THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 12, 1994 TAG: 9408110178
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
About 76,000 students are preparing to head back to city schools soon. So far, however, there's no word on when they'll be expected to appear in class.
The School Board has not yet decided what time elementary, middle and high schools citywide will begin and end every day.
It's a decision that's usually routine.
But board Vice Chairwoman June T. Kernutt asked the board to review the schedules of all city schools, because of scheduling problems with Princess Anne Middle. In previous years, Princess Anne Middle has operated on the same time slot as high schools, instead of the middle school time schedule. That's because it would take more time and extra school buses to get students from the city's rural areas to Princess Anne Middle at the same time that students arrive at other middle schools.
Last school year, other middle schools started at 8:10 a.m. and ended at 2:35 p.m. Princess Anne Middle began at 7:35 a.m. and ended at 2 p.m.
Some Princess Anne kids rode buses that also carried high school kids.
``One concern is that in the rural area, sixth-graders are riding the bus with 12th-graders,'' Kernutt said.
Princess Anne Middle students who play interscholastic sports ``have to wait until the other schools get out, until they have their game. Some of them maybe have lunch at 9:30 in the morning, and then they have to wait and play a sport without eating,'' she said.
School Transportation Director David L. Pace presented a report at last month's board meeting listing ways to get Princess Anne on the same schedule as the other middle schools.
The board asked Pace to go back to the drawing board, however, because the options required buying new buses and hiring more drivers, putting a schedule change off another year or starting high schools even earlier than they begin now. None of the options was attractive.
``We don't have the money to add new buses, I know that,'' Kernutt said.
Normally at this time of year, school transportation planners are close to finalizing school bus routes and the times that buses will arrive at each stop.
Planners are sketching out the routes now. Even if school schedules change, they expect the routes to be ready in time to alert parents.
The School Board is expected to decide Tuesday on the opening times for Princess Anne Middle and the city's other schools.
``Parents should watch televisions and the newspaper for announcements, and listen to the radio,'' said Assistant Superintendent Anne Meek.
Kernutt said she knew delaying the decision might be somewhat of an inconvenience, but it was necessary.
``To me, the issue was fairness,'' she said. ``If we're able to get every other middle school to school at the same time, why can't we do it for this one middle school?'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff file photo
School transportation planners are sketching out routes now. Even if
school schedules change, they expect the routes to be ready in time
to alert parents.
KEYWORDS: SCHOOL BUS SCHEDULES VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOLS VIRGINIA BEACH
SCHOOL BOARD by CNB