THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 4, 1996 TAG: 9609040412
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 53 lines
The Literacy Center will remain open at least another year.
The School Board voted 8-3 Tuesday to continue serving students in the small but highly regarded program. The center will be run by the leadership of Kemps Landing Magnet School, which shares the Kempsville Road site with the center. Classes in the center will begin today.
The board also asked the division's administration to review the program and make recommendations for the 1997-98 school year.
The 4-year-old center was designed under former superintendent Sidney L. Faucette to help students pass the state-mandated Literacy Passport Test, which measures basic reading, writing and math skills. Students must pass all three parts to graduate.
The center serves students who would be classified as high school freshmen if they had passed the test, which is first taken in the sixth grade.
The remedial program emphasizes smaller classes and more personalized attention, which have helped it post pass rates of 95 percent or better.
But Superintendent Timothy R. Jenney said the small number of students being served - 47 were enrolled for this school year - and the cost led to his recommendation that it be closed.
The center costs about $560,000 to operate. Jenney had suggested that students could still receive the extra services they needed at their regular schools.
But board members questioned the cost and savings of closing the center.
``Are you comfortable that you are going to find a way that's more efficient and cost-effective?'' asked board member Nancy D. Guy.
The administration said yes. Financial specifics, however, depended on how the board chose to serve the students.
Other board members said the move to close the center had been too rapid and destructive.
``It's too quick for me,'' said board member Daniel Arris. ``I don't think it's the right way to treat our students, our parents, not to mention our staff.''
While he said he considers the Literacy Center a success, Jenney also said the program was started with a defined life span and that fewer students are qualifying for the center because of changes in regular classrooms.
There was confusion during the last weeks of August over the fate of the program. Staff members said they had begun packing or had been interviewed for new jobs in anticipation of the program's demise.
A dozen parents, community and staff members spoke in favor of the center in a public hearing before the Tuesday night meeting.
Literacy Center teacher Marie Douglas said the students at the center need ``intense instruction, counseling and nurturing for six hours a day.''
``I am concerned how they can get this in a regular high school of 2,000 students,'' she said. by CNB