THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 2, 1996 TAG: 9601310187
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 2E EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Vanee Vines
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
Here's a look at some of the action taken at the Jan. 29 meeting of the School Board: Make-up days chosen
Chesapeake Public Schools will be in session Feb. 19, Presidents Day, and Friday, March 29, to make up time lost during the recent snowstorm, the board announced.
Inclement weather forced the district to cancel school Jan. 8 and 9.
March 29 previously had been set aside as a day off for students and a day for teachers to handle record-keeping duties. Teachers will instead be asked to complete those duties Saturday, March 23.
The administration is considering Friday, June 14, as a third make-up day, if one is needed. That decision hasn't been made, however.
School naming delayed
The board voted to postpone the naming of the new elementary school on Cedar Road after many residents complained about the recommended name: Cedar Road Elementary School.
Board members L. Thomas Bray, Mary Korving and Vice Chairwoman Barbara B. Head voted against the delay. A public hearing on the matter will be held Feb. 26. The time will be announced later, a district spokesman said.
Early last month, Head and board member James M. Reeves, who both served on a committee to come up with the new name, recommended Cedar Road Elementary to the full board.
But many residents, including those representing the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said they wanted the board to name the school after at least one of two city activists, W.P. Clarke Sr., who served on the City Council in the 1970s, or Hugo A. Owens, a former councilman and vice mayor. Clarke is now deceased.
``What we're suggesting is for the board to honor these local blacks who have contributed greatly to the development of Chesapeake,'' said Lamont Simmons, president of Chesapeake Forward, a civic group. ``. . . It gives the children going through that school the knowledge that Chesapeake residents of African-American descent have contributed to the city.''
After the meeting, Reeves said he had changed his mind about naming the school Cedar Road Elementary because he had been ``lobbied'' by residents who urged the board to embrace the names of the two men. Eye on the money
Davida Mutter, assistant superintendent for budget and finance, raised a few red flags Monday, informing board members of changes in federal and state aid that could affect the district's pocketbook.
For example, she said, state revenue that flows to the district could be $300,000 under budget, primarily because the state's sales tax receipts have been less than anticipated lately.
But the receipts are hard to predict, Mutter said, and they may pick up later this fiscal year.
The district also could lose $650,000 of the $1.1 million budgeted for federal ``impact aid,'' which is supplementary money given to school districts with a sizable military population.
The federal picture is even harder to paint at this point, she said.
The district, for instance, could wind up getting the $1.1 million budgeted and then some, she said.
If the state aid doesn't come through as anticipated and if Chesapeake also loses most of its impact aid, the district could tap accounts that often have remaining money at the end of the fiscal year, such as the account for utility expenses, Mutter said.
For the past five years, she said, the district has returned an average of $1.5 million per year to the city at the end of each fiscal year.
The district could instead use some of that money to close any revenue gaps, she said.
Grading policy adopted
The board adopted a new grading policy that spells out how student absences, cheating and misbehavior fit into academic evaluations.
An existing grading policy was revised to address concerns about how discipline issues figured into a student's grades.
Some of the highlights:
Grades will be based on student achievement and the timely completion of work.
If a student is found guilty of cheating, a zero will be assigned for the work and the student won't be able to make up the work for academic credit.
Teachers will not be able to reduce a student's grades as punishment for inappropriate classroom behavior, including tardiness to class. by CNB