THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 21, 1994 TAG: 9407210516
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
Superintendent Sidney L. Faucette this week announced a new procedure for planning the construction of schools.
A committee of School Board members and administrators will review all architectural plans before new schools are built. The committee previously was charged only with interviewing architects before they were hired to design school construction projects.
The announcement came a month after reports surfaced that one school official, without the knowledge of Faucette or the School Board, approved a $42,151 electronic flagpole mounted atop a high school scheduled to open this fall.
The flagpole prompted criticism from City Council members, who later were asked to approve $1.7 million to cover cost overruns at the high school and a middle school, also scheduled to open this fall.
Andrew T. Carrington, the assistant superintendent who Faucette said approved the flagpole, is no longer with the school system. The School Board voted in November not to renew his contract, for reasons that were not divulged.
But some board members suggested the process for planning construction projects needed to be tightened.
Faucette has said that, in the past, he and the board did not routinely scrutinize plans for construction projects. That job was left to Carrington and his assistants.
Faucette said the committee would provide ``a final check.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Faucette
by CNB