THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 28, 1994 TAG: 9408270117
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Vanee Vines
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
Here's a look at two of the key issues the School Board discussed at last week's public work session. The board is expected to vote on these and other issues at its regular meeting Thursday.
The administration gave the nod Thursday to a contract with a private company that runs alternative education centers for public school districts. The sites are all named Richard M. Milburn High.
The company, Non-Public Educational Services Inc., does most of its work with students who are at risk of failing.
The contract would allow the district to enroll up to 300 students. But this year, there's only enough money for about 100 of those whom Superintendent Richard D. Trumble described as ``the most desperate.''
That means there wouldn't be space for many students who had been expelled from the district but are now eligible to return through the alternative education program.
The School Board will vote on the contract Thursday. It would expire in June, but the district could renew it for four more one-year terms. The cost is about $400,000 for the 1994-1995 school year.
That amount is about $4,000 more than what the district spent last school year for students in the alternative education program at the S.H. Clarke Vocational Training Center.
The district would pay for student transportation, books, lunch and classroom furniture. The company, which typically rents commercial space for classes, would provide two sites away from traditional classroom settings. Three sites previously had been discussed. Six full-time teachers would be re-assigned to the program.
The Milburn program would provide alternative education for students in kindergarten through 12th grade, but about 80 percent of the students targeted are in middle school, administrators said. School watchdog
The board will establish an oversight committee of local residents to make sure ``community'' elementary schools aren't shortchanged.
Vice Chairman James E. Bridgeford urged the administration to be more specific about the committee's role and responsibilities when the issue comes before the board again.
Last spring, the board voted to end elementary school busing done solely for desegregation purposes. Elementary students will be able to attend schools closer to home beginning in September 1995.
Norfolk established an oversight committee when it ending elementary school busing and created neighborhood elementary schools in 1986. The Norfolk group has since disbanded.
Many of Portsmouth's blacks repeatedly have said they feared that nearly all-black elementary schools resulting from new attendance patterns would become dumping grounds with substandard resources. The 13-person committee will report its findings to the board.
The group's other watchdog duty will be to oversee the ``open enrollment'' system in which elementary students will be allowed to attend out-of-zone community schools where space is available.
Parents will be allowed a second choice if the desired school is full. Students living within a preferred zone will have highest priority. Next will be students who attended that out-of-zone school on June 1, 1995. A lottery also will be used.
Parents must submit applications for out-of-zone waivers to the district before this coming Oct. 14 for the 1995-96 school year.
KEYWORDS: PORTSMOUTH SCHOOL BOARD PORTSMOUTH SCHOOLS by CNB