THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 31, 1995 TAG: 9512300116
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 11 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SERIES: 1995: YEAR IN REVIEW
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
By late April, the school system's Sunshine Health Center, based at Hunt-Mapp Middle, was ready to serve its first student patients.
The center, a venture between the schools and the Portsmouth Health Department, teaches students how to take better care of themselves and offers what's known as primary care: screenings, treatment for simple illnesses and injuries, sports physicals, immunizations and mental health counseling. District wins quality award
Portsmouth Public Schools received one of five statewide U.S. Senate Productivity and Quality Award for Virginia. The annual award recognizes efforts to become more efficient and responsive to citizens. Winners were announced in April.
Portsmouth also was a finalist in 1992 and 1993. Trumble's job search
Superintendent Richard D. Trumble, a finalist for the superintendency in Louisiana's East Baton Rouge Parish school district, was passed over for that top job in June.
Officials there said Trumble came up short because he had too little teaching experience.
Portsmouth hired Trumble in 1990. His contract expires in 1997. Community schools open
This school year, the ``community schools'' plan gave all of the city's elementary students the chance to attend schools closer to home - in their own communities - instead of being bused across town solely for desegregation purposes.
However, the School Board's ``open enrollment'' policy also allowed elementary students to attend out-of-zone schools beyond their neighborhoods if space were available.
Many residents embraced the idea of keeping kids closer to home so parents and communities could better connect with schools. But some still call the ending of elementary busing for integration a bad deal, especially for black children living in low-income neighborhoods.
Under the plan, all 19 elementary schools became uniform, with kindergarten through fifth-grade classes, instead of the previous hodgepodge. Three centers were converted into regular elementary schools. Norcom groundbreaking
City and school leaders broke ground at the site of the new I.C. Norcom High in October. The new school is scheduled to open at 1801 London Blvd. in September 1997, serving up to 1,800 students. Like its predecessor, it will offer the Math, Science and Technology Magnet Program.
In August, the council voted 4-3 to authorize borrowing $23.7 million for the school, completing the funding for the $38 million project. Council endorses at-large board elections
The council voted 4-3 in late October to send the U.S. Justice Department an at-large plan for the city's first School Board election in May.
The department is expected to respond to the city's submission early next month. If it rejects the plan, it could call for the overhaul of Portsmouth's electoral system.
The council's decision angered some residents who had urged the city to propose a plan with ward or district School Board seats, or a mixed system with ward and at-large seats.
A majority of council members agreed with Mayor Gloria O. Webb. The creation of wards, she said at the time, would pit ``race against race, neighborhood against neighborhood, school against school.''
- Vanee Vines MEMO: [For related stories, also see page 10 of The Currents for this date.]
by CNB