THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 12, 1994 TAG: 9408110164
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VANEE VINES, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
School officials hope to settle on a deal to pay a private company to run an alternative education program for about 100 troubled students.
The company, Non-Public Educational Services Inc., is located in Woodbridge, Va., and does most of its work with students at-risk of failing in school.
Three of its alternative schools are located in the area - two in Virginia Beach and one in Norfolk. The schools, which offer high school completion programs, are all named Richard Milburn High.
The seven-year Portsmouth contract will be worth at least $300,000 annually. The district, however, can cancel the deal at any time.
Administrators and company officials declined to discuss the contract's fine points because details were still being worked out. But a picture of what Portsmouth wants has emerged from school records and public meetings.
The company, for example, is looking to place students in three different sites, according to grade level. Individual learning plans would be developed for each student and an emphasis would be placed on basic skills, student counseling and satisfactory performance on state-mandated tests. The district would pay for student transportation and lunch.
The administration considered placing the students in Churchland High School and Hunt-Mapp Middle School. But Superintendent Richard D. Trumble said Churchland parents balked at the idea and it was dropped.
About 200 students who attended the district-run alternative school during the past year will return to their zoned schools this fall.
The contract is expected to be before the School Board by Aug. 25. If approved, the program should be in place by the beginning of the school year, Trumble said.
Meanwhile, the company is trying to recruit area teachers for the program and find commercial space for its classes, which typically are not held in traditional school settings.
The administration began to seek outside proposals in June in preparation for the closing and renovation of the S.H. Clarke Vocational Training Center. Among other programs, Clarke housed the New Directions Center for students with behavioral problems.
The company is proposing to take over the district's alternative education program for students in grades kindergarten through 12. Most of the students targeted for the program this fall, however, are in middle school, said Darnell Johnson, the former New Directions principal whose new job is to oversee alternative education programs and the transition to ``community'' elementary schools.
``We think one of the big benefits in working with them is the fact that they can offer an `exit' piece,'' Johnson said, referring to the Milburn strategy of assisting troubled students until they're prepared to take a high school equivalency test or until they earn a regular high school diploma.
The district, he said, typically sent those students from New Directions back to their zoned schools when they reached the ninth or 10th grade. In many cases, he said, students again found themselves without enough support to stay on track.
Greta Gustavson, principal of alternative education programs in Norfolk, said the Richard Milburn school in that district worked fairly well over the past year. Norfolk might soon decide to extend the company's one-year deal, she said.
KEYWORDS: PORTSMOUTH SCHOOL BOARD ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL by CNB