THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 8, 1996 TAG: 9602080370
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 101 lines
By Wednesday, the third consecutive day that snow and ice had closed local schools, Portsmouth school Superintendent Richard Trumble had grown just as frustrated as the parents who burned up phone lines at the administration building. They all asked the same question: When can our kids go back to school?
Trumble, who reluctantly joined other local superintendents in keeping schools shut Wednesday, wished he could tell them.
``Parents are having a hard time understanding why we aren't holding school when they can go out to the shopping malls and their kids are out riding bicycles,'' Trumble said. ``I grew up in Minnesota, and I have a hard time reconciling myself to the fact that two or three inches of snow can shut you down for three days.''
Make that four days - at least for some districts. Suffolk officials made the call late Wednesday afternoon to keep schools closed today because of still-icy roads.
``We've got hundreds of students on back roads and in other secluded areas that aren't heavily traveled, and we've got to be careful about that,'' said Suffolk schools spokeswoman Bethanne Bradshaw.
Even in many of the region's urban neighborhoods, roads remained slick with ice on Wednesday, officials said. Depending on the conditions early this morning, officials in the other four school districts in South Hampton Roads may follow Suffolk's lead.
But perhaps tougher than the call on whether to close schools is deciding when to make up the missed days.
Since a mid-January snowstorm shut schools for two days - three in Suffolk - students in most area districts have missed at least a week of classes. Children in nearby Isle of Wight County schools now have sat home for 10 days.
Here's their dilemma, officials said: Saturdays are considered holy days for Jews, Muslims and Seventh Day Adventists. Holding school on a national holiday poses problems because the district would owe 12-month employees, who ordinarily would be off, a day's pay.
Pulling days from the weeklong spring break would anger many parents and employees, who often make plans months in advance. Lengthening the school year also would draw protests, and could conflict with final exams and graduation.
``It's a no-winner,'' Trumble said. ``I don't see any decision we could make that somebody's not going to be upset.''
But in a region unaccustomed to responding to winter storms, school officials said they will continue to err on the side of safety when deciding to hold school.
``I'm not willing to trade a day of school for a child's life,'' Trumble said.
While it's difficult to argue with that sentiment, many parents and children were losing patience by Wednesday.
``I'm really starting to get worried now,'' said LaTasha Scott, 13, who goes to Crestwood Middle School in Chesapeake. ``I want to go to school now, so we don't have to make up any more school days.''
Local school officials acknowledge that it's not going to be a picnic deciding how to make up lost days. A few districts already have scheduled or made up days for those lost last month. When the Portsmouth school board meets next week, Trumble said, it will be faced with drafting a plan to make up at least five missed days.
Norfolk officials weathered a storm of protest last month when they attempted first to make up a snow day on Lee-Jackson-King Day and then on Memorial Day. They scrapped both days, choosing instead a day last month that had been set aside as a teacher work day and the Presidents Day holiday on Feb. 19.
Even though he doesn't like the idea, Norfolk Superintendent Roy D. Nichols Jr. said he is inclined to write off a couple of the snow days under a state policy that allows local school districts to ``bank'' time to deal with such emergencies.
Because most districts add 15 to 30 minutes more time to a school day than required by the state, they end up with several days more than the 180 required. School districts could draw on that ``banked'' time to avoid making up at least some of the snow days, Nichols said.
``I think we ought to make up the first two or three days, but after that I'd be willing to consider bank days,'' Nichols said. But he would do it reluctantly, he said, especially since the district has placed a heavy emphasis on focusing more classroom time on academics.
To make up for the three days lost last month, Suffolk officials used two bank days and held school for a half-day on a Saturday, which had been built into the school calendar adopted last year by the school board, Bradshaw said.
The Saturday school day, held the same week classes were missed, was attended by about 81 percent of the district's students, down from a typical attendance rate of more than 90 percent. But students were attentive, Bradshaw said.
The decisions that school districts make will be closely watched.
Pam Wagner, mother of a Virginia Beach high school senior, said her family already has planned a trip during spring break.
``I would go ahead and take (her) out of school for spring break because I think family vacations are just as important,'' Wagner said.
Meg Wardell, a junior at Western Branch High in Chesapeake, gave the thumbs down for attending school on a Saturday.
``Most students I've talked to said they wouldn't go,'' he said. ``It's ridiculous.'' MEMO: Staff writer Elizabeth Simpson contributed to this report. by CNB