THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 3, 1995 TAG: 9511010141
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
The Chesapeake School Board has approved boundaries for the new elementary school, which is scheduled to open on Cedar Road in 1996.
The attendance area will encompass the westernmost corner of the current Great Bridge Primary and Intermediate boundaries, including the areas along Bells Mill Road, north of Cedar Road and following Waters Road south of Cedar to the southern end of Washington Drive.
Great Bridge Primary and Intermediate schools will take on a portion of the Southeastern Elementary zone between Waters Road and Draughon Road. All students in the area bounded by Battlefield Boulevard and Great Bridge Bypass, including those who now attend Southeastern or Butts Road Primary and Intermediate schools, would attend Great Bridge Primary and Intermediate.
Board members first saw the boundary proposal last summer and held two public hearings on the matter. No one appeared before the board to address the attendance area.
The new boundaries align with the high school attendance zones so, in large part, students will remain together as they head on to either Great Bridge or Hickory high schools. The new elementary school will relieve growth in the Great Bridge Middle School attendance area which has grown by about 3,000 students in five years.
In other action, the board approved a policy which will allow students to keep mace or pepper spray in their cars. However, any student who removed the spray from a car would be subject to the same disciplinary action as if bringing a weapon on campus, which could include expulsion.
Board member James M. Reeves objected to the policy, saying he felt that mace and pepper spray should be forbidden altogether. Other board members, however, have said students who leave school and go directly to work should have access to the sprays to defend themselves off campus.
The board adopted the policy on an 8 to 1 vote with Reeves opposed.
Board members unanimously stiffened the division's rules on athletic eligibility. High schools students who transfer to a different school without a change in home address will have to sit out a year from sports beginning January of next year. The School Board or superintendent can grant an exemption to the policy which was put into place because of concerns about students transferring schools to participate on a better sports team rather than for sound academic reasons.
The board was divided 5 to 4 on what appeared to be a pro forma matter, the approval of the agenda for their meeting with the local legislative delegation. While board members often discuss and question items, many votes are unanimous or close to it. In this case, a suggestion by Reeves to put a discussion of charter schools on the agenda concerned some on the board, who felt it was not an issue of immediate impact on the division.
Ultimately it was included on the list, however, as was time set aside for discussions between individual board members and legislators.
Finally, board members refused to approve changes to the Capital Improvement Plan which would bring it in line with a request from acting City Manager Clarence V. Cuffee to lower the city's debt service.
School Board members, who have said they are committed to reducing the rapidly growing district's reliance on portable classrooms, said they were not prepared to vote on information they only been given that day. Superintendent W. Randolph Nichols said staff members had been working on the proposed changes until the last minute, preventing the board from getting the report any earlier. Board members said they wanted time for further study and a possible work session with the City Council on the matter.
KEYWORDS: CHESAPEAKE SCHOOLS CHESAPEAKE SCHOOL BOARD by CNB