THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 24, 1996 TAG: 9605240511
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 42 lines
Facing the largest student enrollment increase in two decades because of an influx of Navy families, the School Board unanimously approved boundary changes on Thursday that will affect attendance at about a half-dozen city schools.
The city's school population will swell by about 700 students next school year, the result of military base closings that will bring more Navy families to Norfolk. They are moving into the newly constructed Ben Moreell housing complex on Norfolk Naval Base.
Despite the large increase in students, the changes in attendance zones approved Thursday occurred with barely a murmur of protest.
Parents speaking at a public hearing earlier this week at Sewells Point Elementary School supported the proposal, which Deputy Superintendent J. Frank Sellew said was the ``least disruptive'' of several considered.
``We're really supportive, and glad to see it worked out this way,'' said parent Susan Comas.
Here are the major changes:
Sewells Point Elementary will pick up about 323 students moving into the Ben Moreell housing complex. That will require adding four mobile classrooms.
About 149 children who live in the North Titustown, Titustown and Carney Park neighborhoods and now attend Sewells Point will be moved to Camp Allen Elementary.
Middle school students who live in Ben Moreell housing will be assigned to Rosemont. Students in this area normally attend Northside, but accommodating them at Northside would require adding four mobile classrooms, politically unpopular with the local civic club. Several mobile units were recently removed from Northside.
About 73 black students from the Campostella and Lindenwood neighborhoods who now attend Sewells Point will be moved to Sherwood Forest Elementary. These are students whose parents choose not to send them to neighborhood schools.
High school students who reside on the naval base will now attend Maury instead of Granby.
KEYWORDS: NORFOLK SCHOOLS SCHOOL ZONES by CNB