THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 24, 1996 TAG: 9601230114
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY GREG GOLDFARB, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 183 lines
FEW IF ANY VIRGINIA BEACH neighborhoods could boast of a younger population than Carper Housing.
The Navy community constructed 17 years ago along Princess Anne Road and Windsor Oaks Boulevard was a teeming village of more than 2,500 youngsters whose 1,200 parents shipped in and out of town at Uncle Sam's beck and call.
So many youngsters inhabited the 90-acre complex that the city was forced to open an elementary school in 1978, the same year the first families moved into the neighborhood next door.
But today, all that has changed. All that remains of Carper is a boarded-up collection of 23 cul-de-sacs awaiting demolition later this year.
And what remains of the school, White Oaks Elementary, is a study in contradictions for a system bursting at the seams with students. Only 16 of White Oaks' 47 classrooms are being used this school year for instructional purposes. The rest are offices or storage.
The school's population has dropped from 952 students in 1991-92 to 212 pupils this month. Only 23 teachers and resource personnel work there.
The last Carper tenants vacated the community just before Christmas so that it could be razed and rebuilt over the next three years. That means the school will one day rise again, too.
In the meantime, White Oaks will have to weather the temporary exodus while preparing for another onslaught down the road.
The new construction initiative is part of the Navy's ``Neighborhoods of Excellence'' program, which makes quality of life a top priority for its new housing projects.
Carper will be rebuilt leaner - and less meaner, planners hope - with a smaller density of 4 to 4.5 units per acre and a total capacity of only 640 adults and 824 children. The new, $40 million complex will offer jogging and bicycle trails, adult and children recreation areas, a self-help store and improved drainage.
While that should be a dream for future residents accustomed to cramped quarters, temporarily closing down the community for reconstruction has been a nightmare for school personnel.
``The Navy is going to have an opportunity to correct mistakes they made in the past, not only with density, but structurally'' said White Oaks principal Ellie B. Bates. ``They did what they had to do and we're suffering as a result of those decisions. It's really difficult to lose people you've worked with for years. It affects our parents, our PTAs, every aspect of the school. The Navy, in making its decision, probably didn't understand all the ripple effects.''
Bates has seen two-thirds of her staff transfer to other schools in the last few years as they have prepared for the move.
``There have been tears,'' she said. ``We could not deal with it. We were losing the last of our kids from Carper and we were devastated. When you take away a whole neighborhood, it's really a loss.''
After 31 years in the Virginia Beach Public School system, Bates also is ready to move on. She's retiring in June. She sold her Kings Grant home about six weeks ago, she said, and is moving with her husband, Samuel, to New Jersey.
She said she first learned of the Navy's plans for Carper about a year ago.
``It's a pretty sad way for me to go out,'' said Bates, 61. ``I've given 39 years to education because I love my work. I could have left last year but I chose to stay because it was such a horrible transition for everybody. I thought I could be a stabilizing factor.''
In her 12 years at White Oaks, Bates said the trouble associated with Carper never spilled over onto school grounds.
``The neighborhood has always taken good care of the school - literally,'' said Bates. ``We were one of the least vandalized schools in the city.''
The neighborhood wasn't so lucky.
Assaults, shootings, vandalism and theft led community leaders in the late 1980s to form a 12-member task force to address the problems. Consequently, city and military police officers worked together successfully to beef up patrols, bringing in police officers on bicycles and horseback.
``The neighborhood was up in arms; they were frightened about what was happening,'' said Bates, who was a task force member. ``A lot of the problems came from the complex's density. There were just so many people around, and there's not that much for young people to do. Plus, Carper attracted kids from other areas.''
While many of the criminal concerns surrounding Carper were abated, other problems were just surfacing.
Inside the two-story, two-tone units, heating and air conditioning systems were breaking down, floors were buckling and there were plumbing problems. Outside, there wasn't enough parking, landscaping or community recreational facilities to satisfy the families and their children.
``I was shocked,'' said Bates. ``These aren't very old housing units. Something just 16 years old shouldn't have to be condemned. But some of the units were becoming unstable and the Navy determined that they were unsafe for families to live in.''
Looking back over what has happened to Carper Housing over the years, Bates said that all of the negativism associated with Carper Housing could have been avoided.
``I think it was an experiment that failed,'' said Bates. ``I think it would have worked, but there were just too many people.''
The Navy agreed. It was a problem recognized in military housing communities elsewhere.
Carper formerly offered 576 four- and five-bedroom apartment/townhouses. They will be replaced with 168 three-, 140 four- and 12 five-bedroom units by the end of 1998.
Retired Adm. D. Linn Felt, vice chairman of the School Board, remembers the problems and believes the Navy has a plan for fixing them.
``If it's Navy housing, the Navy takes responsibility to make sure there's law and order and to keep it looking presentable,'' Felt said. ``I know what Carper was and the problems it presented to the city. Now, it's going to be upgraded and it will not be as densely populated. That's significant.''
The temporary loss of students also has financial implications for the school district, which ended 1994-95 with a $12.1 million deficit and faces more problems this year.
The school system was notified about two years ago about the plans for Carper when the Navy sent a memo to the superintendent's office, according to Kenneth B. Lumpkin, the school district's demographer.
School officials projected that the district would lose up to 900 students in elementary, middle and high schools as a result of Carper closing, but that figure may be closer to 500, Lumpkin said.
That's important because the district receives federal impact aid to offset the cost of educating military dependents. That money is lost if Carper residents relocated outside Virginia Beach.
``It could affect the deficit, but it's a slight one,'' Lumpkin said.
Last March, school and Navy officials met to go over the timeline for Carper's transformation. Even though demolition was expected to begin ``immediately'' after the last of the residents had moved out in December, it hasn't.
``That might get held up until the president and Congress can work out the details of the budget,'' Lumpkin said, ``but we've had plenty of notice on it.''
While the ordeal has been emotionally taxing on some people, Lumpkin said he expects things to start getting better.
``Up until this point, it's all been rather negative,'' Lumpkin said. ``I know why Ellie's upset. It uprooted a rather tight-knit faculty. But in the final analysis, we understood the reality of it.''
Carper is one of five off-base military housing complexes in the city, but it is unique, Lumpkin said, because it is located closer to civilian residential neighborhoods.
School officials were able to solve one temporary problem as a result of Carper's collapse. Five education departments that had been housed in the Celebration Station building at Virginia Beach Boulevard and Little Neck Road were relocated to White Oaks to make way for Princess Anne High School, which was partially destroyed by arson Sept. 1. Students are attending classes in the former shopping mall while their high school is rebuilt.
The special education annex, department of psychological services, instructors for the homebound program, school social workers and visiting teachers are all housed at White Oaks for now.
They, of course, will have to move again when Carper reopens in a few years.
And the school system will have to hire additional teachers at White Oaks.
Those problems, however, can wait.
``The impact on White Oaks is temporary,'' Lumpkin said. ``The long-term impact on the community is positive. We think that to rebuild Carper under a new philosophy is a plus.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Cover, Color photo]
SHRINKING SCHOOL
SHRINKING SCHOOL
Number of students attending White Oaks Elementary:
1991-92 952
1992-93 911
1993-94 874
1994-95 681
1995-96 212
Staff photo by GARY KNAPP
Members of the area's FEMA response team converged on the demolished
buildings of Carper Housing to practice their skills. All residents
were moved out by December, but the budget impasse is holding up the
project.
Staff photos, including color cover, by CHARLIE MEADS
``It's really difficult to lose people you've worked with for years.
It affects our parents, our PTAs, every aspect of the school. The
Navy. . . probably didn't understand all the ripple effects,'' said
White Oaks principal Ellie Bates.
Staff photos, including color cover, by CHARLIE MEADS
James Smith's fifth-grade class, also pictured on the cover, is down
to five students. This math lesson is in stark contrast to crowed
classes elsewhere in the city.
by CNB