ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 16, 1997 TAG: 9702140004
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: 6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
With a curriculum that emphasizes environmental education, Fishburn Park Elementary is Roanoke's most popular magnet school, both in the number of magnet students from outside its attendance zone and the percentage of its enrollment.
Forty percent of the school's enrollment of 355 this year comes from outside the neighborhood. The school's 149 magnet pupils include 26 from outside the city.
Fourth-grader Daryl Porter said he loves Fishburn Park because the entire campus is his classroom.
"We get to go outside a lot and do experiments and other things," said Daryl, who lives in Roanoke County. "We can go to the pond and other places on the campus."
The children at Fishburn Park have their own greenhouse, wetland pond, outdoor learning labs, bird habitat and parking lot zoo.
They have an environmental education program that incorporates ecological issues into all of their basic subjects, including English, math, science and social studies.
Fishburn Park was Roanoke's first magnet school. It was established two decades ago with a back-to-basics theme, but the curriculum was broadened nearly 10 years ago to include the environment.
The magnet school was financed with local funds because it is located in Southwest Roanoke with a majority white enrollment. It does not fit the pattern of most federally funded magnet schools in Northwest Roanoke, which have historically had black-majority enrollments.
Fishburn Park's enrollment this year is 61 percent white, 35 percent black, and 4 percent other minorities.
The school has attracted many blacks from both inside and outside the city, and they have helped improve its racial balance.
Magnet schools that specialize in the environment, animals, plants, technology and performing arts have the most appeal to students.
"It's easier to recruit students to schools that have a clearly defined theme such as plants and animals," said Sandra Burks, director of the city's magnet schools. "It's more difficult to recruit to some schools where the magnet theme is not as clear."
In terms of the number of students from outside its attendance zone, the second most popular magnet school is Fairview Elementary, which has a plants-and-animals theme.
Fairview, a federally funded magnet school in Northwest Roanoke, has 136 magnet pupils this year, or nearly 27 percent of its enrollment. The school has a 62 percent black enrollment, but it has attracted many white pupils, including 15 from outside the city.
William Fleming High is the third most popular magnet school, with 104 students from outside its attendance zone this year. The school has magnet centers for the performing arts, global studies, science and engineering.
About $10 million in federal grant funds have been spent in the past decade for computers, high-tech labs, airplanes, performing arts studios and other facilities at the combined magnet center for William Fleming and William Ruffner Middle School.
The offerings include aeronautics, computer science, architectural engineering design, commercial art and television video production.
Forest Park, which has a magnet theme that focuses on communication skills and technology, has only eight pupils from outside its attendance zone this year. Roanoke Academy, which features a hands-on approach to science, mathematics and the teaching of foreign languages beginning in kindergarten, has 19 magnet pupils.
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