THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 10, 1994 TAG: 9409100192
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
Oliver North bad-mouthed Norfolk public schools in Tuesday's senatorial debate, saying that more students in Norfolk are in parochial schools than are in the public school system.
Were North in school, public or private, his arithmetic would get an ``F.''
In Norfolk, 3,500 students are in parochial and private schools and in home study. Some 35,000 are in the city's public schools.
In a heated exchange with U.S. Sen. Charles S. Robb, North said that two weeks ago he had walked through a Norfolk neighborhood, Lamberts Point, where the high-school dropout rate is 63 percent.
``That's the consequences of failures of the liberal extremist policies you endorse,'' North said.
North's figures are the consequences of a politician who doesn't know what he is talking about.
The dropout rate for the entire public school system in Norfolk is 6.1 percent. To figure the rate for a neighborhood would require a street-by-street canvass.
Possibly North got the statistic from the same source that supplied the public/parochial breakdown.
Robb asked how North would obtain money to fund tax incentives for parents who wish to send children to other than public schools.
``I would get the federal government the heck out of Norfolk's school system,'' North began.
Federal aid is about 2 percent of Norfolk's school budget. It includes some funds for remedial programs and impact aid given localities where taxes cannot be levied on property in military installations. In the past decade, impact aid has been reduced drastically.
There's a reason, North said, why more students are in parochial than in public schools in Norfolk.
``It's because unionized public schools are wrecking those kids' futures,'' he said.
Law prohibits public employees from striking in Virginia, so teacher associations, or unions, are far weaker here than elsewhere.
Teachers are among the most independent beings on Earth. It is part of being dedicated to teaching the young to think for themselves.
As protective of their charges as a hen hawk of fledglings, teachers are furious at any attempt at subversive influence, whether by governments, unions or a feckless politician.
A correction from North might chasten him. It cannot much redress his reckless rhetoric in slandering Norfolk's schools before a national audience via C-Span.
When parents choose new places to live, their chief concern is the quality of a locality's schools.
North's swipe that Norfolk's public schools are wrecking kids' futures and that parochial students outnumber those in the public system is as false and hurtful as any ever delivered.
He should know that Norfolkians and others hereabouts cherish their schools, of every sort, and have worked hard to bring them unscathed through many adversities.
His ill-founded view is one more to be overcome. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Oliver North said more Norfolk students attend private schools than
public ones. In fact, 35,000 students are in public schools, while
3,500 attend private or home schools.
KEYWORDS: SENATE RACE CANDIDATE DEBATE NORFOLK SCHOOLS by CNB