THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 26, 1994 TAG: 9406240230
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940626 LENGTH: Medium
A new sport is on the way for Virginia Beach high schools.
{REST} The School Board voted unanimously to begin competitive swim clubs at high schools in the new school year as precursors to a full-fledged varsity swimming program in 1995-96.
Surveys by schools officials showed that one-fourth of female and one-fifth of male students were interested in competitive swimming.
Of 3,979 girls surveyed at the city's nine high schools, 999 were partial to the sport. Of the 3,730 boys surveyed, 782 responded favorably to a swimming program.
A club also would be started at the city's 10th high school, Ocean Lakes High, set to open in the coming school year.
Michelle Hollowell, 16, a rising senior at Salem High who spoke at Tuesday night's board meeting, said a varsity swimming program should be started immediately in 1994-95 school year.
``Swimming is a wonderful sport,'' she said.
But Superintendent Sidney L. Faucette said the school system needs a year of planning to set up the program.
To Hollowell, School Board Member Joseph Taylor said: ``I know you're anxious to see it come on board, because you only have one more year. Unfortunately, at this point, I think it would not be prudent to bring it in fully as a varsity sport right away.''
Taking the lead
When Gov. George Allen and his staff at the state Department of Education begin developing proposals to revamp education in Virginia, the Beach school system will be working alongside them.
K. Edwin Brown, assistant superintendent for instruction, announced Tuesday that the school system had been chosen to take the lead in revising state standards for language arts.
Beach schools won the honor over about 59 other systems that had expressed interest in leading the effort to improve language arts instruction.
With the honor comes a $50,000 grant to pay for the work.
In July, Brown and other school officials will visit five different areas around the state to hear people's suggestions for retooling language arts. In August, Virginia Beach will be host to a two-day workshop for other school districts that are interested in providing input.
Allen and his staff are expected to present final proposals to the state Board of Education late this year or in early 1995. Eventually, the General Assembly will have to approve them.
Healthy habit
Hearing the annual report of the School Health Advisory Board is becoming a healthy habit for School Board members.
The advisory board's report, delivered at Tuesday's meeting, detailed activities during the past year that were aimed at promoting student health.
The board, for example, distributed a video and a skills checklist to every school designed to train a ``principal's designee'' to administer medication to students when the school nurse is absent.
The board also is developing a ``severity index'' to gauge the health needs of students at each school. Such a tool could determine how many nurses or aides are assigned to the schools. That number now is based on enrollment.
Warren Sachs, a Virginia Beach dentist who heads the health advisory board, said the city could become the first in the state to have such a severity index.
The board also is monitoring efforts by the Virginia High School League to draft guidelines to control rapid weight fluctuations in student athletes. Dramatic weight changes sometimes occur in wrestlers who starve themselves to meet weight requirements for competitive matches, Sachs said.
by CNB