ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, October 15, 1996 TAG: 9610150088
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
One local black leader hopes a meeting tonight with the Montgomery County School Board will be a beginning.
The Rev. John Price, chairman of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the meeting should be one of many to explore issues related to minorities in county schools.
Price requested the meeting after Lenny Sessions, a Blacksburg Middle School assistant principal, was moved to an office overseeing drop out prevention throughout the county.
That removed the last black principal in the county. Several residents have spoken out against the few number of blacks who hold licensed positions, such as teachers or guidance counselors. Of the 833 licensed school employees, 25 are black.
Price said two or three other members of the NAACP executive committee will join him in speaking with the board. Minority hires will be just one of many topics addressed by the group, Price said, though he declined to elaborate.
"There are lots of problems that we see going on in the school system," he said. "We see this as a beginning of many discussions."
After the hour-long meeting, the board will also address:
* Blacksburg Middle School. The board previously voted to build a new school on a new site. But during a joint meeting with the Board of Supervisors two weeks ago, supervisors sent a clear message that they didn't want the school to leave its downtown location.
The School Board is left to decide between renovating the present, 40-year-old building or tearing it down and starting anew.
* A verification study for the school-building plan.
In July, school administrators said the original report, produced by Kinsey-Shane & Associates of Salem, incorrectly reported the acreage of Blacksburg Middle School. The School Board requested and received $30,000 from the Board of Supervisors to have Mills, Oliver & Webb Inc. of Blacksburg check the facts and assumptions in the building plan, which maps out school needs for the next 20 years.
LENGTH: Short : 45 linesby CNB