THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 21, 1996 TAG: 9604210048
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: DECISION 96
PART 2: THE ISSUES
SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 137 lines
Starting today, The Virginian-Pilot begins the second week of special reporting leading up to municpal and school board elections on May 7.
This week, our reports focus on the issues in each city as the citizens see them and how the candidates respond to them.
The report today, the first of two days devoted to Virginia Beach, examines the issue of neglected children, parental responsibility and the schools.
If it takes a whole village to raise a child, as an African proverb goes, then many people here believe that Virginia Beach needs to work harder.
In two round-table discussions last month, citizens expressed generally favorable opinions about their city. They hold their schools in high regard - despite the recent financial problems - and are grateful for the city's array of parks and recreation facilities. They generally feel a sense of personal safety as they move around the city.
But they worry that too many children are falling through the cracks.
Statistics appear to support the anxiety:
More children are committing serious crimes. In 1990, 733 juveniles were arrested for violent crimes. In 1995, that number was 1,170.
More children live in poverty. The percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunches grew from less than 18 percent in 1991 to 25 percent in 1995. Poverty and student performance are directly linked.
More children are quitting school. The dropout rate continues to increase and, at 5.2 percent, is one of the few statistical areas where the school division has consistently been worse than the state average.
Among the people in the round-table discussions there was a consensus that the demands on children require the schools and other governmental, private and religious organizations to work together on a common course of action.
The Virginian-Pilot asked the 45 candidates for School Board what responsibility the school system had for providing more help and supervision of youth and families.
Most said they preferred that the schools stay focused on educating young people. Those who saw a need for a more active role for the schools worried about the additional expenses to a cash-starved school system.
Most offered ways to broaden the role of parents, businesses and organizations in the schools, but did not favor having the educational system take on responsibility for offering greater services to the community.
Investing more now is a small price to pay if it saves the next generation of children, participants in the round-table discussions said.
``It's everybody's concern in here about the welfare of the kids,'' said businesswoman Myong Chong, echoing the sentiment of the other participants.
In the two panel discussions sponsored by The Virginian-Pilot, residents spoke fervently about the need for the city to focus attention on the next generation.
``Our priorities have got to be our kids,'' said retiree Jim Stancil. ``(Today) we have too many single parents, we have too many broken homes and we have too many kids coming home in the afternoon by themselves, and then when mom and dad get home, they're so busy trying to make a living, they don't have time to spend time with the kids.''
Children are expected to grow up faster, frequently with less guidance. The pressures include a faster-paced lifestyle driven by Hollywood images and expectations for achievement that climb endlessly higher.
``It's a constant race for them to try to keep up. It's the way our society has now created itself with such high expectations for exterior needs,'' said Brenda Stahl, director of youth ministries at Virginia Beach United Methodist Church.
Stahl said the pressures extend to academics. ``You have to do everything younger to be on track. The things I learned in college, these kids now learn in high school.''
Only a small percentage of young people are responsible for problems in schools and communities, and Virginia Beach's schoolchildren continue to win state and national honors in athletics, academics and artistic competitions. But as Stahl and others point out, that doesn't mean the city should settle into complacency.
``We are fooling ourselves to think because we have affluent communities and successful high schools that we don't have at-risk kids,'' Stahl said.
She believes young people get into trouble because they feel they don't have any power to affect things. Giving them service projects where they learn both a skill and a sense of accomplishment is a place to start. She also suggested encouraging mentoring relationships so students will have more one-on-one contact with adults, and more efforts to make sure students who don't excel academically can feel successful.
As for the broader societal problems that threaten the well-being of children, those will need a long-term solution.
``We want a quick fix (but) it's not like we can go to a seminar and be well,'' Stahl said. ``It's not like if our community could only get this program, we'd be OK.''
Alice Striffler, center coordinator at the Kempsville Recreation Center, believes there are plenty of programs to keep children busy and help parents, but matching the person and program doesn't always happen.
``Parents want to use us for day care and that's not what we're designed to be,'' she said. Older children want an unstructured atmosphere to hang out in, but that's not the center's purpose either.
Parenting classes offered at the center have been canceled for a lack of participation. At the same time, she sees parents drop children as young as 8 years old off at the center on summer mornings with enough money for the snack machine, but without enrolling them in classes or summer camp.
``I think parents need to make choices, parents need to prioritize better. I know that's easy to say and difficult to do,'' she said. ``I am a working parent.''
Striffler said the city offers numerous activities and she's not sure what more it could do.
``I think it's a matter of people wanting to participate,'' she said. ``Government can't be the answer to everything.''
Green Run High School senior Quiana Erb is one of the success stories, a student leader who will attend the University of Virginia in the fall. She too thinks a lot of programs are already available. But the only thing that can help some children, she said, is a relationship with someone they can view as a role model.
``I think the only way they can be reached is personally,'' she said.
Teachers such as Jeane Henschel try to reach out to their students every day. But Henschel, who teaches at Virginia Beach Middle School, believes outside forces have placed more of a burden on students than in the past and some of those forces must come together to help.
``The kids are bringing a lot more baggage with them than we did in the past, and what they have in the bag is different,'' she said.
Henschel and Beach Middle colleague Linda Grant say they see teachers and parents working together more than ever, a relationship Grant says ``can only work to the benefit of the child.''
Grant said helping young people has to start with the family and the school as a foundation for other services to build upon.
``(Then) it has to go to the village,'' she said. ``And the village has to pick up and go from there.'' MEMO: VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOL BOARD: THE CANDIDATES
[Questions and answers]
[For the text of the Virginia Beach School Board candidates' responses
to questions, see microfilm on page A12 and A13 and A14 for this date.]
KEYWORDS: COMMUNITY CONVERSATION PUBLIC JOURNALISM SCHOOLS VIRGINIA
BEACH SCHOOL BOARD by CNB