THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 12, 1995 TAG: 9511100159
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
Early graduation
High school seniors in the Virginia Beach Public Schools will graduate a few days earlier than planned so that ceremonies can take place in the Pavilion, the School Board has decided.
The Pavilion, site of Beach high school graduations in recent years, was already committed to another event during the time the schools had originally hoped to use it.
Graduation ceremonies will be held June 7 through 9, with seniors taking their second semester exams June 4 through 7. Other high school students will take exams June 10 through 13.
Seniors will be able to make up the four attendance days lost to the schedule change by participating in community or school service projects, graduation practice and exercises and other activities.
A similar situation occurred in the 1993-94 school year, with exams being moved up five days.
The division's high school principals unanimously supported the plan, as did a majority of the board members. They favor the Pavilion because it allows for greater security and crowd control, provides more space and can be used rain or shine.
Operation Phoenix
A group of students, parents and teachers from fire-ravaged Princess Anne High School has gotten the school board's blessing but absolutely no money in Their hopes to extend renovations beyond what the insurance company will fund.
The group, Operation Phoenix, plans to go before the City Council now and request the additional $1.5 million needed for improvements and additional space that even school administrators acknowledge the city's oldest operating high school needs.
An arsonist set fire to the school just days before classes were to begin in the fall, gutting the building's core. Students have been attending classes in undamaged portions of the building, at other school sites and at the former shopping mall on Virginia Beach Boulevard known as Celebration Station.
Quarters had become so tight in parts of PA that some students prefer the space and light of Celebration Station, according to senior Jennifer Anderson, who spoke before the board.
``Even though the fire was a devastating tragedy, it has given us a window of opportunity we can't afford to miss,'' she said.
Operation Phoenix wants to have work done to expand portions of the school, add a sprinkler system and remove asbestos while the burned-out portions of the structure are rebuilt.
Board members held a lengthy discussion over whether their endorsement might appear to carry with it some monetary commitment. Others wanted more time to study the proposal. A majority insisted, however, that they were offering only moral support to Operation Phoenix's cause.
``They know we don't have any money and, right now, our clout with City Council is zero,'' said Board member Elsie M. Barnes, who made the motion that the board support the group's request. by CNB