THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 23, 1996 TAG: 9602220123
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JO-ANN CLEGG, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines
After more than 40 years of providing schooling to local students, Virginia Beach Friends School will be venturing into the field of secondary education this fall.
For administration, faculty, parents and students it is the logical next step in the history of the small school which has been on the grounds of the Friends Meeting House since the days when Laskin Road was a quiet two-lane byway lined with farms.
Starting in September the school, which has a current enrollment of 160 students, will offer classes for children from age 3 through 10th grade.
``It was a logical decision but not an easy one,'' Headmistress Phyllis Sullivan said.
Started in the mid-1950s by a handful of parents who were members of the local Friends Meeting, the school originally offered pre-school and primary classes.
Other grades were added in a natural progression as the children who attended the school and their parents asked for them. ``We never even discussed adding ninth grade,'' said Sullivan, ``we just did it.''
Taking the step of adding an upper school was another matter, however.
``We had a committee (of parents and staff) which worked on the project for a full year,'' Sullivan said.
There never was any doubt on the part of the parents that adding the extra grade (and, in due course, probably adding grades 11 and 12 as well) was the right thing to do.
But Sullivan and her staff wanted to take things a little slower, to make absolutely certain that the step was a good one.
``Working with the committee just made us take a good look at ourselves and what we were doing,'' Sullivan said. In the end, making the decision to add grade 10 ``felt very natural,'' she added.
Tuition for the upper school will be $5,100 a year. ``I'm afraid people have the mistaken idea that we're heavily endowed,'' Sullivan said. ``Actually, 75 percent of our budget comes from tuition.''
In return for the tuition, children get small classes, a lot of individualized attention, a faculty with a reputation for excellence and an administration dedicated to cooperating with public and other private schools in the area.
``We talk a lot with the guidance counselors (in other schools),'' Sullivan said. ``We need to know what they'll expect from our students when they transfer.''
Friends classes are small, even by private school standards. Karen Forget, who teaches English and science, has three students in her biology class, 14 in earth science.
Although the school does some standardized testing, greater emphasis is placed on total subject mastery, study skills, reasoning and thinking skills and work habits than on grade level yard stick measures.
Admission to the middle (grades six, seven and eight) and upper (grades nine and 10) schools is based on interviews, student visitation and questionnaire and previous school records.
``We have the most rigorous admission requirements of all,'' Sullivan said with a smile. ``You need to be a total human being who can benefit from our program.''
The school also prides itself on its family environment. Children call faculty members by their first names, with the word ``Teacher'' in front of them, as in ``Teacher Sue''.
Parent involvement, of the type that resulted in the decision to add a grade, is encouraged, even expected. Parents move freely around the 11-acre campus on any given school day, reading to youngsters, helping with special projects, tutoring or helping in the school's 10,000-volume library.
Virginia Beach Friends, one of about 90 schools around the country operated by the Society of Friends, enjoys its reputation for being an open and friendly place to get an education.
``It really bothered us when the Clintons decided to send Chelsea to Sidwell Friends and the media started referring to it as an `exclusive' school,'' said Margaret Jeffries, director of development for Virginia Beach Friends.
``We're not exclusive,'' Jeffries added, ``we're the most inclusive school I know.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by STEVE EARLEY
ABOVE: Headmistress Phyllis Sullivan said the decision to add
secondary education was not easy.
LEFT: Parents like Nellwyn Beamon, reading here to David Anderson,
are encouraged to volunteer their time at Friends School.
OPEN HOUSE
Virginia Beach Friends School will hold an open house Sunday from 1
to 3 p.m. on the school campus at 1537 Laskin Road. Call 428-7534.
by CNB