THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 29, 1996 TAG: 9603270131
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE WATSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
About 40 people attended Monday's meeting to oppose a plan to adjust attendance zones, shifting 125 students at G.A. Treakle Elementary School to Camelot Elementary School in September of 1997.
The plan will relieve crowding at Treakle, school officials said.
Several speakers said they feared that the plan will inadvertently crowd Camelot. Many also blasted comments made at a previous board meeting where some Treakle parents called the predominantly-black Camelot neighborhood violent and a ``danger'' to Treakle children.
``All of this racial hate and division,'' said Vernon Johnson, a Camelot resident, ``to poison the minds of students to a situation before they even get there. That's what I call uncivilized.''
One white Woodland Trails area resident, Valerie Hall, also denounced the allegations made at the Feb. 29 meeting.
``My neighborhood backs into Camelot, and I've never had a problem with anyone from Camelot. . . I hate that these people have made it into a race issue.''
Hall is against the plan because she fears uprooting her daughter.
``Do you know how emotional it is to put your child on a bus and have to run off before she tries to get off?'' Hall asked the board.
``She doesn't do that anymore. Now she likes the school and walks to the bus stop by herself.''
A couple of opponents said the school system used outdated census figures to develop the plan and will burden Camelot unnecessarily.
Superintendent W. Randolph Nichols said it isn't so.
``We use up-to-date information, keeping track of the building permits and number of children in each household,'' Nichols said.
Len Wright, program administrator for planning and adjustment, added that the district continually follows growth patterns.
The board is expected to vote on the rezoning plan at the April 29 meeting. by CNB