ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, October 4, 1996 TAG: 9610040024
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-10 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: DUBLIN
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
Can there be two Southwest Virginia Governor's Schools in Western Virginia?
The Southwest Virginia Governor's School has been in business on the Pulaski County High School campus since 1990, bringing commuting juniors and seniors from this county and others for half-day classes in advanced mathematics, science and technology.
Now Margaret "Pat" Duncan, the school's director, is getting all kinds of inquiries about this Southwest Virginia Virtual Governor's School proposed by the Commission on the Future of Southwest Virginia, a group organized by Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, which met last month at Virginia Tech.
That proposed virtual school is a different thing. If it came into being as recommended by the commission, it would use fiber-optic technology to televise classes to students in their home schools.
The existing Governor's School board decided this week to contact Boucher and commission representatives to see if they might call the proposed virtual Governor's School something else, to avoid confusion, virtual or otherwise. The board will also ask if there are ways in which it can cooperate with the goals of the virtual school.
Meanwhile, in another matter, an education foundation made up of student parents and other school supporters will seek tax-deductible contributions from businesses to supplement the school's funding.
There are some shortfalls in tuition payments where school divisions are allowed to send more than their quota of students, to make up numbers when other school divisions send fewer students than they are allowed. There are also student trips to competitions, science fairs, engineering fairs and similar activities for which no money is allocated.
"The very life of this institution is going to depend on additional funding. We're not going to get it from the state, and local governments are strapped," said Pulaski County Superintendent Bill Asbury.
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