THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 27, 1995 TAG: 9508250215
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Back to School
SOURCE: BY SUSIE STOUGHTON AND ALLISON T. WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITERS
LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines
As the new school year begins in western Tidewater, some students will be greeted by new administrators. School systems from Franklin to Southampton and Isle of Wight counties will offer a variety of new programs.
And students in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades in Southampton County will have a new school - the former Southampton High School that has been renovated and expanded.
For Southampton County, the big news this fall is the new Southampton Middle School, which will be dedicated this afternoon. About half of the building is new, while the rest has been renovated from the former Southampton Middle School.
The building - on U.S. Route 58 at Virginia Route 35 - is part of an educational complex. The facility is connected to the Southampton Vo-Tech Center, which adjoins Southampton High School - only two years old.
``This will give us one of the most advanced secondary situations in the state,'' said Superintendent Howard E. Wainwright. ``All the children in Southampton County, in the last seven years of their schooling, will have totally modern computer labs and science labs and everything else.''
The middle school has a fully equipped technology laboratory, Wainwright said.
At Southampton High School, third year Japanese will be offered as one of the courses taught by satellite. And seniors will receive high school and college credit for certain courses taught at the school by Paul D. Camp Community College professors.
In Franklin, the administrators in each of the three schools have played ``musical chairs,'' in a restructuring of principals and assistants.
Two of the seven administrators remained in the same positions: Donald Spengeman, principal of the Joseph P. King Jr. Elementary School, and Charles Pearce, one of two assistant principals at Franklin High School.
Two newcomers to the system have filled vacancies, and three others were reassigned to positions they enjoy more.
B. Harper Donahoe, former assistant principal in various schools in Virginia Beach, will take the principal's post at Franklin High School, replacing Sam Jones who was named principal of Nansemond River High School in Suffolk. He will be assisted by Pearce and Thomas Whitley, former assistant principal at S.P. Morton Middle School.
James H. Holland, who had been assistant principal at Joseph P. King Jr. Elementary School, will be principal of S.P. Morton. His assistant will be Nancy Harrell, former assistant principal at Franklin High School.
And assisting Spengeman at King Elementary School will be Trudy Hines, who had been a principal in Greensville County for six years.
Each of the schools will offer an after-school tutorial program this fall on Mondays and Wednesdays, with transportation provided home. The program will be set up differently at each school. The high school, which offered tutoring help this past year, will offer assistance as needed. The other two schools will provide tutoring to at-risk students or those who have failed any portion of the Literacy Passport.
Franklin High School will add advanced placement courses in U.S. government and Latin this fall. And the school's resource center will be open for student and community use until 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday.
Each of the schools will have all components of the enrichment program in place this fall. And classes in kindergarten through the fifth grade will use the literacy learning approach, emphasizing reading, writing and language arts activities during the first two hours each day, without interruptions for assemblies or special programs.
In Isle of Wight County:
Classroom space at Windsor Elementary School will be at a premium when school starts.
Students who normally would attend Carrsville Elementary School are being bused to the Windsor school while a new school is under construction in their own community.
The new school, at 5535 Carrsville Highway, is expected to be complete by next April, said Dr. Alexander Decker, assistant superintendent for the school division. The old school, which was built as a high school in 1927, was razed earlier this summer to make way for the construction.
Also, the school system is putting an academic twist on its in-school suspension program. Now students sent to ISS will have to participate in an academic classroom setting rather than simply reporting to a classroom with a monitor.
The school division has also opened an Alternative School Program, which is to serve 30 students between sixth and 12th grades who have a record of disruptive classroom behavior. The alternative school is being held from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday in Smithfield Middle School's technology building. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
James W. Ricks is principal of the Southampton Middle School, which
will be dedicated this afternoon. About half of the building is new,
while the rest has been renovated from the former middle school.
by CNB