THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 16, 1997 TAG: 9702160056
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 110 lines
It might be easier to list what won't be discussed at Tuesday's School Board meeting than what will.
The board agenda is packed, starting with a 3 p.m. public hearing on the proposed boundaries for two new schools. When the formal meeting begins at 6 p.m., School Board members will take on several lingering issues plus some new ones that will affect the division well into the future.
Among the items on the agenda:
The public hearing is planned to hear comment on the boundary proposals for Christopher Farms Elementary and Corporate Landing Middle schools, which are scheduled to open in the fall, plus a small adjustment affecting Langston Road in the Kempsville area. In addition, the proposal calls for some Landstown Middle School students to be shifted to Princess Anne Middle School.
Christopher Farms will draw about 715 students who currently live in the Holland, North Landing and Landstown elementary attendance areas.
Corporate Landing will open with about 1,750 students drawn from Landstown, Lynnhaven, Plaza, Princess Anne and Virginia Beach middle schools.
Residents can also address the boundaries during the public comment period of the formal meeting. The board is not scheduled to vote on the proposals at this meeting.
The board is expected to take action on the Capital Improvement Program for 1997-2003. Among the new projects that would be funded if the plan is approved by the board and then the City Council are 14 additional classrooms and a facility upgrade at Kempsville Middle School; renovation and replacement of playground equipment at 52 elementary schools; and the next phase of an ongoing project to modernize the city's oldest elementary schools.
The board is scheduled to vote on middle school athletics at Kemps Landing Magnet School. Board members have been given seven options. The school does not field its own athletic teams nor does it have the facilities to do so. A decision to allow some students to play on teams at nearby Kempsville Middle School has become a topic of disagreement among some parents.
The options include offering all interscholastic sports at Kemps Landing at a cost of $176,675, not including gym renovation and field preparation; providing no interscholastic sports program at the school would involve no cost.
Another option would be for Kemps Landing students who wish to play sports for their home school to schedule an exploratory class or physical education class at the end of the day. The students, who are drawn from middle schools throughout the city, could then leave early to play sports at their home schools. If the division did not provide transportation, this option would have no cost. Providing transportation to the home schools would cost $36,840.
The board is expected to take action on a minimum 2.0 grade point average for students participating in activities governed by the Virginia High School League. The administration has recommended phasing in a minimum 2.0 beginning with next year's freshman class and including all grades by 2000.
Along with athletics, VHSL oversees debate, forensics and some other activities.
The superintendent's proposed operating budget for next year will get its first public airing. The financial plan is expected to be austere because of lingering funding questions between the School Board and City Council. Budget managers have been warned to expect no new or expanded programs. The document will not be voted on Tuesday night.
A district committee has recommended that school operating hours remain the same next year. It also recommended that a task force be appointed to complete a comprehensive study of school operating hours and make any recommendations for change before the preparation of the 1998-99 budget.
A shift in elementary operating hours this year had prompted some complaints, but a survey by the committee found more parents preferred the current hours than three other options offered to them.
The board is not scheduled to vote Tuesday on this matter. ILLUSTRATION: DETAILS
The School Board will meet Tuesday in the School Administration
Building at the Municipal Complex. The public hearing on proposed
attendance boundaries will take place at 3 p.m., and the formal
meeting of the board will take place at 6 p.m.
ABOUT THE ENROLLMENT BOUNDARIES
Christopher Farms Elementary School
Proposed boundary:
About 715 students from the following neighborhoods would be
affected: Buyrn Farm, Cardinal Estates, Christopher Farms,
Courthouse Farms, Courthouse Forest, Holland Oaks, Holland Pines,
Holland Woods, Landstown Meadows, Parkside Greens, Piney Grove,
Princess Anne Crossing, Shelburne Woods
Corporate Landing Middle School
Proposed boundary:
About 1,750 students would be drawn from the following
neighborhoods: Cardinal Estates, Carriage Hill, Colony Acres, Dam
Neck, Derby Run, Gunn-Hall, Harper Square, Lake Placid, Lamplight
Manor, Magic Hollow, Ocean Lakes area, Oceana Boulevard area, Park
Place, Pinehurst Estates, Pine Meadows, Redwing, Sandalwood,
Scarborough Square, Upton Estates, Virginia Village, Walnut Ridge.
Landstown Middle to Princess Anne Middle
Proposed boundary change:
About 350 students would be shifted from Landstown Middle School
to Princess Anne Middle School under a proposed boundary change.
Affected neighborhoods are Buyrn Farm, Christopher Farms, Courthouse
Farms, Courthouse Forest, Holland Woods, Hunt Club, Middle Oaks
Plantation, Pine Ridge, Princess Anne Crossing, Shelburne Woods,
Southgate, the Strawbridge area west of General Booth Boulevard and
White Pine Farms.
Copies of the completed proposal are available at all city
schools and public libraries. For more information, call 426-5888.
The board is not scheduled to vote on these proposals Tuesday.
Source: Virginia Beach Public Schools
VP MAP
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOLS ENROLLMENT