispanics will be the largest minority in this country by early next century.
At Wasena, Principal Roger Magerkurth said he's convinced that the renovated school will help attract home buyers to the neighborhood. The school has a sophisticated computer network that will give pupils access to the library's files from computers in their classrooms.
Magerkuth said he tries to market the school just as the real estate agents do.
"If I can convince parents to like the schools, they will buy houses and move into the neighborhood," he said. "That will make the neighborhood stronger and produce more support for the schools."
At Huff Lane Intermediate, the real estate agents visited one of the city's newest magnet schools. Huff Lane is a "microvillage" where each child can learn social, career and life skills. The school is designed to model a small-town atmosphere. Each child selects a job, and learns skills that are needed in that vocation.
Roanoke has received $19 million in federal grants for magnet schools in the past decade. School officials said 44 percent of the city's students are enrolled in magnet programs. "This is not an elitist program," said Lissy Runyon, community relations supervisor.
Harris said diversity and choice in educational programs are the school system's strengths. He urged the real estate agents to help destroy the myth about poor schools in the city.
Said Harris: "Come and visit us at any time. See for yourselves."
by CNB