THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 22, 1995 TAG: 9510200187
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
Construction of the new I.C. Norcom High School marks the beginning of a journey for this city. And it's not going to be an easy trip unless we can jettison some emotional baggage.
Speaking at a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday, School Board Chairman J. Thomas Benn III called the $40 million project, ``from this moment on, a symbol of our unity.''
``The school is a beacon to remind us to do what's best for all of us,'' Benn said.
Benn set the tone for the journey into the future that will either make or break Portsmouth.
The school is a centerpiece for the Vision 2005 plan that aims to rebuild from Downtown to Midtown the old inner core of this tiny city with no place to grow.
As Mayor Gloria Webb said Wednesday in her remarks, ``It is not a black school, not a white school, but a school for all.''
And, indeed, the new structure must become a magnet to attract a whole new population - both black and white professionals - to the city.
From Wednesday on, I.C. Norcom no longer is a ``black school,'' a concept that will be hard for many people in this city to grasp.
``Let's leave the past somewhere else,'' School Superintendent Richard Trumble said Wednesday.
For those among us who did not attend public schools in the city, that's easy. For those who have lived here all their lives like their families before them, that's emotional trauma.
Many blacks and whites still think of the schools as the way they were years ago. But, as much as many wish for simpler times, we cannot turn back the clock. Nothing is like it was - not Downtown, not Park View, not even I.C. Norcom High School. However, everything can be better than it ever really was.
It will be a difficult emotional journey for many people.
Vision 2005 is a map to the future. The new school is part of that plan. The success of the plan depends a great deal on the success of the new school and paying for the new building depends heavily on the success of Vision 2005, an economic and community development plan.
Those in the city who have supported the new I.C. Norcom intellectually have taken a great leap of faith into the future. They now must work as tour guides on the difficult journey of the next 10 years.
Drawing a plan or building a school is only the beginning.
Those who opposed the construction must accept the fact that it is happening. To ensure that the large sum of money spent on the building will not be wasted, they must join the team to create a school community that represents the entire city.
Those who pushed so hard for a new Norcom now must push just as hard to make it a school of the future, not a remnant of the past.
No greater tribute could be paid to I.C. Norcom, one of this city's great educators, than to make the school bearing his name the best school in Hampton Roads - and, in the process, the best integrated school anywhere. by CNB