THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 23, 1994 TAG: 9410210319
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
Last school year, the Virginia Beach School Board made adjustments to the boundaries of several schools in order to compensate for overcrowding that actually existed, as well as adjustments to ``school capacity.'' Both elementary schools and middle schools were affected.
According to Sept. 30 enrollment figures for certain Virginia Beach middle schools, the changes approved by the School Board, as recommended by Superintendent Faucette and his staff, did little to equalize and balance student pop-u-lations. According to figures recently released by the administration, our latest state-of-the-art middle school, Larkspur, has an enrollment of 1,579. That is great for students, teachers and parents who are assigned there. However, looking eastward on Princess Anne Road brings us to Landstown Middle, a school that has 50,000 fewer square feet than Larkspur Middle and a gym half the size - with an enrollment of 2,051. Landstown Middle houses some of the city's most advanced courses for middle-school students. It is an accelerated school that provides its students opportunities for learning that they may not be afforded elsewhere.
Attempts began in December 1993 to convince school officials that equality in student population would not exist under the planned boundary changes proposed for middle schools last year.
I believe that parents of students in the Princess Anne Middle School and Landstown Middle School attendance zones will be surprised to find that boundary adjustments did not contribute to lowering student enrollments at Princess Anne Middle significantly.
In the case of Landstown Middle, a preliminary enrollment figure of 2,030 students had been discussed as early as March of this year. The administration had originally projected 1,887 as Landstown's enrollment for the '94/'95 school year. Last year's average enrollment of 1,830 students has increased by more than 200, precipitating the need for additional portable buildings. This is interesting in itself when a new school such as Larkspur Middle, which was built in a no-growth area, has almost 500 fewer students.
Both Princess Anne Middle and Landstown Middle are in well-doc-umented high-growth areas. Drive by Vo Tech on North Landing Road and you can see acres of new homes being developed. Housing starts are rapidly encroaching on and surrounding Princess Anne Middle, unlike when it was a new facility and kids from the ``county'' filled its halls. Corporate Landing Middle School is on the drawing board and will be on line in 1998. This will relieve the overcrowding.
However, even with a modest 3 percent growth there could be 2,300 students at Landstown Middle and 1,700 at Princess Anne Middle by that time. Where are these new students going to attend school? Unless the boundaries are shifted to schools such as Salem Middle, with a Sept. 30, 1994, enrollment of 1,425 students or Larkspur Middle with 1,579, the new students will probably be in portable classrooms on the football fields at Landstown and Princess Anne.
Boundaries have to be reconsidered. This time, let's do it right.
Michael Moore
Nesbitt Drive MEMO: Mr. Moore, a former junior-high-school teacher, was president of
Landstown Middle School PTA in the '92/'93 and '93/'94 school years and
a member of the Parent Review Committee, Middle School Boundary
Adjustment.
by CNB