DATE: Tuesday, May 27, 1997                 TAG: 9705270032

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JO-ANN CLEGG, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   57 lines

HEBREW ACADEMY HOPES TO GROW BEYOND ITS PHYSICAL EXPANSION

The Hebrew Academy of Tidewater will begin construction next month on a $6.8million building program that is only part of an educational expansion under way at the private school.

Added classrooms, a theater, sports complex and support areas will allow the region's only Jewish day school to grow from 242 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grades to as many as 500 within five years.

But as far as Richard Marten, the school's development director, is concerned, the buildings are secondary to new learning opportunities at the academy.

``It's ironic that we're putting up walls so that we can have a school without walls,'' he said.

In preparation for the building expansion, the academy already has added more than $500,000 worth of computer technology to its Thompkins Lane facility, near the intersection of Indian River and Kempsville roads.

Every classroom now has computers with Pentium processors and 27-inch monitors linking students to the Internet and satellite communications.

The high technology, funded by donations from area businesses and a grant from L.M. Sandler and Sons, allows the small independent school to interact with students and teachers around the world.

That opportunity is especially important, Marten said, because the nearest school combining general studies and Judaic curriculum is in the Richmond area.

``The new technology opens up wonderful possibilities for us,'' said Joan London, the school's director of general studies and admissions. ``Jewish students in this school will have a better understanding that they're not the only ones. Teachers and administrators have always collaborated with other schools but now we can bring it down to the classroom level.''

Marten and Bill Pickens, the computer consultant who designed the program, said the advances will pay for themselves. ``We'll have the ability to self-publish and to market the products,'' Marten said. ``One of our teachers already has a book ready to go.''

The first phase of the physical expansion, which includes six additional classrooms, an all-purpose room/chapel and a faculty work center, will be finished by September.

The sports complex and a 400-seat theater are scheduled for construction in 1998, followed by improvements to the grounds and the existing building.

Money will be provided by private donations and a fund-raising drive next school year.

Students at the Hebrew Academy, which was started in 1955 with a handful of students, currently must transfer to public or private schools when they complete the eighth grade. Marten said no decision has been made about expanding through grade 12, although some parents have expressed an interest. ILLUSTRATION: ARCHITECT'S DRAWING

An architect's drawing shows how the Hebrew Academy of Tidewater

will look after its expansion is complete. Construction for the

first phase will start in June. The later phases will be added in

1998.

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