THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 14, 1994 TAG: 9409140015
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
Republican Senate candidate Oliver North got into some hot water with Norfolk public-school administrators after last week's debate when he asserted there are more parochial-school students in Norfolk than there are public-school students. Mr. North was wrong, but public-school bureaucrats throughout Hampton Roads have no grounds to feel smug. Private and home schooling are a growth industry in this area.
Sister St. James, principal of St. Pius X in Norfolk, says the school's enrollment grows every year. It now has 530 students in its preschool through 8th-grade program. ``We have to turn some people away because we simply don't have the space,'' she says. ``If we had more space, we would have more students.''
St. Gregory the Great in Virginia Beach has just finished adding eight new classrooms and is about to expand its program to include 7th and 8th grades as well as 1st through 6th.
Five years ago, Cape Henry Collegiate School in Virginia Beach enrolled 400 students. It now has 700 in pre-school through 12th grade, and the number is expected to hit 800 within two school years.
A decade ago, when home schooling became a legal option for Virginia families, 507 children were taught at home, according to the state Department of Education. By September 1993, that number had risen to about 7,000.
Private education, whether offered in a den-turned-classroom, a church-owned building or in schoolhouses, is clearly a product for which there is a growing demand. While public schools retain the lion's share of Virginia students - 1,042,000 pupils were enrolled last year - more and more parents are choosing to separate their children from schools that they believe are failing to meet their children's needs.
A glance at the numbers shows the magnitude of the problem in Norfolk. This past spring, only 53.4 percent of Norfolk 6th graders passed all three portions of the Literacy Passport Test. Overall, Norfolk public-school students score in the 50th percentile nationwide on standardized tests.
The reasons parents in both inner cities and in suburbs choose to pay extra to enroll their children in private schools are as varied as parents and students. Smaller classrooms and individual attention are often cited. But just as important is an atmosphere - be it Christian, Roman Catholic, Jewish or non-sectarian - that encourages learning.
So chide Mr. North for getting his numbers wrong, but he got the trend and the sentiment behind it right: the increasing demand among parents for private- or parochial-school education. Let the public-school lobby stop carping at candidate North and start looking at what private schools are doing right and public schools are doing wrong. by CNB