ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, August 19, 1996 TAG: 9608190102
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
THOUGH ADVERTISEMENTS for magnet schools in Roanoke tout their benefits, concerns about their race-based enrollment policy linger.
Third-grader Joshua Ball has tried to get more children to attend the Lincoln Terrace Saturn Network School in Roanoke. In recent weeks, he has appeared on billboards and in newspaper ads to recruit pupils for the magnet elementary school.
"This fall, I'll e-mail my friends in Spain, research dinosaurs on line and learn my multiplication tables," Ball said in the ad, as he sat at a computer, preparing to click his mouse.
Jenny Wright, mayor of the student government at Huff Lane MicroVillage, has appeared in similar ads aimed at persuading more children to come to her magnet school.
"Today, I called an emergency city council meeting, gave a speech and only missed one on my math test," Wright said.
The ads have worked. The enrollment at both schools is nearing capacity for the fall term. Huff Lane will have 255 pupils; Lincoln Terrace, 335.
Yet, even as the Roanoke school system tries to recruit more children for some magnet schools, it rejects applications to others for racial reasons.
Jasmine Gunn, a biracial child, has been denied admission to Forest Park New American School because school officials said she would increase the racial imbalance at the school. Nearly 89 percent of Forest Park's pupils are black. (Magnet regulations classify children as either minority or nonminority; as a biracial child, Gunn is counted as a minority.)
School officials have not tabulated the number of race-based application denials. Overall, 65 percent of black children and 35 percent of white children in the school system attend magnet schools.
Children who live within the attendance zone of a magnet school can attend that school regardless of race, but they can be denied admission to another magnet school if their presence would increase the racial imbalance.
School officials said they see no inconsistency in trying to recruit children for some magnet schools while rejecting applications at others.
The magnet schools are part of Roanoke's voluntary desegregation effort. The goal is to attract white students to predominantly black schools by establishing innovative educational programs at the schools. Federal guidelines require the city to try to achieve a 60-40 white-black balance in magnet schools to help desegregate the school system, which is 40 percent black.
School officials have been trying to recruit mostly white children for Huff Lane and Lincoln Terrace. Unlike some magnet schools, where more than 70 percent of the students are black, the enrollments at Huff Lane and Lincoln Terrace were nearly balanced racially during the past year.
At Huff Lane, the racial breakdown was 49.5 percent white, 47.9 percent black and 2.6 percent other minorities. At Lincoln Terrace, it was 51.7 percent black, 47 percent white and 1.3 percent other minorities.
Sandra Burks, director of magnet programs, said the advertisements are designed partly to publicize Huff Lane and Lincoln Terrace because they are the city's newest magnet schools, and federal funds are available for the ads. The ads are designed to make parents aware of the magnet schools and the programs that are offered, she said.
Burks said the ad campaign has been successful because many parents like the educational programs at the two schools. Huff Lane's magnet concept is built on the theme of the working world: The pupils operate their own economy and assume vocational roles. Lincoln Terrace's curriculum focuses on technology and communication skills.
School officials said Gunn, who will be in kindergarten, was denied admission to Forest Park because the school's enrollment is predominantly black and it is seeking white students to achieve a more acceptable racial balance. They say federal guidelines prohibit them from admitting students that widen the racial gap.
Gunn, who lives in Northwest Roanoke, will have to attend either Roanoke Academy for Mathematics & Science, a magnet school in Northwest Roanoke, or Fishburn Park Elementary, a magnet school in Southwest Roanoke. She lives in Roanoke Academy's attendance zone. Her mother said she's not interested in sending her daughter to Fishburn Park.
Burks said most of the city's 12 magnet schools will be at capacity this fall, with openings at only a few schools.
Meanwhile, Roanoke soon may receive federal funds for the first time for Fishburn Park, a locally funded magnet school.
Fishburn Park has not been eligible for federal money because it is in a majority-white neighborhood and fewer than half of its children are black.
Under the federal guidelines, funds were not available for schools such as Fishburn Park. The school's racial breakdown is 62.4 percent white, 33.1 percent black and 4.5 percent other minorities.
But Congress has approved a program that allows a portion of the magnet money to be used for schools that do not otherwise meet the magnet guidelines.
"The main purpose is to develop innovative instructional programs, and Fishburn Park was a good match for that," Burks said.
Superintendent Wayne Harris said the city is seeking $500,000 for the Fishburn Park program. The money would be used to strengthen the curriculum and purchase equipment and supplies. It also would finance a longer school year for children who are not working up to their ability, he said.
"This would be a real boon for Fishburn Park, and the principal and others at the school support it," Harris said.
The School Board has passed a resolution reaffirming its commitment to the desegregation of city schools, as required as part of the funding application. School officials will be required to develop a plan to publicize the Fishburn Park program and to try to preserve its racial balance.
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