THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 13, 1995 TAG: 9507110112
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 108 lines
SHIRLEY GEORGE, a 26-year teaching veteran in special education, this month took the reins as president of the 1,750-member Education Association of Norfolk.
Members of the professional education group elected George to a two-year term. EAN officials said the organization represents about 70 percent of the city school system's approximately 2,500 teachers.
George, vice president for the past two years, takes over from Charlene Christopher, who served two 2-year terms as the group's leader, the maximum allowed under EAN bylaws. Christopher, also a special education teacher, said she will return to the classroom, but she was unsure in early July where she would be assigned.
For the past five years, George taught at Lake Taylor Middle School. She has worked in Norfolk schools since 1972.
George said she expects her transition from second in command to be seamless, continuing in substance - if not in style - with Christopher. George said her goals are the same: meeting the educational needs and concerns of teachers and ensuring a quality education for children.
But where Christopher is reserved - more of a ``Southern lady type,'' George says - George can be blunt and outspoken.
``I have to learn to be more tactful,'' George acknowledges.
While the EAN and school administrators sometimes strike adversarial poses, Christopher counts as an accomplishment her efforts to establish a more productive relationship with the School Board and central office administrators.
Earlier this year, for example, the EAN joined a coalition of PTAs, the School Board and Superintendent Roy D. Nichols Jr. to lobby against state budget cuts proposed by Gov. George F. Allen.
``That was something that had never happened before,'' Christopher said of the united effort. ``We have been trying to get the School Board and the administration to see that we are an asset and not the enemy. We are concerned about the quality of public education and the quality of teachers coming into the system. We believe that when things improve for children they also will improve for teachers.''
Christopher also said she was proud of her efforts to educate the School Board about ``inclusion,'' a special education term used to describe classrooms in which special ed kids are included with ``regular'' education students. But much work remains, she said, particularly in ensuring that teachers are trained for the task.
The teachers' group, George and Christopher said, will continue lobbying for smaller class sizes, more technology, improved salaries and more time for planning, curriculum development and training.
While at Lake Taylor, George taught a category of kids known as ``LD,'' for learning disabled. Many of them are bright kids but ``for whatever reason, they're not learning,'' George said. It was a challenging job, George said, and also a rewarding one.
``When I have a student who comes back many years later and says, `You know, I got out of LD,' it's just a good feeling,'' George said. ``It's rewarding for me because I feel like I had a part in helping this child fulfill the potential I knew was there.''
One of the first things she has displayed in her new office at EAN is an ``Apple'' award - ``Teach a Child for the Future,'' is its motto - that she received while at Lake Taylor.
George, 51, is a divorcee who said she reared her three sons pretty much single-handedly. While married and before settling in Norfolk, she lived an itinerant's life, teaching in schools in New Orleans, San Diego and Brunswick, Ga.
She glows when talking about her boys: ``Whenever we have to say what we are proudest of, I always say it's my three sons - they're therapeutic for me.''
Her oldest, Johnny, 26, is a Norfolk State University graduate and is vice president of a graphic design and communications company; her middle son, Jason, 23, is a University of Virginia graduate and is now in grad school at Temple University studying theater and drama; her youngest, Jarvis, 18, just finished Kempsville High in Virginia Beach and will study journalism at Howard University on an athletic scholarship.
``My fervent prayer for them as young men is that they will be sharing, caring people and will be good husbands, good fathers and good friends to their wives,'' George said.
George bristles when social commentators label single-parent families as ``dysfunctional.'' There are many single moms who work hard and succeed in rearing their children, she said.
``To me, when you stay in an unhappy marriage, that's dysfunctional,'' George said. ``I put three kids through school, and my kids got scholarships, loans and grants to attend college. How is that dysfunctional? We stereotype so easily.''
George, who describes herself as a ``product of the '60s,'' became interested in special education while attending high school in her native Shreveport, La. Instead of taking a study period, she volunteered at a special education center that was located across from the school.
``I was one of those high school students who had to get involved in things,'' George said. ``I was nosy, so what better way to know about things than to get involved?''
George earned a dual major in special education and elementary education from Southern University in Baton Rouge and obtained a master's degree in education with a concentration in learning disabilities from Louisiana State University in New Orleans.
Currently, she's working on 30 hours-plus in course work at the University of Virginia and has her sights on a doctorate degree. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by JON GLASS
Shirley George, right, has taken over for Charlene Christopher,
left, as president of the 1,750-member Education Association of
Norfolk.
KEYWORDS: PROFILE BIOGRAPHY by CNB