THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 23, 1994 TAG: 9409220173
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Elizabeth Thiel
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
Screening for drugs and alcohol
Beginning Jan. 1, city school bus drivers will be tested for drugs and alcohol.
Employees will be tested before they are hired and randomly after they are on the job. They'll also be tested immediately after school bus accidents.
The new policy, presented to the School Board Tuesday, stems from a 1991 federal law that requires all large employers to screen employees who drive commercial vehicles.
Other area school divisions also must begin testing their drivers and prospective drivers by Jan. 1. Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth and Gloucester are teaming up with Virginia Beach to establish one testing system, which is expected to be less expensive than each city conducting its own screening. Re-dial
Last month the board rejected an appeal by member Charles W. Vincent to have fax machines installed in board members' homes at the school system's expense.
This week, they did it again. After tense debate, the board voted 6-5 against a new proposal by Vincent to install just phone lines, which members could use to hook up fax machines purchased at their own expense.
Vincent and board members Ulysses Van Spiva, James R. Darden, Ferdinand V. Tolentino and Tim Jackson voted in favor of the phone lines, while Elsie M. Barnes, Joseph D. Taylor, Donald L. Felt, June T. Kernutt, Robert W. Hall and Susan L. Creamer voted against the idea.
The lines would cost $25 a month, school officials estimated.
Supporters said fax machines would save the board and the school system time and money.
Vincent said fax machines were valuable to members who want to receive information before the public and the media get it.
The board also needs to keep up with technology, supporters argued.
``People who don't understand it, I just feel sorry for them,'' Spiva said. ``It's so innovative.''
Board members who opposed the idea said they couldn't support spending school system money for personal equipment.
``I just don't feel that this is an expenditure that I want to get into,'' Hall said. ``This does not contribute one thing to the education of children.'' What's in a name?
Old standby high school courses like home economics and shop have new names these days, such as ``life skills,'' ``independent living'' and ``woods technology.''
Officials now want to change the moniker of another oldie - vocational education.
Educators believe vocational schooling has been given a bad name, perceived unfairly as a dumping ground for kids who are not smart enough for college.
Patrick M. Konopnicki, the school system's director of vocational education, presented the School Board with some of the suggested new names.
Among them were ``technical career education,'' ``work and continuing education,'' ``career education,'' ``employment for life'' and ``lifetime learning.''
Konopnicki, who arrived in Virginia Beach in 1992, has worked to boost the program's image.
His efforts mirror attempts nationally to bolster work training programs. Kindergarten shuffle
When school opened earlier this month, more kindergarten students showed up than expected.
Some classes now have more than the 25-student target. At least one parent has complained of a class with 31 students.
David E. Portis, coordinator for elementary schools, said teachers are being shuffled this week to reduce the largest classes. All kindergarten classes have teachers' aides.
School Board member Susan L. Creamer said the problem stems from parents who do not register their children until the first or second day of school. School planners have no way of determining how many teachers they need, if they don't know how many children will attend.
``I would like to encourage parents to register their children early,'' Creamer said. by CNB