THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 1, 1996 TAG: 9602290104
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 217 lines
JAMIE HAMPTON wasn't sure, yet, whether Adam should trust Dr. O'Keefe or Kali.
But then, the Kemps Landing Magnet School seventh-grader was only two chapters into Madeleine L'Engle's book, ``The Arm of the Starfish.'' By the time he finishes it, he'll know not only whom the tale's hero should put his faith in, but also the meanings, origins and derivations of a long list of vocabulary words he's gleaned from his reading.
By the time he closes the book for the last time, the 12-year-old will be able to describe Lisbon, Portugal - where the book's action takes place - almost as well as if he'd walked its streets, and talk extensively about the work of El Greco, or some other famous artist whose paintings hang in the Prado. He'll have listened to Mozart's ``Horn Concerto'' or Beethoven's ``Ninth Symphony'' and put into words the mood the music evokes in him.
That's a lot of learning between the covers of one book.
But then, there's a lot of learning going on inside the walls of this school, which opened its doors to 250 of the best and brightest of Virginia Beach middle school students last fall.
Hazel Jessee, the new school's principal, spearheaded the move to see that the gap in programming for gifted and talented middle schoolers was filled, and she said she believes that Virginia Beach educators have good reason to be proud of the results of the pilot project.
``We're breaking new territory with this school,'' said Jessee, looking in on a sixth-grade English class engaged in a heated word-game battle. Pat Johnson-Lewis' students were facing off against each other, buzzers in hand, at two long tables.
``Nose is to wrinkle as eye is to open, see, wink, close or look'', intoned Johnson-Lewis. Almost simultaneously, several buzzers sounded.
``Wink,'' called out a voice, and a tally keeper added a stroke of chalk to Team A's blackboard scorecard.
``They're trying to get patterns, analogies,'' explained Jessee. ``They need to understand relationships. They can define, but relationships are different.''
Kemps Landing, said Jessee with pride, is the only full-time program for gifted sixth-through-eighth-grade students in the state.
Before pioneering the Kemps Landing program, Jessee served as principal at Old Donation, an elementary level magnet program that draws about 1,800 exceptionally bright children from all over the city yearly. ``It's a forerunner with national acclaim,'' said Jessee of the Old Donation project, now in its 22nd year.
In 1993, in her capacity as administrative coordinator for instruction, Jessee led a committee of parents, teachers, administrators, community members and School Board members in a yearlong study of the idea of a magnet school for gifted and talented students, then saw the plan through to fruition.
Last April, the School Board gave a unanimous nod to the proposal, and during the summer, school employees refurbished the World War II vintage structure, which had once served as Kempsville High School. After 1954, the building was used by younger students, and became vacant after Larkspur Middle School opened in the fall of 1994.
Parents, students and teachers also lent their eager hands to get the building ready for classes at the new magnet facility as the first day of school approached last September.
But creating a special school for the cream of the crop had not come easily, nor had it been without controversy. There were arguments pro and con from parents and educators on both philosophical and practical grounds, and some city officials and School Board members balked, at first, out of fiscal concern.
But, as they say, the proof is in the pudding, and if attendance and student morale are any indication, the experiment has been a huge success, the money well invested.
Kemps Landing has won the School Board's attendance award every month since last September. No need for a truant officer at this school. Kids just can't wait to get here in the morning and are reluctant to leave in the afternoon at the end of their one-hour-longer-than-usual school day, according to Jessee.
Rachel Grubb, a 13-year-old seventh-grader, said she's so happy at Kemps Landing that she never skips, something she did occasionally last year at Independence Middle School.
``It's a welcome environment,'' said Grubb, flipping the pages of a lengthy story she wrote in her spare time last week. ``There are no fights, and language is 100 percent better.''
Then, too, her new classmates don't think of her as a ``prep,'' as they did at her previous school, because of her devotion to learning.
Grubb played soccer at Independence, but, since there are no organized sports teams at her new school, she's taken up drama. Theater is one of the electives in ``Discovery Academy,'' which is offered four afternoons a week during final period. On Mondays, 17 clubs meet. They range from fencing to forensics, from speech to ``sports of sorts,'' where kids can try their hands at a wide variety of physical activities.
The lack of sports was a concern of some parents when the magnet school concept was proposed, but Jessee doesn't think that it's been a problem for most students.
Jessee said that it is her hope to expand the school's sports program in the future. For now, she's looking forward to extending a welcome to another 100 students next fall. Most will enter the sixth grade, though some will be seventh- and eighth-graders. Already, Jessee has in hand 600 applications from students who want placement for the fall of 1996.
Last year, 530 students vied for the 250 slots.
``We turned down stellar'' students, said Jessee, a bit wistfully.
Yet, it's the small size of the school that's ``one of its beauties,'' she said.
Of course, like their regular-school peers, these teens have ``all the wiggles'' and other problems of adolescence, said Jessee. But teachers at Kemps Landing seem to know how to harness the energy and moods to benefit their students.
``Eenie, meenie, meinie, mo,'' said Latin teacher Jim Karle, jabbing his right index finger toward four sixth-graders. Instantly, he gained their undivided and rapt attention.
They didn't know what was coming next, but all knew the answer to his deftly inserted question, ``Dies veneris?''
``It's Friday,'' called out the voices.
Then Karle, a 30-year veteran in education, explained to the class the origins of the four words used by children to select a winner or loser down through the centuries.
The Druids counted off their victims in words that were picked up by early Britons and used to count sheep. Children then copied the sounds and passed them down to countless generations.
Before he lost their attention, Karle had another fascinating fact to impart - just the kind adolescents love. The Druids used powdered mouse brains as toothpaste, he told them.
Then, it was on to interrogative pronouns.
``Who are you going to invite?'' What's wrong with this question, Karle asked.
Only two students looked puzzled. The rest answered spontaneously. Since ``who'' serves as the direct object in this question, the correct form is ``whom.''
Karle quickly explained that the rule that pertains stems from Latin, that because ``who'' has become common usage in such a question, and because language evolves, it just may be acceptable form 10 years hence.
Karle keeps these kids interested. There's no boredom, no staring listlessly out the window, here.
Many of the accouterments of other schools are missing at Kemps Landing. There are no bells or buzzers to indicate the beginning or end of class periods. Nor are there big, round clocks on the walls of the classrooms, issuing their loud ticks.
You won't find any hall monitors on watch, for violence is not a problem here. When discipline is, on rare occasions, needed, it is meted out quickly and fairly, said Jessee.
And the school operates on the honor system so there's no need for locks on lockers. ``They have a good sense of morals,'' said Jessee, adding, ``You have to trust children. It's not our goal to get them into college at 16, but, rather, to make them well-educated, creative problem solvers. You have to show them that learning is valuable, that there is joy in acquiring knowledge.''
The students at Kemps Landing ``still get hyped up over learning - the enthusiasm is still there,'' she said.
When they they complete the eighth grade at the new magnet school, students have the option of applying to its high school corollary - The Governor's Magnet School for the Arts in Norfolk, which offers visual and performing arts. They may also chose to attend the math and science magnet school at Ocean Lakes, scheduled to open next fall. In addition, students can enroll in an international baccalaureate program at Princess Anne or take college level courses at their home high schools.
While Jamie Hampton immersed himself in L'Engle's European adventure, classmate Ben Kennedy added monasteries and other landmarks to a computer map of Lisbon the class had created. The chart shows Portugal in relation to its European neighbors.
``It's in-depth reading,'' said the boys' teacher, Anne Ricks. These bright students ``pick up on societal implications and question almost everything. They don't take everything you say as gospel. It's wonderful, the independent thinking. You can do so many things you can't do in a regular classroom.''
Ricks was one of 20 teachers chosen from about 75 applicants to teach at Kemps Landing. She had taught three years at Landstown Middle School and is now working on her master's degree in gifted education at the College of William and Mary. For her, teaching at the new magnet school is ``a dream.''
``Here, there's freedom to explore curriculum,'' she said, enthusiasm shining from her eyes. ``You're not teaching the basics. They all know how to read and write at the college level. The only problem is finding material to challenge them.''
Classroom doors stand open all the time, and students move freely from one room to another, making use of materials on Ricks' shelves, for example, to research a science project for Jenny Flannagan's class.
Flannagan, who taught at Green Run High School for two years before coming to Kemps Landing, likes the way the intelligence level of her new students allows her to ``go over things in depth faster, get on to different topics.
``You throw out a problem and they just start working on it,'' she said.
``Finally, they're around other kids that think as fast as they do,'' she added. ``It's a unique experience. I love to teach here. It's tiring though, because you have to come up with new things, stay ahead of them.''
Jamie Hampton leaned back in a bean bag chair and made ready to dig into the next chapter of his book. He offered his own perspective on why Kemps Landing is a great place to go to school.
``Everyone is so much friendlier,'' he said. ``People are more open, and it's more fun and more interesting, so it's real easy to learn. Before, I was taught the same thing over and over.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos, including color cover, by STEVE EARLEY
ON THE COVER: Carly Mooney, left, and Monica Gutierrez play rapt
attention during a sixth-grade science class.
The walls of Jenny Flannagan's science classroom are covered with
colorful posters, and all around the room are things - like this
iguana - that just beg a closer look.
Since there are no organized sports at the school, rollerblading is
a popular phys-ed activity.
ABOVE: In Latin class, Jim Karle grabs sixth-graders' attention with
such trivia as the origin of the phrase, ``Eenie, meenie, meinie,
mo.''
LEFT: Yandace Brown works with geometric shapes by folding paper
during a problem-solving exercise in math class. ``It's not our goal
to get them into college at 16, but, rather, to make them
well-educated, creative problem solvers,'' says principal Hazel
Jessee.
Cameron Taylor, a sixth-grader, waits in the hallway outside his
math classs. Kemps Landing has won the School Board's attendance
award every month since last September.
KEYWORDS: MAGNET SCHOOL GIFTED STUDENT VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOLS by CNB