ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 16, 1997 TAG: 9702140002
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
AT Addison Middle School, the students don't have to look Neil Armstrong up in the library. They know he was the first man to walk on the moon because they study about astronauts, rockets and space technology every day. Many hope to become astronauts themselves.
Addison is one of Roanoke's 12 magnet schools with particular themes that are designed to attract students with special interests and talents. The school has its own simulated space center where students can learn what it's like to take a space flight.
The main purpose of the magnet schools is to promote voluntary desegregation by allowing students to cross their home school boundaries to improve the racial balance in schools. They're also designed to provide diverse and high-quality education programs to improve the academic performance of all students in them.
Since 1987, 40 percent of Roanoke's schools have become part of the magnet program started by former Superintendent Frank Tota. Nearly 6,100 students, or 46 percent of Roanoke's enrollment, attend a magnet school.
Like regular schools, magnets have their own attendance zones. All students who live within the zones can attend the school, along with those who are admitted from outside the zones.
Sixty-seven percent of all students in magnet schools this year are black. Most of the schools have been established in schools that have historically had a black majority enrollment, like Addison.
This year, nearly 800 students cross their home school boundaries to attend magnet schools. They come from both inside the city and nearby localities.
Another 277 students wanted to attend the specialized schools this year but were denied admission because of racial guidelines, lack of space or other reasons.
Because of federal guidelines, school officials can't admit students to magnet schools that widen the racial imbalance. As a result, school officials have rejected many black applications because most magnet schools have a black majority enrollment.
This has created a paradox: schools that were established to reduce racial isolation reject many applicants because of race.
This has upset some black parents, even though two-thirds of magnet students are minorities.
"Magnet schools have helped with integration, but they've created some ill will in the community because students are vying for spaces and some decisions are based on race," said Melinda Payne, a School Board member. "They've helped, but they've created problems, too."
Sandra Burks, director of magnet schools for the city, admits the racial guidelines for admission are a downside of the program. But the benefits in improving racial balance and providing more educational opportunities for students outweigh the drawbacks, she said.
Superintendent Wayne Harris, who succeeded Tota in 1993, has embraced the magnet concept and established two more magnet schools: Huff Lane and Lincoln Terrace.
The federal government provides $110 million annually for the magnet program. School districts nationwide compete for the funds. Roanoke is one of a handful of localities to have received multiple grants.
Nationwide, 3,000 magnet schools have been established. More than 1.5 million students now attend magnet schools, according to a U.S. Department of Education report, but not all the schools were financed with federal grants.
Nationally, magnet schools were developed as an alternative to forced busing; in many cases, they were developed to satisfy court desegregation orders. There was no court order in Roanoke when magnet schools were started, but school officials were concerned about the growing racial imbalance at some schools.
The city's enrollment is 41 percent black, but the minority enrollment at some schools was 90 percent or higher when the magnet program began.
Over the past decade, the city has received nearly $20 million in federal grants to create magnet schools at the elementary, middle and high school level.
Roanoke has the most extensive magnet program in Virginia. Lynchburg has two federally funded magnet schools. Alexandria has one.
Neither Norfolk nor Richmond has federally financed magnet schools, but they have several that are financed with local funds. Norfolk did not qualify for federal magnet funds because it ended its crosstown busing to achieve integration. Richmond was ineligible because the courts have said
that there is no evidence of a segregated school system.
Roanoke has spent about 60 percent of its federal magnet money on technology - ranging from the space center at Addison and a television-production studio at Ruffner Middle School to an on-line computer center at Lincoln Terrace Elementary - and technology at the magnet schools has proved to be a strong attraction for students.
Some people question whether the magnet schools' original purpose of improving racial balance has been forgotten or obscured in the zeal for the new technology and educational programs.
Several magnet schools offer high-tech programs that Harris and others frequently cite as evidence of the high quality of Roanoke's school system.
City officials use the magnet schools to help market the school system to some prospective businesses and industries.
School officials said magnet students have different abilities and needs, despite a public perception that the schools attract mainly bright students.
Magnet students are required to take the same core curriculum as regular students. The specialized courses and programs are an added feature. Depending on the school, students can add space exploration, communications, performing arts, ecology or other subjects to their basic studies.
Harris said magnet schools offer educational opportunities that are unavailable in other public schools in the region. The magnet schools have improved the education for all students in them, whatever their race, because of the innovative programs and technology, he said.
Standardized test scores have either improved or remained the same at 11 of the 12 magnet schools, Harris said.
"The magnet schools have been good for the city," said School Board member Marilyn Curtis, a strong supporter.
"We've been able to do a lot of things that we couldn't have afforded if we hadn't received the money," said board member Charles Day, a retired principal, teacher and coach in city schools.
Magnet schools provide not only a good academic program for students, but they give them confidence and self-esteem, said Mary Jo Thompson, who has a daughter at Addison Middle and a son at Westside Elementary.
"Not every student is good in math, English and science, but they can find something at a magnet school they they can succeed in," she said.
School officials are studying the possibility of seeking additional federal grants to establish more magnet schools.
The racial balance has improved at William Fleming High, Ruffner Middle School, Addison Middle, Fairview Elementary and several other magnet schools. But there has been little change in racial isolation at some schools, notably Forest Park Elementary, Westside Elementary and Roanoke Academy for Mathematics and Science.
In keeping within racial guidelines, school officials try to recruit students to magnet schools to improve racial balance if space is available.
The federal government's general goal for racial balance in magnet schools is 50 percent white and 50 percent black or other minorities, said Stephanie Stullich, a magnet analyst with the U.S. Department of Education.
But the goal is sometimes impractical or difficult to reach because of the racial breakdown of a school division's overall enrollment and other factors. If a locality has a high or low minority enrollment, a 50-50 split would be impossible, Stullich said.
The goals for balance in individual magnet schools are established when federal grants are awarded.
Stullich, who helped conduct a recent nationwide study of magnet schools, said only about half of them met their desegregation objectives by the end of the first two years after receiving grant funds.
Roanoke's record has been similar, although nine of the city's 12 magnet schools have shown some improvement in racial balance.
The national study did not track the schools' record in reducing, eliminating or preventing racial isolation after the first two years. There are no penalties for schools that fail to meet the goals.
Susan Black, an education research consultant, said several studies have documented the effectiveness of magnet schools in reducing racial isolation and providing high-quality education programs.
In a recent article titled "The Pull of Magnets" for the American School Board Journal, Black cited one study showing that magnet students are more likely to finish high school than those in other schools.
Some critics complain that magnet schools benefit only part of the students in a locality and improve racial balance only in some schools.
Kaye Hale, a Roanoke parent with a son in a magnet school, contends that the city is discriminating against black students because some don't have the same opportunity as white students to attend magnet schools.
Hale, who is white, has filed a complaint with Civil Rights Office of the U.S. Department of Education, charging that Roanoke does not offer the same choices to black students as whites. The agency is investigating the complaint.
The enrollment at nearly a dozen nonmagnet schools in Roanoke is more than 70 percent white. Hale argues that the city should try to improve racial balance in these schools by attracting more black students to them.
"If we are truly trying to achieve racial balance, why aren't Raleigh Court, Grandin Court, Virginia Heights, Wasena and Crystal Spring [elementary] schools being selected as magnet schools to create racial balance?" she asked.
City school officials said no federal money has been available to establish magnet programs in schools with a predominantly white enrollment.
But Stullich said federal funds can be provided under certain circumstances.
Few magnet programs have been established nationwide with federal funds in schools with a majority white enrollment, she said. Only about 2 percent of magnet schools fit in this category.
Roanoke has two magnet schools in white neighborhoods, Fishburn Park Elementary and James Madison Middle School. The city recruits black students to these schools.
Thirty-five percent of Fishburn Park's enrollment and 22 percent of Madison's is black.
These magnet schools were financed with local funds and they are not bound by the same racial admissions guidelines as the federally funded schools.
Roanoke also buses several hundred children from predominantly black neighborhoods to schools with a high percentage of white students, such as Crystal Spring and Grandin Court. School officials said the magnet program is designed to supplement the busing plan and help produce better racial balance in schools.
Curtis said there has been no campaign in the black community for magnet programs to be established in predominantly white schools.
But Hale believes the city should be doing more to achieve full integration at all schools, not just those in black neighborhoods.
The real reason the city has not created more magnet programs in predominantly white schools, she believes, is that white parents would oppose them.
LENGTH: Long : 199 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: CINDY PINKSTON/Staff. 1. Sixth-graders (from left) Bethby CNBKraterfield, Jacqueline Vines, Anthony Hughes-Jackson and Jameaka
Barnhill conduct experiments at Addison Aerospace Magnet School's
space laboratory. color. 2. Sixth-grader Quiana Parker, 11, a pupil
at Addison Aerospace Magnet School, and Meredith Stafford, 11,
monitor water, temperature and humidity in space from Mission
Control, a simulated command center. Graphic: Map by staff. color.
Chart by staff: Roanoke Magnet Schools. color. KEYWORDS: MGR